They're running it under their "Pocket" brand, but with its aggressively practical port layout (including RS232!) it looks a like it's being positioned as the long promised successor to the (fabulous) GPD Micro PC. This impression is bolstered by the odd touchpad and mousebutton placement - copied straight from the Micro PC.
Which is a bit of a shame, because it sacrifices the thing which made the Micro PC a peerless gamechanger - pocketability (ironically). 8 inches is not a pocketable laptop, it's a standard netbook. Which is fine and nice and doubtless many will love it, but... disappointing. What I really wanted was double battery life and cellular modem so I wouldn't have to carry a phone anymore.
I'm getting mixed messages from the touchpad placement as well. That design is perfect for using the computer with your thumbs while walking, and quite awkward for sitting down at a desk. It works fantastically well on the Micro PC, with its clicky thumb keyboard. Yet an 8 inch netbook would seem to be too large for thumb typing. What are the intended ergonomics here?
The swappable rear port for all the exotic KVM stuff is a fascinating feature.
I own both the MicroPC and GPD Pocket 2. The difference in size is not that large, IMO. In fact, I did carry the Pocket around in the front pocket of my pants for a while, specifically as a portable but full-featured device. Granted, these were cargo pants, but still.
Right, the Pocket 2 is a diagonal inch bigger than the MicroPC. This is another diagonal inch bigger on top of that. It's definitely not going to fit in my back jeans pocket the way the MicroPC does. It crosses the line from "phone" to "tablet" size.
Real RS232 may sound nice, but in the last 15 years or so, I didn't come upon any problem that couldn't be solved by a $5 USB to RS232 converter. And those things don't need any more space in your pocket than a regular RS232 cable.
Which is a bit of a shame, because it sacrifices the thing which made the Micro PC a peerless gamechanger - pocketability (ironically). 8 inches is not a pocketable laptop, it's a standard netbook. Which is fine and nice and doubtless many will love it, but... disappointing. What I really wanted was double battery life and cellular modem so I wouldn't have to carry a phone anymore.
I'm getting mixed messages from the touchpad placement as well. That design is perfect for using the computer with your thumbs while walking, and quite awkward for sitting down at a desk. It works fantastically well on the Micro PC, with its clicky thumb keyboard. Yet an 8 inch netbook would seem to be too large for thumb typing. What are the intended ergonomics here?
The swappable rear port for all the exotic KVM stuff is a fascinating feature.