I thought for some fun we could do a couple of quick polls on general use case types for the open_slate, so just out of interest, and totally unofficial:
First - In general terms how do you expect, or would you plan to, use the device as? Choose the combination that would best represent 98%+ of your likely use…
NOTE: will close these polls in a week to 10 days - approx. 13/14 Feb.
Casual Tablet (i.e. as a secondary device or similar, on the couch, etc)
Active Tablet (e.g. significant use daily or for business)
Tablet & a Laptop (with keyboard, maybe a mouse, etc)
Tablet & a Laptop and external Monitors (and keyboard, maybe mouse, etc)
Small Factor Laptop only (via external keyboard, mouse)
Small Factor Laptop only but with external Monitors (via external keyboard, mouse)
How will you use it to network? Assumption is everyone will use USB cable to a PC or a similar device at some time so this is about what primary additional ways you will connect (i.e. wirelessly) to network(s)/Internet with the open_slate.
Choose the combination you plan or intend to most commonly use (e.g. would represent 98%+ of what you want to or expect to do to use). “None” option would include USB Ethernet adapter as only connectivity in addition to PC or Laptop:
None (other than USB cable to a PC or Laptop)
Wi-Fi Only
Tethered to your Mobile Phone (or similar) by Cable Only
Tethered or Hotspot to your Mobile Phone or Travel Router by Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth (may or may not also use a cable too)
Wi-Fi and Tethered/Hotspot (by any means)
Wi-Fi and Cellular onboard (whether internal/integral or via attached USB 4G/5G dongle)
Wi-Fi, Tethered (to Phone), and Cellular onboard (whether internal/integral or via attached USB 4G/5G dongle)
Cellular onboard only (whether internal/integral or via attached USB 4G/5G dongle)
Interesting to see a fairly even spread across 4 of the use cases after just over 24 hours of submissions. Highlights, I think, the need for some good balanced design choices as opposed to anything too specialised to ensure a single device design is general purpose enough to cover all scenarios.
In my case I have an iPad Air (10.9") with Apple Pencil (2nd Gen) and bluetooth keyboard which open_slate will immediately replace; plus an Apple MacBook Pro M1 (that I’ve recently converted to Asahi Linux). And I’m hoping open_slate can eventually replace that entirely as well (rather than eventually replacing the MacBook Pro in the future with a dedicated Linux laptop from System76 / Tuxedo / Framework /Slimbook / KDE or similar).
But the latter will depend on exactly where my usage requirements end up over next couple of years and what I need from the ‘laptop’ device/role versus a Tablet/Tablet with Keyboard device - on the current trajectory they will just about merge if the latter is good enough and a full laptop may be redundant.
the funny part is that probably none of those voting will buy the device, the first example is me though I engage in the discussion, this is why big-tech can sell garbage devices without asking anyone about features and still remain big-tech
I’d say it’s 50/50 I buy the device in its first year. I have a specific budget for playing with emerging tech. If I’ve spent it before the device is released I’ll have to wait until next year. The proposed device does scratch an itch I’ve had for a long time.
What might be an interesting intermediate step would be if Brax released a framework motherboard with the same design constraints as the tablet; this would allow them to bake in all the privacy, and test the software stack on the new architecture, without doing all the mechanical engineering for a complete device.
I think it would have been better (assuming Discourse allows it) to have the discrete use cases as poll options, but allow the voters to select more than one. In each of your polls I found myself torn between multiple options (and the connectivity one was particularly frustrating, to find the combination you specified that was correct for me).
The results are certainly interesting and I’m enjoying the discussion, however.
Yes you can do that and it was my original intent when I thought of the idea of doing them… BUT it would make the numbers less useful from an overall indicator perspective IMO for use of the device as a whole due to the duplications. The existing options I tried to make as mutually exclusive as possible so only one should best describe the most likely combination of uses eachperson would have.
Having multiple choice would tell you the popularity of each type/way of use, but not a clean % that correlates to # of voters. But can always add a third detailed multiple choice poll for that later…
Likely going to use this for SDR/Mesh radio. Vary curious what pin out on those bottom pins are, I assume USB with some power. A custom case with SDR/mesh built in and some antenna’s would be slick.
I have a Brax 3 phone and I promise I’ll be ordering on day 1 (or 2 if I miss the email). I’m a recent Linux convert on my desktop and my Dell laptop is now 10 years old. I also want something like a tablet but I’m (almost) completely over Amazon and Google.
Dire, I’m a little hazy on what you mean. Why wouldn’t the Slate be capable of running programs? I guess I’m hazy on the difference of and app and a program…
Provided my Brax3 comes through sometime soon, I’d be happy to purchase it. I think we’re all of the same mind when it comes to our interest in braxtech; given sufficient proof of reliability, I’d be all in for a deep dive.
I will be running this as a replacement for anything my laptop does that isn’t gaming. I don’t do anything with graphics so this seems perfect, since it will operate more like a Linux PC than having the limitations of a tablet.
