Remote-Url: https://tuxphones.com/popcorn-computer-pocket-pc-linux-pda-first-look/
Retrieved-at: 2021-12-01 20:30:44.789031+00:00

The Pocket P.C., short forPocketPopcorn Computer,is a handheld created by the independent hardware manufacturerPopcorn Computer, and originally announced in the fall of 2019. This PDA comes with an integrated keyboard, and runs a pure Linux OS based on the Allwinner A64 platform.The specifications for the device are the following:SoCAllwinner A64CPU4x Cortex-a53 @ 1.2GhzRAM2GB DDR3Storage32 GB eMMC moduleSD card slotDisplay1080x1920 IPS LCD @ 4.95"Battery3200mAh removable, BL-44E1FWireless2.4Ghz BG WiFiBluetooth 4.0Connectors1x USB-C for charging and gadget mode1x USB-C connected to an internal serial line2x USB-C as USB host1x mini-HDMI outputKeyboard63 key physical keyboard27 individually controllable RGB ledsOtherInfineon OPTIGA TRUST M Secure ElementU-Blox CAM-M8Q GNSS module (not in all hardware)RAKWireless RAK4200 LoRa module (not in all hardware)Overall, this is a pretty interesting combination of hardware. At its core, it could look pretty similar to the 2GB PinePhone, yet it adds quite a lot of unique features on top of the same platform.The left side of the Pocket P.C.One thing that is immediately visible from the outside is that it has four USB-C ports, two on each side. On the left side, there is one port that is hooked to the SoC and supportsUSB-PD(Power Delivery) charging. The top left port is only connected to an internal USB-to-serial converter that maps to/dev/ttyS0inside the device.The two USB-C ports on the right are both host-only ports, and they connect to an internal USB hub. The bottom right port also supports PD. This together most likely makes this the PDA with the world record on most USB-C ports.The right side of the Pocket P.C.The right side of the device also features an on/off power switch, and the SD card slot. As is the case with the PinePhone, this SD card slot is also bootable.The on/off switch will power up the system when switched into the on position, and switching it to back to the off position will send a power button signal to the running Linux distribution to make the phone safely shutdown. Since this is a regular keyboard event, it can also be linked to other actions, or with the open keyboard firmware, it can be remapped to anything.The top side of the Pocket P.C.The only thing on the top side of the device is the mini-HDMI connector. This connects to the internal HDMI bus of the A64 SoC for video output, and should also support audio. One of the two host ports can also send out a video signal over USB Type-C DisplayPort "alt-mode", which is supported by most USB-C docking stations. This connection is not fully hooked up on the developer unit, so it could not be tested while writing this article.The backcover removed showing the batteryThe whole backside of the device comes off easily, and is a cover for the battery compartment. This makes the battery easily replaceable, and the device runs on standardizedBL-44E1Fbatteries, which are not hard to come by. Removing this back cover also gives access to all the screws to open up the rest of the device.The keyboardOne of the prominent features of the Pocket P.C. is, of course, its keyboard. This is like a phone with a slide out keyboard... except because it does not slide. It took me a bit to get used to typing on this keyboard. Compared to the PinePhone keyboard, it takes some more force to press the keys, but that makes sense since there is no protection to make sure the keys won't get pressed when you actually put the device in your pocket.The typing response mostly reminds me of the Motorola Droid 4, except that the keyboard is larger and has more space between the keys.One feature that is not present on the devices I have compared it to is fully controllable RGB backlight. It contains 27 individually addressable RGB LEDs connected to the keyboard controller. With the firmware shipped on the keyboard controller of my unit, the backlight turns on with theFn+'key combination, and it will show a slowly moving rainbow pattern.This keyboard layout also has a full set of modifier keys, which is great for actual Linux usage. The Super key has aSource Partslogo on it, and there are alsoCtrlandAltkeys in their normal locations. Furthermore, physicalEscapeandTabkeys makes terminal use pretty smooth on this device.The software sideI have had this device a few days now, and made an initial postmarketOS port for it - one that needs a lot of cleaning up and is missing some core functionality like the Wi-Fi driver. It did give the opportunity to test some common desktop environments on it.The first thing I tried was Phosh. This requires running at a higher scaling factor than the PinePhone because of the Full HD display, but looks overall quite good.Running Phosh and showing the postmarketOS Tweaks about pageIn fact, Phosh does still not work optimally in the landscape orientation, having the panel at the top and bottom removes quite a bit of screen space.The second environment I tried was KDE Plasma Mobile.KDE Plasma MobileThe Plasma user experience adjusts a bit better to this screen orientation. The downside is that the performance is not great. The combination of the old GPU in the Allwinner A64, and twice the amount of pixels in the display compared to the PinePhone causes some slowdowns in the rendering. It renders quite a bit faster in Phosh though, so this is most likely also a software issue.And because I could not leave it out, I also tried GNOME Shell 41Gnome Shell 41 showing the app overviewThe performance of GNOME is on par with Phosh, but Gnome does not deal with scaling to small displays at all. If you have good eyesight, it is totally possible  to run GNOME at 100% or 150% scaling and work comfortably though.The Popcorn P.C. looks like quite an interesting device. It is not technically a phone, but it is a versatile portable device to have with you, since, being a keyboard-equipped tiny Linux machine, it will do a bit of everything.