The PocketMage resurrects the PDA with an e-paper screen

Personal integer assistants for illustration the iconic Palm Pilot were 1 of galore devices we thought went extinct pinch the presence of the smartphone. But akin to Canon resurrecting a astir decade-old integer camera to entreaty to point-and-shoot fans, Talisman Design is crowdfunding a clamshell PDA called the PocketMage that combines a tactile keyboard pinch some e-paper and OLED displays successful a pocketable device.

There are 2 different preorder options for the PocketMage connected Crowd Supply, positive you get your prime of parchment (gray) aliases royal purple accent colors. The $235 type comes afloat assembled, while the cheaper $185 type requires you to build it yourself. However, the DIY PocketMage only requires a screwdriver to put together. Soldering skills are not needed, but patience is. Orders placed now aren’t expected to vessel until March 2027 astatine the earliest.

Powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller pinch conscionable 2MB of RAM and 16MB of retention (expandable pinch a microSD card), the PocketMage is geared toward elemental productivity tasks, but is simply a spot much tin than the earliest clamshell PDAs from companies for illustration Casio. The open-source instrumentality comes pinch apps including a calendar, journal, dictionary, and a Markdown matter editor for penning aliases taking notes. Additional apps for illustration a calculator, ebook reader, and web browser are already available.

The PocketMage’s superior show is simply a 3.1-inch, 320x240 e-paper surface that forgoes touchscreen functionality for a capacitive touch barroom connected the broadside that tin beryllium utilized for scrolling. Above the PDA’s mini QWERTY keyboard is simply a smaller 1.8-inch, 256x32px OLED surface utilized for functions for illustration menus that require a higher refresh complaint than e-paper offers. There’s besides a basal piezo speaker, a 1,200mAh artillery bully for astir a week’s usage betwixt charges, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a USB-C larboard compatible pinch peripherals for illustration a larger keyboard. For tinkerers and developers, the PocketMage moreover includes a powered description larboard for expanding its capabilities pinch civilization hardware.