10-11-2020, 03:03 AM
Following on from my earlier post on my thoughts on this, I now envision this as sitting somewhere between the pinephone and the pinetab, and in doing so, be more focused on 'communications' than being a jack of all trades like a phone is.
Getting rid of the cellular modem will make this a niche product for sure, as everyone wants their 5"+ touchscreen LCD device to be able to make and receive phone calls, SMS/MMS, and be able to browse the net over 4G/LTE, etc. So that market is out the window. Plus there is then zero doubt as to "is off really off"
And then there is the power hog nature of the cellular modem, which doesn't fit with this being able to be a longer-running device due to using more power efficient comms.
Giving this LoRa + WiFi + Bluetooth would make it so that projects around mesh communications and tracking will have a platform to work from. Perhaps the Pinecom could also be used as a LoRaWAN gateway, which is battery backed for extra resilience and reliability? Maybe this is the start of pine64 getting into making LoRa stuff?
Getting rid of the cellular modem will make this a niche product for sure, as everyone wants their 5"+ touchscreen LCD device to be able to make and receive phone calls, SMS/MMS, and be able to browse the net over 4G/LTE, etc. So that market is out the window. Plus there is then zero doubt as to "is off really off"

Giving this LoRa + WiFi + Bluetooth would make it so that projects around mesh communications and tracking will have a platform to work from. Perhaps the Pinecom could also be used as a LoRaWAN gateway, which is battery backed for extra resilience and reliability? Maybe this is the start of pine64 getting into making LoRa stuff?