The Photonicat 2 is a decently equipped mini PC running Linux that is intended to act as an excellent router when on the go, courtesy of a hefty 51 Wh battery, as well as 5G support. The product is already in the crowdfunding stage, and is expected to reach customers sometime in October.
The Photonicat was launched over two years ago, created by an engineer who as fed up with having to hunt for reliable network connections when on the go. The product’s successor, the aptly named Photonicat 2 is already here, and features more powerful internals and longer battery life.
At its heart, the Photonicat 2 is powered by the Rockchip RK3576 ARM SoC with four Cortex-A72 and four Cortex-A53 cores. This SoC is very commonly found in SBCs intended for hobbyist use, and makes complete sense powering a very capable portable router. Storage and memory requirements are handled by up to 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of eMMC storage, which should be more than plenty for its use case.
Although the Photonicat 2 is undoubtedly a full-fledged mini PC, it is designed to be portable router first, and this fact shines through when we glance at the system’s I/O options, which are limited to HDMI, a single USB 3.0 Type-A port, USB-C for charging, dual Gigabit Ethernet, microSD, as well as a 4G/5G nano SIM slot. OpenWrt and Debian are supported for now, with future plans for an Android version as well.
One of the most notable improvements of the Photonicat 2 is in terms of battery life. The included 51 Wh battery is well inside laptop-territory, and allows for a claimed 24 hours of use. An internal antenna is present, as is support for up to four external antennas. Last but not least, the built-in LCD display conveys battery status, a variety network details, and more. Multiple variants of the Photonicat 2 will be sold, starting at $99 for the PCBA only. Further pricing details are available on its Kickstarter page.
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Sambit Saha – Senior Tech Writer – 600 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023
As a true tech nerd and lover of all things Apple, I love reading, researching and writing about the latest advancements from the Cupertino giant. My fascination with Apple’s design philosophy, commitment to user satisfaction , and dedication towards pushing the boundaries of consumer technology keeps me eagerly anticipating what they’ll unveil next.
Sambit Saha, 2025-09- 9 (Update: 2025-09- 9)
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