New Linux/Android 2-in-1 Tablet 'Open Slate' Announced by Brax Technologies

Brax Technologies just announced "a privacy-focused alternative to locked-down tablets" called open_slate that can double as a consumer tablet and a Linux-capable workstation on ARM.

Earlier Brax Technologies built the privacy-focused smartphone BraX3, which co-founder Plamen Todorov says proved "a privacy-focused mobile device could be designed, crowdfunded, manufactured, and delivered outside the traditional Big Tech ecosystem." Just as importantly, BraX3 showed us the value of building with the community. The feedback we received — what worked, what didn't, and what people wanted next — played a major role in shaping our direction going forward. Today, we're ready to share the next step in that journey...
They're promising their "2-in-1" open_slate tablet will be built with these guiding principles:

• Modularity beyond repairability". ("In addition to a user-replaceable battery, it supports an M.2 expansion slot, allowing users to customize storage and configurations to better fit their needs.")

• Hardware-level privacy and control, with physical switches allowing users to disable key components like wireless radios, sensors, microphones, and cameras.

• Multi-OS compatibility, supporting "multiple" Android-based operating systems as well as native Linux distributions. ("We're working with partners and the community to ensure proper, long-term OS support rather than one-off ports.")

• Longevity by design — a tablet that's "supported over time"

Brax has already created an open thread with preliminary design specs. "The planned retail price is 599$ for the base version and 799$ for the Pro version," they write. "We will be offering open_slate (both versions) at a discount during our pre-order campaign, starting as low as 399$ for the base version and 529$ for the Pro version for limited quantities only which may sell out in a day or two from launching pre-orders...

"Pre-orders will open in February, via IndieGoGo. Make sure to subscribe for notifications if you don't want to miss the launch date."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader walterbyrd for sharing the news.

Saw the video earlier today

[RitchCraft]

I saw Rob's video earlier today. Very impressive tablet. The multiple physical kill switches are a nice touch, as is the replaceable battery and M2 slot. The claimed 20 hour battery life is impressive as well. I had a few Asus B121 Slate tablets years ago. While those were clunky and had disappointing battery life I do miss the convenience they offered. This Brax tablet may be the reason to try again.

I use a Linux tablet

[OrangeTide]

I have a Star Labs StarLite. It's getting a bit long in the tooth but I'm pretty happy with it. It's not perfect of course, few 2-in-1 computers are. I'm not a fan of keyboard cases for tablets in general, this one tends to pop loose easily so I prefer using a simple stand and mechanical keyboard. The main difference with what I have is it's just an x86, so pretty easy to deal with and pretty decent performance across the board. For my purposes it has decent stylus support, so I can use an off-the-shelf generic surface 3 pen (4K) with it. I can code, use discord with my D&D group, and draw.

ARM is probably the future. But I won't tough another ARM tablet unless it has UEFI or u-boot. And the chip vendor's support absolutely has to be upstream before considering it. Else you will be stuck on some old distro and it will be a real struggle to upgrade.
Wish I could comment more on the Brax specifically but getting a nice summary of specs from the website was too hard. I got a lot of nice marketing buzzwords though.

Re:I use a Linux tablet

[caseih]

Agreed about the boot thing. If Google is to be believed the modern term is now "SystemReady." That means UEFI and ACPI, and supports the various ARM system standards, and can boot generic distros with stock, unmodified kernels without needing devicetree.

ARM is currently a bit of wasteland when it comes to proprietary kernels and downloading OS images from dodgy download sites. Sadly RISC-V is no better currently.

There are ARM systems out there that meet these requirements, but they are expensive. System76's Thelio Astra starts at $3k for a desktop tower.

Re:

[mspohr]

They are planning:
Native Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu Touch, Ubuntu, Debian, Yocto Linux and others)
We’re working directly with Linux integrators and chipset partners to ensure proper mainline Linux support, rather than one-off ports that break over time. The intent is long-term OS viability, even beyond the lifecycle of any single operating system or company.

Re:

[bemymonkey]

>ARM is probably the future. But I won't tough another ARM tablet unless it has UEFI or u-boot. And the chip vendor's support absolutely has to be upstream before considering it. Else you will be stuck on some old distro and it will be a real struggle to upgrade.

Agree 100%. There's a disturbing lack of realization of this fact in the official forum for this tablet... people are focused on requesting luxury features such as built in cellular instead of making sure the base is solid.

Re:

[ChunderDownunder]

from the MEGATHREAD:

We're working directly with Linux integrators and chipset partners to ensure proper mainline Linux support, rather than one-off ports that break over time.

So it's essentially a crowd-funded Android tablet that they're hoping will gain enough traction for upstream Linux. Who does the programming legwork is unclear.

If they're serious they would throw a few free ones to free software communities such as Mobian and postmarketOS as Pine64 has done with various bits of hardware such as the

People still use tablets?

[TheMiddleRoad]

I want my phone to support a full desktop with at least two full-size, external screens.

The price and Indiegogo mean I'll wait

[rklrkl]

I would love a cheap Linux tablet (maybe running Android apps via Waydroid? Or having the ability to multi-boot between Linux and, say, LineageOS) available at a normal retailer. Sadly, this tablet is neither cheap nor at a place I'd want to buy from (remember that Indiegogo projects can take all your money up front and either deliver nothing with no refunds or deliver it potentially years later). Wake me up when it's half the price on Amazon or somewhere equivalent.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

That's the problem with a lot of these form factor devices. You can get nearly get a locked down crappy Amazon device in your Cheerios box, and if you're spending this kind of money you can pay a little more for a laptop. The e paper stylus notepads look super useful to me but $700 and a subscription and I'm better off sticking with my rocketbook for general use or my phone or laptop if I really want direct e stylus into OneNote or so on.

Re:

[walterbyrd]

I can get a decent Android tablet for about $100.
A tablet that goes for $600 - $800 is hard to justify.

Re:

[Reygle]

That cheap tablet you can get- it's not the product- you and your data are.

Not the first time

[fred6666]

Every now and then, a manufacturer will try to make an open source phone, or a reparaible phone, or a privacy-phone. They all fail for the same reasons. Their volumes are two low, they get outdated components, which means they sell you something for $800 that would otherwise be worth $200. They don't have the same quality assurance as big corporations like Samsung. So expect annoyances that you can't guess from the spec sheet such as crappy microphone, software bugs (which they won't have the resources to fix), poor battery life, etc.
But I wish them good luck.