Planet Computers is a London-based company that employs some people who designed the iconic Psion mobile systems of the 1980s and 1990s. The Planet Astro Slide 5G was developed by Planet Computers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.Psion PLC was later bought by Motorola. When smartphones took over the market niche was originally occupied by devices such as Psion Series 7 and Apple’s Newton. We have here Planet Computers Astro Slide 5G Review.
When these gadgets initially appeared, they revolutionized mobile computing by enabling people to work with papers while on the go without a laptop or a power source. The appeal of these devices was based on their extended battery life and tactile keyboard, which became a defining feature of mobile phone company Blackberry’s phone hardware.
When using the Slide for the first time, you could question whether Planet has found its mate because the procedure might occasionally feel shaky. However, you’ll soon learn to firmly grasp it from the center or press upward with both thumbs on each edge. The screen remains stationary as you type once it has been set up. Furthermore, no matter how often you poke the screen, it won’t tip over, owing to some cunning weight management. It has an excellent design.
Another useful feature is the smart button on the left side.
You may set it up in one of three ways by going to the Astro Settings area of Android’s Settings menu: a short press, long press, or double-press. For instance, we configured the light to start with a short push and BBC Sounds to start with a long press.
At this point, though, we must address the Astro Slide’s major disadvantage against a typical phone: its size. It sticks out far more in a trouser pocket since it is twice as large as a conventional phone. You could also feel self-conscious when making phone conversations while having such a bump against your ear. Future editions should have a base a few millimeters shorter and a lid even smaller.
It has Gorilla Glass (third-generation) protection, a peak brightness of 400cd/m2, and supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Rich colors are guaranteed by AMOLED technology, and a 1,080 x 2,340 resolution translates to a 403ppi pixel density throughout the 6.4-inch diagonal. However, the colors are maybe too sharp; their extreme saturation hits you right between the eyes. Color accuracy is also not a strong suit, with an average Delta E of 2.77, much beyond our ideal of less than 1.
The greater issue is the distance between the screen and the bezel’s edge. These are 12 millimeters at the bottom and 13 millimeters at the top. The only advantage of the latter is that it has room for the headphone speaker and the 13MP selfie camera.
It has multi-level lighting, and a blue LED turns on when a caps lock is used. The keys have been added as a lovely additional touch to make the most of the available space and are now rounded in the device’s four corners.
The device’s breadth is an unavoidable restriction. Our wrists could only tolerate the confined typing position for 15 minutes. But as a writer who makes a profession from writing, we can see the Astro Slide come into its own during revisions. The procedure is speedier and less complicated than on a conventional phone since you can poke the screen and hop in exactly where you want to make changes.
The MediaTek Dimensity 800 proved more than capable of running Android 11. Although it only managed ten frames per second in the difficult 3DMark Time Spy test, this is a good mid-range chip. The only time we desired a higher-spec processor was when there was a latency when recording video. Both videos and Minecraft ran without any issues. More demanding games would be a challenge.
Its 16 hours and 45 minutes performance in our video-rundown test is once more impressive. You’ll need to use this phone heavily to drain the 4,000mAh battery in a day.
It’s also encouraging to note that this supports up to 10W wireless charging. However, if you want faster top-ups, switch to the 30W USB charger, even if some 0% to 24% in 30 minutes is not exceptional.
The Planet Computers Astro Slide 5G also benefits from Planet Computers’ years of experience in designing two comparable devices. For example, learning keyboard shortcuts will save you time even while using Android. For instance, Fn+D displays the desktop but hitting the globe symbol displays a macOS-style dock containing your favorite programs.
Then there’s the OneSearch app, which couldn’t be easier to use: simply start typing on the keyboard from the Android home screen, and search results display instantaneously.
For example, input “Astro” and a list of links appears that you may touch on, ranging from pre-filled Google searches to Amazon purchase results.
Planet Computers also includes a professional email client, a note-taking program, and a calendar that should work with any Duo, Google, or Exchange accounts you select. However, we couldn’t get the Astro Slide to sync with our basic Google account or add others. We were unlucky, or more dev work was required.
The front camera isn’t too far from what you’d get on a mid-range phone, but opening the Camera app exposes an absence of sophistication and settings — think self-timer, image size, and that’s it. The results aren’t terrible, but this is not an iPhone.
Despite the availability of a 48MP Sony sensor, the back camera has a similar scenario. This means you can push resolutions up to 8,000 x 6,000, although the main benefit of having a large sensor is pixel binning to minimize the noise in low light. The results were mushy and lacking in detail compared to a half-decent current phone since nothing so brilliant was going on.
Both cameras can record video, although there is no optical image stabilization and there aren’t many settings available. There are other scenario types, such as sports, winter, and night.
The Astro Slide may be charged by either of its two USB-C connectors, which are located on opposing sides. Both enable OTG and video output, but not directly over USB-C; instead, a USB-C to HDMI converter, such as the one sold by Planet for £33, is required. For £37, you can also get its USB-C hub, which has two USB-A ports and an Ethernet socket. All of this makes sense if you intend to use this device to boot into Linux-based operating systems, including Debian, Kali, and the phone-friendly Sailfish OS.
The Astro Slide’s twin SIMs offer even more flexibility, with room in its extra-long SIM tray for two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card. It can also use E-sim. With compatibility for Wi-Fi 5 rather than Wi-Fi 6, this phone’s connectivity is flawless, with both SIMs supporting 5G.
The Astro Slide 5G is now available directly from the manufacturer for £573 in the UK with delivery. That is $588 for customers in the US and €573 for those in the EU.
You may specify the phone’s needed keyboard layout when placing an order with Planet Computers because they offer a huge range to pick from.
According to XDA Developers, the Astro Slide 5G was developed by Planet Computers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Compared to other smartphones using the same chipsets, it is a little gadget with a different purpose.
The first product from Planet Computers was an effort to upgrade the beloved Psion 5 personal digital assistant (PDA) from the late 1990s for the cellular age. A complete Qwerty keyboard for text entry and app navigation was the Psion 5’s clamshell design feature. To build a device that was more PDA than a phone. Planet Computers collaborated with Martin Riddiford, the hardware designer for the Psion, to maintain both of these functions in the Gemini.
To sell the Astro Slide to consumers by March 2021, Planet Computers first unveiled the phone in March 2020. The phone was then made available for pre-order through an Indiegogo crowdfunding effort that earned more than $1.6 million.
It’s a versatile and cutting-edge gadget in many respects, with several clever features that can save you time and effort. Others find it simplistic and constrained (think the camera and accompanying app). Additionally, remember that buying from a small business rather than a global juggernaut has advantages and disadvantages.
Overall, however—and let’s never forget that it is a special device—the Astro Slide’s advantages exceed its drawbacks.
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