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

kickstarter.com

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

#41

Post by tmzt »

unwiredben wrote: post #23

This reminds me a lot of the Palm Foleo, a device I worked on ten years ago. It was mini-laptop sized, designed to be a phone companion, but it worked over Bluetooth and actually ran its own applications, just using the BT connection for continual data sync. This one has a much better chance of actually shipping, and the advance of computing power has made it a lot more viable. Good luck.

Yeah, you basically invented the netbook a few months too early, and marketed it as an accessory when it was a full-fledged computer hardware-wise.

By the way, did the GPL code used on that ever get released, assuming the demo units counted as distribution?

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

#42

Post by [deleted] »

unwiredben wrote: post #23

This reminds me a lot of the Palm Foleo, a device I worked on ten years ago. It was mini-laptop sized, designed to be a phone companion, but it worked over Bluetooth and actually ran its own applications, just using the BT connection for continual data sync. This one has a much better chance of actually shipping, and the advance of computing power has made it a lot more viable. Good luck.

[deleted]

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

#43

Post by fit2rule »

kajecounterhack wrote: post #32
DigitalJack wrote: post #15

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…

I still have a Lapdock. I use mine as a handy workbench monitory/keyboard/battery setup for the plethora of small device I have that fit in its squid-like cable adapters: raspberry Pi's, beagleboards, and so on. If but for that stupid decision to make non-standard i/o ports, the Lapdock probably could have been a more useful general-purpose dock, already.

That's really something to keep in mind. Superbook is one thing, but its really just a fixed Lapdock with a different ethos regarding interoperability.

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

#44

Post by bigjimmyk3 »

_ea1k wrote: post #8

What is the advantage of this over something like a Chromebook? It seems like throwing a phone-grade CPU in it and giving it a little more capability would be more worthwhile than being completely dependent upon a tethered phone.

It's also one less device to manage connectivity on (connect to wifi, pay for data plan, etc.).

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

#46

Post by apendleton »

larrik wrote: post #38
ajiang wrote: 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?

Seems unlikely, given that it lacks any kind of networking (it relies on the phone for that). Of course, with a phone plugged into it you could use an android VNC app.

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

#47

Post by kajecounterhack »

post_break wrote: post #45

I wish it could dock the phone behind the screen or something. I don't want to have my phone connected to this thing like some sort of tether through a USB cable.

+1 even a velcro strap that feels really solid. The side phone-holder attachment is a little flimsy looking.

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

#48

Post by aj7 »

soared wrote: 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…

Clearly you don't tote around anything. (But the phone.) What if your main cpu, os, and memory were always with you? An alter cocker like me is not going to shlep a laptop on a plane. And there are as many of me as you.

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

#50

Post by barrkel »

DigitalJack wrote: post #15

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…

Motorola built an accessory for a single phone. This is different: it's a combo of keyboard+display+mouse for any phone that can handle the I/O.

I could see this working if the devices were reasonably common in e.g. airports, hotels, etc. But they would have to be reasonably ubiquitous for you to confidently forego dragging along a laptop.

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