Tech Gadget Flipper One: New render graphics of the interior raise questions

After 3D-printed housing prototypes, inventor Pavel Zhovner now shows what the PCBs look like. Key components remain pixelated for now.

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Flipper with pixelations
3 min. read

The Flipper One is intended to be more versatile than its predecessor, version Zero. Inventor Pavel Zhovner has now published new images on his Telegram channel showing a fully populated device – albeit only as a 3D rendering. It reveals some details about the equipment but pixelates the SoC and other components.

Zhovner had already confirmed multiple times that the Flipper One will be more powerful than the Flipper Zero – the device is intended to be a small Linux-based computer, and Zhovner plans his distribution. And a recently published photo of the device's back already revealed interesting details. Now, users of the Russian-language channel "Zhovner Hub" have new details to discover.

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The new device will apparently consist of two interconnected PCBs. The lower board houses the ARM SoC, the GPIO pins known from the predecessor but not compatible with its pinout, an M.2 slot, and large parts of the peripherals.

First image of the Flipper One main PCB: Ethernet and USB are clearly visible, and the gadget also has SIM and SD slots.

(Image: Pavel Zhovner)

The following components can already be clearly recognized in the roughly resolved renders:

  • a USB-A type socket,
  • two USB-C ports
  • an HDMI port, presumably Mini-HDMI,
  • 2x10 GPIO pins (the Flipper Zero has 18 pins in a row),
  • two Ethernet sockets,
  • an M.2 slot for two different module lengths,
  • a slot for Micro-SD cards, and
  • a SIM card slot.

The antenna connector visible in the housing prototype is only indicated: in its place, there is a connector on the PCB, which is likely intended for the SMA socket on the housing.

Flipper One: The M.2 slot and the SoC are located on the underside of the main PCB.

(Image: Pavel Zhovner)

On the second board, there is the display (pixelated by Zhovner in the screenshot) with its familiar retro look and orange background. To its left, the developer has placed a capacitive touchpad, and on the far right, there seems to be space for a jack – possibly for headphones or an external microphone. The four control LEDs for LAN1, LAN2, W-LAN, and Internet access, as well as a total of 13 buttons for control, can also be seen.

Flipper One: The display, control buttons, and touchpad are on the upper PCB

(Image: Pavel Zhovner)

But what else is hidden in the 3D graphics? What is peeking out from under the M.2 adapter? And what's with the pixelated chips? The largest of the four ICs is likely the SoC – probably significantly more powerful than the STM32WB55RG on the Flipper Zero, which features a Cortex-M4 core with a 64 MHz clock frequency as its application processor – the function of the other three is unclear. The twelve-pin header connector on the underside is also not routed to the outside on the known prototypes.

It is still unknown when the Flipper One will be released, and its price remains a mystery. The Flipper Zero is currently available for just under 230 Euros, with extensions for WLAN and motion control costing around forty and just under sixty Euros, respectively.

(cku)

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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.