Intel “Pocket PC” prototype is a phone-sized Windows tablet with Kaby Lake-Y

[BigGoofyGuy]

It indicates it is a 'pocket pc' since it has an X86 processor. Perhaps this means it could run different operating systems?

 
https://liliputing.com/2018/06/intel-pocket-pc-prototype-is-a-phone-sized-windows-tablet-with-kaby-lake-y.html

[Doug Clark]

If it runs the x86 instruction set it should, in theory, run other OSes . Sigurd Fastenrath has a video on YouTube showing OS/2 running on an Asus minicomputer with an ATOM processor. And one showing OS/2 running on a Samsung slate tablet running a core i5.

As the article you referenced said, the prototype has been out for 2 years and no one has brought a product to market. My guess is the fact that it is not a phone means it probably wont get built/marketed. The not-a-phone-ness of the Palm Pilot appears to be what killed that product/product type. And this pocket pc is not a phone.

My opinion is you want a phone small enough to fit in your pocket. If you are doing computery type things you want a screen large enough to be useful; it may be possible to run a spreadsheet on a phone sized screen but who wants to do that. The "pocket pc" misses both marks: its not a phone but is phone sized, so the screen is too small be really useful for computery type activities.

[Dave Yeo]

My wife has a Win 8.1 tablet, quad core Atom at something like 1.4Ghz with a GB of ram. Actually a nice piece of hardware with a crappy OS on it, at least for the price.
Problem is that the boot loader is completely locked down, so no other OS will boot. Then there are the devices, touch screen is the big one, though I guess with the right USB adapter, you could plug in a mouse, same with the keyboard, need an OS that supports a virtual keyboard or plug one in. Network driver, likewise and without accelerated graphics...
So yes, in theory they can run any x86 OS, in practice, not so much and especially OS/2 will be missing drivers so even if you could boot it, not too usable.