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The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

kickstarter.com

31–40 of 140 posts

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#31
Oh hey guys, this is us. Thanks for posting!

I wasn't going to post our product in HN, since tech-specs wise this tends to be a high-end audience, but I wanted to share a little bit about what we're trying to accomplish and the reasoning behind the entry level specs.

The Superbook is the attempt to prove that the concept of device convergence and the benefits of continuum are exciting enough to 1) get most people to not need a laptop and 2) to provide mobile-first economies to have an affordable option to do work without switching OS or need to buy another device.

Is it going to replace the MBP in silicon valley? Not yet. Most of the time I require higher specs too. But for most of the world that uses their laptop primarily for browsing the internet, writing documents, and watching movies on a larger screen - it's enough. And it's also affordable enough that everyone can try the concept out. We're aiming to build both the hardware and software that makes this possible, with enough flexibility that you can run it on any Android phone and with no technical knowledge needed.

What's probably my favorite use case: having come from a non-profit background (YC S14, Bayes Impact) it's really awesome to see tech impact the world. We are really really excited to be working with the Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom Education Project to provide Superbooks to kids in South Africa so they can learn without restraints. Even having the basic keyboard, mouse, and display will provide a great opportunity to better take in content and engage.

Happy to pop back in [doing Kickstarter support for the next hour] and answer questions if folks on HN are curious. We're also in SF, so feel free to reach out and drop by to see the prototypes! (email in profile)

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#32

Motorola did this 5 years ago. Nobody cared. http://www.digitaltrends.com/buying-guides/a-complete-guide-... I think the main problem is who wants to carry around a laptop that you have to plug your phone in to use? That's a pretty big "Accessory." I mean, if you already are carrying something around as big as a laptop, why cripple it with phone hardware? I think a more compelling use-case would be a phone dock video…

My buddy had an atrix and he got the laptop dock; it was actually OK, but since it was limited to that one phone it didn't work out long term (he switched phones about a year in).

There are probably folks who don't do much more than word processing and email, in which case this (a screen + keyboard + battery for your phone) might actually be useful. I feel like this is the niche that tablets w/ keyboards fill -- this will have to compete directly with those. It has the benefit of the trackpad, which feels more like a full laptop.

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#33

Motorola did this 5 years ago. Nobody cared. http://www.digitaltrends.com/buying-guides/a-complete-guide-... I think the main problem is who wants to carry around a laptop that you have to plug your phone in to use? That's a pretty big "Accessory." I mean, if you already are carrying something around as big as a laptop, why cripple it with phone hardware? I think a more compelling use-case would be a phone dock video…

There are a variety of apps that let you use your phone as a touchpad with a variety (or lack) of information on your phone. Somewhat nice for certain scenarios.

Disclaimer: I haven't used that sort of setup since the 1st gen iphone and windows xp.

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#34
post #21

How many times do we have to watch this exact kickstarter project fail to deliver? There have been countless made for phones, raspberry pis, and tablets. Maybe they'll ship, but the ux is trash especially considering you can get a chromebook for $100 more. What is the actual benefit of this device? Instead of toting around a chromebook, you tote around the shell of a chromebook? My laptop is never 'out of sync' that…

Can you link? I'm interested in what previous attempts look like and don't follow kickstarter much.

I imagine as phones get faster & better this setup continues to work, vs chromebook is forever slow. In the future if we could attach USB peripherals and if we could have a high-res (2k / retina) LCD it'd be awesome.

I have a little $40 ipad retina LCD I use with a displayport driver chip and I power it via a $20 usb battery pack, but it's for use with full computers only, not android.

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#35
I don't understand why these products are always pitched as a consumer product when this is an enterprise dream come true. People are fickle and refuse to change their personal habits, but using my phone as a thin client sounds a lot more appealing than having separate laptops for work & play.

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#36
post #2

I find this project quite interesting. Do you think it could provide a good development environment? I was thinking that with something like Eclipse che this could be useful when traveling

Assumes you have a reliable connection, no?

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#38
post #31

Oh hey guys, this is us. Thanks for posting! I wasn't going to post our product in HN, since tech-specs wise this tends to be a high-end audience, but I wanted to share a little bit about what we're trying to accomplish and the reasoning behind the entry level specs. The Superbook is the attempt to prove that the concept of device convergence and the benefits of continuum are exciting enough to 1) get most people to…

Is there any way your hardware would support something like being the KVM for a headless server (or family member's computer that you are working on) or something?

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#39
post #7

Can anyone comment on the likelihood of being able to create this for the amount they propose? I have been burned by hardware devices on kickstarter, and I have heard my hardware friends say that it is much harder, and sometimes they can tell right away that they cannot deliver the product for the amount raised. I don't know if that is true here or not. Just wondering if someone knows if this can be done. (I know, ke…

Given the parts look like they're off a bargain basement chrome book just without the expensive processor and ssd, the hardware will be low quality, but they can probably hit the $100 price point.

Isn't that SSD on the ARM versions just an eMMC, so close in price to a MicroSD card.

Re: The Superbook: Turn your smartphone into a laptop for $99

#40
It would probably be a bit fiddly given how every phone is a little different, but it would be cooler if you could slot your phone into the case instead of having it dangle from a cable.

That said, I'm not sure there is much point to this when you could just carry around a netbook. The phone integration is almost guaranteed to be glitchy thanks to fragmentation on Android and trying to use apps outside of their expected environment.

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