I was wondering if there was a phone with a case that would allow one to carry around a node as part of the phone. Having two communication tools to carry and charge is pushing my limits.
My first thought was something like the T1000 (SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E for Meshtastic) integrated as a module into a suitable case (yes, problems with antenna… but just so that one can connect to the base station without bluetooth).
Then perhaps a meshphone would be nice and was wondering if there was any sensible way of using a linux phone for this e.g. LoRa Add-on - PINE64 to even go apple or google free as a stand-alone graphical user interface and node.
My take on this would be to start by integrating a RAK with small battery modularly into a phone case and either (i) using the phone as an inductive charger of the RAK board or (ii) inductively charging the RAK board at the same time as when inductively charging the phone. Aim being to unify everything into one device and only one charging action, keeping the bluetooth as the data connection. 3D printing ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcB00Uk0AI
Meshtastic announced Linux Native, and seems to support SPI SX126X.
I have the LoRa backplate, but haven’t had a chance to see if this can be done.
I understand the LoRa backplate can drain the battery while the PinePhone is off, so if you’re going to let it sit, maybe plug in or remove the backplate.
Sure. But want to charge it and not forget it. As a house node to connect to the base node that is too far for Bluetooth. Out and about I would do what you suggest.
For me a heltec V3 literally taped to the back of the phone works great for me. Just ugly.
Can’t provide a photo. As have lost the heltec somewhere! Another reason to have the node attached to phone, much harder to misplace. (the phone already has ‘find my phone’ from Google!)
They key part is it shares the phone battery, so not a seperate device have to keep charged. Yes, it discharges battery quicker, but already keep an eye on phone battery level.
Yes can check the device battery from the nodelist on in app. But have to remember to check that!
A phone can be disabled or otherwise compromised over the baseband. Or more prosaically, someone may push an update to it that causes it to stop functioning with your radio node (as happened recently).
A combination device would be the worst of both worlds, from a redundancy standpoint and from a security standpoint.
