Remember when phones used to have physical buttons? Yeah, okay - some of them still do - my point is there was a time when putting a full-blown QWERTY physical keyboard on a phone was regarded as something premium. Take the Nokia Communicator for example. Maybe big touchscreen devices sort of killed the physical keyboard dream, but not for this British startup. Behold the Astro Slide phone!
The phone is the brainchild of the UK-based company Planet Computers and aims to elevate mobile computing to a whole new level. There’s a successful Indiegogo campaign dedicated to the phone and first deliveries are expected around March 2021.
“Astro Slide is the first 5G smartphone with a keyboard and is the fastest 5G device announced to date. Astro's revolutionary RockUp slider hinge transforms the powerful 6.39" touchscreen smartphone into a mini laptop, featuring Planet’s signature tactile backlit keyboard,” reads the description on the Indiegogo page.
The Astro Slide phone comes equipped with modern tech - 8GB/128GB of memory, two USB Type-C ports, a 3,500 mAh battery, along with NFC, wireless charging and a microSD card slot. The chipset is a downer, though. It’s a MediaTek Dimensity 800 with a Mali-G57 MC4 GPU. Nevertheless, if you fancy this phone/PocketPC hybrid you can pre-order one for “just” 573 euro (down from 819) or around $700.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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