First look at the first PinePhone keyboard development units, these have some mechanical issues, and the pcb design might not be final. But at least some keypresses work :D
despite the key press issues, it looks really great. I hope that operating systems can recognize that a keyboard is attached and prevent the on-screen kb from appearing. Since the KB has a battery, can the battery be removed from the phone for a little space to put things like lora, NFC, etc? I almost wish the kb also included a pointing device but that could make the keys too cramped.
They could have included a Thinkpad like nub, but I think there might be patent issues.
But from the comment in the video it sounds like internally the keyboard addon uses a keyboard and trackpad circut, so maybe it could be hacked later on.
As for additional addons: those use the same 6 pogo-pins and I could imagine that ends up a bit bandwith limited unless it uses some sort of standard like USB2.
despite the key press issues, it looks really great. I hope that operating systems can recognize that a keyboard is attached and prevent the on-screen kb from appearing. Since the KB has a battery, can the battery be removed from the phone for a little space to put things like lora, NFC, etc? I almost wish the kb also included a pointing device but that could make the keys too cramped.
They could have included a Thinkpad like nub, but I think there might be patent issues.
But from the comment in the video it sounds like internally the keyboard addon uses a keyboard and trackpad circut, so maybe it could be hacked later on.
As for additional addons: those use the same 6 pogo-pins and I could imagine that ends up a bit bandwith limited unless it uses some sort of standard like USB2.
I recall almost all laptops had those at some point. IBM must have been making some good money off of that if that is the case.
From the Pinephone wiki:
so I2C, but no USB data unfortunately. But hey, it’s not like a sensible linux distro would not be capable without a mouse!