Planet Computers Cosmo Communicator Gallery

Planet Computers may not be a household name, but the UK company has been carving out a niche in the speciality smartphone space. The Cosmo Communicator is neither small nor inexpensive, but what it offers that nothing else has is a sizable QWERTY keyboard. Specifically, it's a keyboard inspired by the much-loved Psion Series 5 layout.

That's a boon for anybody tired of tapping at a touchscreen, or pecking at the tiny thumb-boards offered on BlackBerry and similar devices. The Cosmo Communicator pairs it with a roughly 6-inch internal touchscreen and a much smaller 2-inch external display, which can be used for basic control and notifications. There's dual-SIM 4G LTE, two USB-C ports, WiFi 802.11ac, and a MediaTek chipset running the show.

It's not going to appeal to everyone, but the idea of dual-booting Android and Linux on a gadget that fits in your pocket definitely has some charm. Priced at around $800 it's about what you'd pay for a laptop though considerably smaller, and while touch-typing is probably not likely, you'll get a much higher word-rate than with most smartphones.