Oh, Lordy, my wallet: I'm not one to invest in, or generally write about, crowdfunded hardware. I've been burned one too many times. But a decidedly old-school Personal Digital Assistant with a tactile keyboard and an e-paper display? That is entirely my jam. The PocketMage PDA lets you do stuff that matters: draft messages or a whole damn novel, compile code or manage your calendar, for example, in a disconnected, distraction-free environment.
PocketMage runs a completely custom (and open-source!) operating system based on FreeRTOS. It has a built-in software suite for productivity, writing, and programming, plus a journaling app, dictionary, and terminal.
Community members can side-load their own 3rd-party applications or help build out the open-source OS itself.
So, it's only a matter of time before some absolute unit gets a copy of DopeWars up and running on it.
Should this thing's crowdfunding campaign turn out to be a success, backers will be able to buy themselves a PocketMage in a couple of different colors and, in the spirit of DIY, as a kit that needs to be assembled or as a handheld that's pretty much ready to use right out of the box.
Previously:
