Planet Astro Slide 5G
Price: £729 from fave.co/3ajwrYF
I considered writing this review on the miniature keyboard of the Astro Slide, but thought better of it. Even though the Astro Slide looks like a tiny laptop, with its angled screen on a hinge and small mechanical keyboard, it’s not actually trying to be one. This is a device designed by and made for computing enthusiasts. It’s a secondary device, even though it can be used as a phone.
The Slide is best thought of in this way, similar to how it’s best to approach the Microsoft Surface Duo 2. It’s for composing emails on the train or fixing a line of code without turning on your PC.
As a phone for phone calls, it is cumbersome. As a smartphone, it is awkward. But as the mechanical keyboard device it sets out to be, it just about nails it.
So, if you’re hankering for a mobile device with a keyboard after mourning the latest death of BlackBerry, this could be the niche product for you.
DESIGN
The Astro Slide is its design, and a BlackBerry it is not. This is a unique phone, so much so that I struggle to even call it a phone – in a good way. It’s wonderful that something like this exists.
It has a sliding hinge you reveal by pushing the left edge of the
