Electronics nerds and indie hackers are going to love this. The Pocketbyte is an upcoming portable computer you can endlessly customize to serve as a music player, gaming handheld, or even a personal digital assistant out of the 1990s.
What initially started off as a modest breadboard-based DIY project is now taking shape as a modular device with its own little community driven ecosystem. You can see what its developer kit presently looks like, complete with a modular pin connector at the bottom.
This device is being built around a ESP32-S3 processor with 8 MB of PSRAM, a microSD card slot that supports up to 32 GB of storage, a 1,500-mAh battery, and a 2.8-inch IPS LCD display that promises readability in sunlight. There's also a mono speaker and 3.5-mm headphone jack for audio output.
It runs on a open-source software platform based on FreeRTOS, and can also run Arduino. You can either download free community built apps to it over Wi-Fi via its app store, or write your own in C or C++. A simulator lets you try out your software on your desktop before beaming it over to your Pocketbyte.
That might be par for the course with ESP-32-based gadgets, like the Kode Dot we saw last year. What's neat about this one is the modular pin connector that'll let you add hardware accessories for whatever you want to do with this device.
Pocketbyte notes it'll happily run an emulator for retro game consoles, so you can plug in a gamepad. If you want to take notes, you could swap that out for a full BlackBerry-style QWERTY keyboard. Alternatively, you could connect a breadboard to control other electronics.
That all fits in a compact doodad measuring roughly 3 x 2 in (75 x 55 mm), similar to a credit card. I could see myself using this to disconnect from my always-pinging phone, while still having a music player and keyboard-equipped notepad on me.
The only bummer is the Pocketbyte is still very much in the works. It's said to be developed solo by a teenager based in Canada, with a small number of pre-orders for the developer kit opening this (Northern Hemisphere) summer. That batch is expected to ship later in the year. So if this sounds like your jam, just be prepared for a bit of a wait.
That said, a community has already begun to grow around this project on Discord. Plus, the developer plans to expand the software library and make STL files available for others to 3D print cases for their own modular add-ons.
I'd love to see an iPod-style wheel to scroll through music and podcast playlists – it can certainly be done. That'd make for an elite addition to any EDC loadout, especially in 90s-style transparent casing.
Source: Pocketbyte
