1 min readI have no idea if the Mecha Comet is brilliant or doomed but it's exactly the type of tech you hope to find at a tradeshow like CES.
Announced earlier today in the lead-up to a Kickstarter campaign for the gadget, the Mecha Comet looks like a Game Boy fell into a bucket of MotoMods or a smartphone that slipped out of a timeline where the Apple-Android duopoly didn't take.
Hyperbole aside, it's a handheld PC that runs on Linux and comes powered by a 1.8 GHz Quad-core ARM processor, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage. What's on the outside matters just as much as the inside though. The Mecha Comet supports a set of interchangeable covers that allow for nifty new possibilities. One cover adds a keyboard. Another adds a set of gamepad controls.
Mecha are currently showing off three accessories for the device but the company is encouraging the usual crowd of tech tinkerers to built their own using a set of open source designs in much the same way as the Nothing CMF Phone 1 supports custom covers. The startup is also taking a similar approach to repairability with replacement parts available as STLs that can be 3D-printed.
The Mecha Comet isn't going to be for everyone but it's the kind of gadget that lets you make it your own, which is always nice to see. Even if it is unlikely to be much of a mainstream hit, it's clear that Mecha see plenty of possible futures for the hardware here.
According to the company, you could use the Comet to build your own take on something like the Rabbit R1, turn it into a long range radio receiver and plenty more. While the device itself runs on a custom operating system called Mechanix OS, it's said to be compatible with anything built for Linux.
Although Mecha hasn't disclosed full pricing for the device just yet the Kickstarter page for the gadget says that those who get in early will be able to pick one up for as little as US$159. At the time of writing, there's no specific date listed for the crowdfunding campaign but it seems safe to expect to hear more sooner rather than later.
