Innovation

Windows 10 pocket PC: Ockel's Sirius A gears up for November launch

The six-inch Windows 10 Sirius A is undergoing final testing ahead of its official launch.

Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer Sept. 5, 2017 at 6:27 a.m. PT

Ockel's Sirius A is the size of a large smartphone but has one wider side for ports for an external display, HDMI, LAN, and microSD card.
Image: Ockel

Ockel, the maker of the Sirius A six-inch hybrid phone-PC, is gearing up to ship the device in November.

A year ago Dutch firm Ockel Computers hoped to release the Sirius A by May but has made a number of revisions during prototyping and now aims to ship the device to its crowdfunding backers on November 20.

Ockel aimed to pack everything a computer has into a smartphone-like form factor. Though it's about the size of a large smartphone, it has one wider side to support a broad range of ports for an external display, HDMI, LAN, and a microSD card. It also has two USB 3.0 ports, one USB Type C port, and a separate power jack.

The device is for people who want to run full Windows 10 but don't want to carry around a laptop or 2-in-1.

The Sirius A features a six-inch full HD touch display, and runs on an Intel Atom Cherry Trail processor. The Pro model has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage with Windows 10 Pro pre-installed, while the standard model has 4GB and 64GB storage with Windows 10 Home.

A new feature that Ockel has added during the prototyping phase is Windows Hello support via a fingerprint reader in the power button. Backers voted for the feature.

The Sirius A features mobile sensors, such as a gyroscope and accelerometer, but at 334 grams (11.8oz) it is tad heavier than the iPad mini 4. It also doesn't have a phone app for calling and only has a front-facing camera.

Microsoft helped the company create a feature called Switch Mode, which converts the device into a keyboard or mouse once attached to a screen as an input device.

Ockel recently explained to backers that shipments would be delayed as it hadn't realized some of its integrated-circuit suppliers needed a 16-week lead-time. It still has one more batch of pilot units due later this month before going into mass production on October 20.

The Sirius A and Sirius A Pro will be available at retail for $699 and $799, respectively. The models were available to backers on Indiegogo for $549 and $649.