This new PDA sports solar charging and a physical keyboard

The abbreviation PDA may not be entirely unfamiliar today, but it is no longer commonly used. It stands for Personal Digital Assistant, meaning a mobile system with functions such as a calendar, notebook, and address book, but without cellular connectivity. PDAs have more or less been made obsolete by smartphones, so the Orion PDA is likely more of a project for enthusiasts. However, there could be practical reasons to use a PDA like this. The lack of network connectivity out of the box could also be an advantage in terms of security.

The Orion PDA is a DIY project that could potentially be made available to a wider audience through crowdfunding if there is enough interest. It uses an LCD that does not support color output and has a fairly low resolution of 536 x 366 pixels. In return, it is said to require very little power and should remain easy to read in sunlight. A solar cell is integrated into the lid, which could significantly extend battery life even without charging.

It uses an STM32U SoC, which should not consume too much power. Naturally, a complex operating system like Android is not feasible on this hardware. There is a headphone jack. A microphone can be used to record voice notes. Larger amounts of data can also be stored on a microSD card. The USB-C port can be used not only for charging and firmware updates but also for syncing data. Text should be relatively quick to enter thanks to the QWERTY keyboard.