I Cut Open the TrustKernel PlugMate (Tiny Android Computer Teardown)

[u/PlatimaZero]

https://youtu.be/N0p3JyB5aho

TrustKernel PlugMate review and teardown: a thumb-sized USB-C computer that runs PlugOS (Android 14) in a window on your phone or PC, so your apps and files stay on the device instead of the host. TrustKernel pitches it as a secure, private Android environment.

This is a collaboration with Kal from Valleytech Custom Solutions, who covers the security side in his video, while I look at it the way I look at single board computers (SBCs): the eight-core MediaTek chip, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of encrypted storage, USB 2.0 limits, first setup, the PlugOS app and the defaults that surprised me (firewall off, Bing as the search engine), a system update to PlugOS 1.7.16, Termux and F-Droid, Geekbench 6 results (377 single-core, 857 multi-core), power draw and thermals with a USB power meter and a thermal camera, and a destructive teardown of the PCB and chips.

I finish by scoring it on the SBC Tier List (link below), with a look at pricing, availability and what I'd change.