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Still very happy with the Gemini running Sailfish as I can get rid of the Android. Was never happy with the Cosmo linux install not being fully functional so I held back from that. I expect this Slide thing to be the same, focused on Android. If I could be assured it could be fully functional with a proper linux or Sailfish then I would back it.

Other Lubes are available.

Meh...

Not for me, but perhaps for a small niche market.

I don't think Marmite is niche...

Hmm, he was part responsible for the VEGA+ fiasco, do you really want to trust him with a pre-order?

They have actually delivered the devices but they have really failed on the software side. My Gemini has had two software updates since release and still has lots of really unnecessary bugs: such as icons in the dock disappearing after every app update. Unfortunately, as might be expected from a company that is so dependent upon cashflow from sales, after-sales service is more or less non-existent.

So, much as I like my Gemini, I won't be buying another device from Planet and wouldn't advise anyone else to. I've since bought a kickstand cover and a Bluetooth keyboard for my S10.

Sailfish on Gemini has had regular updates, though the last one was in December.

Planet raised £2 million on Gemini and £1.7 million on Cosmo, and delivered two very nice devices. Flogel was not responsible for the Spectrum Vega thing, though he was a bit silly joining that organisation after it had already become a disaster.

The Gemini also got an update in December but since then nada. Planet is presumably largely dependent upon Mediatek providing the updates for the SoCs. They've wasted their own resources on things like a crap version of K9 and a database that no one needs-

Not sure why you quote the money raised, but if you know anything about the device business you'll realise this kind of turnover is not sufficient for a hardware company.

Not sure why you quote the money raised, but if you know anything about the device business you'll realise this kind of turnover is not sufficient for a hardware company.

That's why they are a crowdsource outfit.

I quoted the money raised to illustrate the decline in crowdsource revenue between the first and second products.

That was largely because so many in the niche had already bought Geminis. I was truly impressed how the Cosmo still rang bells.

The Cosmo was a move towards more phone functionality, where the Gemini was PDA with connectivity.

He was responsible for the VEGA+ software (or at least one of his companies were). They took circa £100k for it, and it’s known to be bug-ridden and flakey also.

I went for a Cosmo - the hardware is fantastic, but the software has been pretty ropey. Lots of irritating little bugs in Android and the occasional show-stopper have prevented me from making much use of mine.

The last Cover Display (CODI) update took me TWENTY-FIVE attempts to install, despite taking all the usual precautions (Notifications off, Airplane Mode On, DuraSpeed Off etc), and the latest firmware update had to be pulled and reissued because it caused so many problems - including the loss of fingerprint data. The latest version requires you to back everyting up, hard reset the Cosmo and restore from backup. A previous version included a dodgy OTA updater that had to be replaced - no way I could trust this thing with access to my Google account details until it was fixed.

Linux functionality is incomplete (forget using it as an actual phone) and Sailfish is still some way away - even if it does turn up, it will almost certainly be a community version without Android emulation and predictive text, just like the Gemini.

So no, I won't be buying the shiny new toy they're dangling in front of me. I've gone back to using my previous "daily driver", a Nokia 5.

Chris King> I went for a Cosmo - the hardware is fantastic, but the software has been pretty ropey

And there's the rub. I've been after something like this ever since my '5 stopped being a realistic everyday use gadget. But I've yet to see anything with fully functional and integrate suite of software optimised for the formfactor and keyboard.

Sailfish is still some way away - even if it does turn up, it will almost certainly be a community version without Android emulation and predictive text, just like the Gemini.

Paid version of Sailfish is available for Gemini, including exchange mail, OTA updates and support.

It doesn't have the Android app support (like most devices that get Sailfish running, Android apps are Sony XPeria only) but for me that's a real positive.

Translation : it is a point of failure and will be prone to breaking/blocking. Physical complexity is trouble when you're making something that will be put into the bumbling hands of thousands of idiots.

And it weighs 300 grams. Out of curiosity, I just weighed my Galaxy A3 : 135 grams. And after talking on the phone for ten minutes, I change hand because the other one needs a rest. I like the keyboard, but that thing is going to be deforming shirt pockets.

Try a thigh pocket. They can often hold a 10" tablet. 8", no sweat. Bonus: your 'phone doesn't fall out when you want to pick something up from the floor.

" Bonus: your 'phone doesn't fall out when you want to pick something up from the floor... "

...or when you clean the toilet after you've finished your affair.

The designer, David Riddiford, was burned by that on the original Psion Series 5, for which his classic keyboard provided the prototype for Planet. This slider is his fourth iteration - if anybody can make it work, he can. I certainly would not trust Apple any more - butterflies or butterfingers, I'll take Riddiford's bling any day.

I loved my P5 and it was fine in my shirt pocket - but then I'm one of those people you can put in a tailor made suit and it looks like sackcloth after 3 minutes!

It was not fine in my shirt pocket when pulling pants up after a crap though and didnt bounce well! I am still waiting for my old phone to pack up so I have an excuse to upgrade to one of these. I just hope enough people like them enough to start bug fixing the Linux versions as I have no interest in Android any more.

The slide-out keyboard design is reminiscent of the Psixpda from about ten years ago. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/15/review_pc_psixpda_pocket_computer/

I believe that was also a project that Dr Mrsic-Flogel had a hand in.

Planet computers, Astro glide, Cosmo, and the boss's name Janko Mrsic-Flogel all lead me to believe this is a small business run by dodgy aliens from another galaxy just to take advantage of the rubes on a backward planet on the edge of the Milky Way.

Registered in Bromley, but they maintain their main offices in Sloane Square SW1. Belgravia premises cannot be cheap.

That Central London thing will surely be an accommodation address for correspondence. Lots of businesses do that.

Which is why the City claims to pay its fair share of tax in the economy. Given the two nationwide companies that I've worked for and had a hand in doing tax returns offered no regional breakdown of where the tax was earned and all paid via the head office I still have my doubts on that one.

No, it's rented office space. 38.1 Sq.m of it. With staff in. Rateable value: £22,750.

There are Youtube videos of them being interviewed in the office and you can clearly see Sloane Square through the windows. I presume this prestige address offers them some value in credibility terms or access to brain power. Because they would save a fortune by going into a provincial office suite where people are desperate to fill them.

A true successor to my trusty old HTC Desire Z. Loved that phone, and it was great shame that the form was never repeated.

That said going off the comments above, it seems a shame that they'd have beautiful hardware but crap software.

I'd still call Android crap software. Having used a Psion5 for a while I really want a proper keyboard on my phone and I'm hoping enough people start using it to get the linux debugged - or possibly the phone shit taken out of it and put in another linux version as this has the potential to be a really useful machine and getting us away from the utter crap that the android cesspit seems filled with.

I bought an Fxtec pro1 - they are out now (ish) - they had supply issues but I think finally getting there. Might be worth a look - I loved my desire Z too. Both of these don't hold the screen flat though...

That looks like something that Maplin used to sell back in the early 1990s

I can't help but think that bluetooth keyboards for more mainstream portable screens are a better solution to the problem.

I have a folding bluetooth keyboard which takes a pair of AAA batteries, and folds out sideways (with a sliding hinge in the middle so that the two sides of the hinge are both supported by the 'back' of the device and it doesn't go floppy).

I have to be honest though, when I expect to need a keyboard, I have an old Apple bluetooth KB (2*AA) with an 'origami' case, which props up a phone or tablet very well, even on my lap, so the folding keyboard doesn't see all that much use any more; it used to be in almost daily use, despite being just a faction smaller than I would have liked.

If they made a truly compact folding bluetooth keyboard that was reasonable to type on then they'd probably sell a whole lot more. If said keyboard had a case which could prop up a phone/tablet in a case, all the better. Something that folds down to the size of a small glasses case from laptop sized/spaced keys would be nice.

Planet can't make any money out of the keyboard alone. If you look at the Chinese phones based on the same MediTek chipsets that Planet use, you see that they are budget end models. Planet are managing to shift them for £500, which means they are making a couple of hundred for selling a keyboard integration.

I doubt they could make that for just a Bluetooth keyboard, however good it is (and it is good).

I use this for the Intel ComputeStick:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Keyboard-Jelly-Comb-Rechargeable/dp/B07BN9P71K/

Added bonus of a mousepad, microUSB rechargeable and can be used as a wired USB keyboard when innevitably Windows boots and refuses to connect to the bluetooth keyboard.

That looks quite - nice, how does the fold get supported in use?

I note that they do a semi ergo ones as well:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TXMCJQF

and someone is doing one that should be quite rigid across the deck:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MTO8Q8J

"I can't help but think that bluetooth keyboards for more mainstream portable screens are a better solution"

Back a few years my S5 became unusable. The first generation of Linux netbooks had just come and gone (Thanks, Microshaft), so I got a Nexus 7 tablet, Bluetooth keyboard and leatherette wallet. When folded up it looked for all the world just like the standard 80's Filofax. Used it routinely, never once took either out of the wallet.

But the keybaord was so-so. You can keep your Bluetooth to yourself, thank you - especially as the Master of the Keyboard Martin Riddiford has not designed it!

BT keyboards sleep and miss characters or randomly unpair and can take ages to setup. Sometimes they work. However proprietary 2.4 GHz wireless mini-keyboards with a USB mini-dongle work better even on an Android phone.

It's a niche product for someone that wants a nearly real pocket computer, like what a version today of the 2001/2002 Nokia 9210i would be like. Unfortunately by 2003 Nokia Phone division Management had seriously lost the plot on management and GUI choices/development.

My BT keyboards don't sleep or miss characters...

Don't know what you're doing wrong with yours.

It's a niche product, a niche that I have reasonable history with (Psion5(s), XDAs to name a couple), as well as having tried palm graffiti and used touchscreen keyboards (which I really dislike) and early netbooks (too bulky by a long shot).

I still think that the niche is better served by a split device - particularly if the fold was good enough that it could be a genuinely everyday keyboard...

Although I'd still be sorely tempted by a true Psion5mx remix - with a modern touchscreen and connectivity. But I think it would be better off eschewing the phone in favour of a plain linux OS - even something like raspbian as a default (obviously raspbian has it's own target hardware).

I spent several years with a candybar nokia phone which allowed my tablet to tether via bluetooth. Was a great combination, I used to plug in a mouse and use the BT keyboard to do various things, including remote admin, and local game play.

I backed/got a cosmo... loved it... till I happened to use it whilst it was raining.. now dead and " water ingress" means no warranty/replacement... I've never had to worry about using a phone outside before but now I'm the owner of a 500 quid paperweight. :(

@Ian Entwistle: have you tried opening it and leaving it on a radiator for a week? I have rescued more than one 'leccy toy that way.

I remember all the smartphones with slide-out keyboards...

That never really worked. The contacts lost contact, the slide mechanism jammed or broke.

My Gemini is mostly collecting dust. Sorry, but it's too slow to run the apps I want.

My Cosmo hasn't shipped yet...

and now they want to push this disaster-in-waiting onto the market?

Has no-one had the wit to make a small BT keyboard with a hinge at the back that the phone slots into so you can use it like the Gemini?

Have I just given away another fortune? Probably not - because what you really need is a hinge that takes a small BT keyboard and a phone and that should be 3d printable!

Yes, they exist. But it just doesn't work as well.

Planet have also let support slide. They say they haven't and I know they are working hard on Cosmo's many bugs. But fixes that also apply to Gemini are just not making it across any more. Moreover, their customer communications have always been basically nonexistent and they show no sign they give a shit about that.

So yes, highly desirable device - when my Gemini eventually dies I will probably replace it with one of these or its successor - but you are buying the moment not a lifecycle.

I've had a couple of Psion 5mx and the weak point has been the ribbon cable.

How are these Planet palmtops connecting the keyboard to the motherboard?

I have a cosmo - it's nice, but it feels decidedly... unfinished. The hardware is great, but the software is what I would consider beta quality at best. I was really planning on using it as a daily device, but it's so finnicky that I've kept it strictly for mobile working when I need to do things on-call.

I don't imagine I'm alone amongst cosmo owners who would like to see them sort out all the bugs in the device they already have on the market (plenty of other posters have enumerated them here, I'm not going to do it again) before they try and get another one out the door.

... but I will not be pre-ordering, despite propensity for keyboards. Let's see if they deliver first, and then if the thing is any better than my BB KEY2.