PocketMage brings the PDA to life with an electronic paper display

Personal digital assistants like the popular Palm Pilot were one of many devices that we thought were extinct with the arrival of the smartphone. But similar to Canon is reviving a nearly decade-old digital camera To appeal Point and shoot fansTalisman Design is crowdfunding a clamshell personal digital assistant (PDA) called PocketMage that combines a tactile keyboard, e-paper and OLED displays into a device that fits in a pocket.

There are two different types Pre-order options for PocketMage on Crowd Supply, Plus you get your choice of vellum (gray) or royal purple colors. The $235 version comes fully assembled, while the cheaper $185 version requires you to build it yourself. However, the DIY PocketMage only requires a screwdriver to assemble. No welding skills are needed, but patience. Orders placed now are not expected to ship until March 2027 at the earliest.

Powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller with just 2MB of RAM and 16MB of storage (expandable with a microSD card), the PocketMage is geared toward simple productivity tasks, but it’s a bit more capable than older PDAs from companies like Casio. The open source device comes with apps including a calendar, journal, dictionary, and Markdown text editor for writing or taking notes. There are additional applications such as a calculator, e-book reader, and web browser already available.

The PocketMage’s primary display is a 3.1-inch, 320 x 240 e-paper display that omits touchscreen functionality for a capacitive touch bar on the side that can be used for scrolling. Above the PDA’s small QWERTY keyboard is a smaller 1.8-inch, 256 x 32-pixel OLED display used for functions like menus that require a higher refresh rate than e-paper displays. There’s also a basic piezo speaker, a 1,200 mAh battery that’s good for about a week between charges, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a USB-C port that’s compatible with peripherals like a larger keyboard. For developers and developers, PocketMage also includes a powered expansion port to expand its capabilities with custom hardware.