Okay, but how about a Raspberry Pi device with a BlackBerry keyboard designed for Beeper?

There’s one factor you may positively say about Eric Migicovsky: he appears to be having plenty of enjoyable. The Pebble founder left a three-year stint as accomplice at Y Combinator to co-found chat aggregation app Beeper. Throughout this time, the {hardware} goes again to its roots.

In 2017, it launched a Kickstarter for Podcase, an iPhone charging case with built-in AirPods slots. A yr in the past yesterday, it introduced plans to “carry again” the little cellphone. It was a small however selfless act.

Such phrases possibly relevant to a brand new undertaking, BlackberryIt has been specifically designed with Beeper customers in thoughts. As for the second a part of the title, that comes because of its use of an precise BlackBerry Basic bodily keyboard. This and the 400 x 240 Sharp reminiscence e-paper-like LCD are powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero, making it a type of blackberry pi.

The thought is – partially – to return to the comparatively distraction-free nature of Beeper’s namesake. It is extra like a scrapped model of the Gentle Telephone, with fewer options.

Given the low-power nature of the entire deal, there’s most likely a 2000mAh battery that might work for some time. There’s additionally USB-C charging on board if you happen to’re nervous about it getting caught within the late/early ’90s.

All of this has been hacked collectively because it appears. The corporate sells the kits for $79 – or $99 if you’d like the Raspberry Pi, relying on how far you need to finish your yr. There are solely 50 out there at launch (probably much less as I write this, as a result of he introduced it on Twitter yesterday), it can seemingly run out.

Who can say past that? It is a bit of a distinct segment in a distinct segment, but it surely’s a enjoyable return to the period when gadget running a blog felt a lot extra. Designer SQFMI expects kits with out the cardboard to ship in August, whereas others will arrive the next month.