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Universal Android Laptop Dock: Microsoft Nightmare, Or Toy?

Posted by timothy on from the cross-platform-within-a-platform dept.

ozmanjusri writes with this story from PC World: "A company that makes keyboard docks has announced a laptop-like peripheral that uses smartphones for processing and storage. Since many Android and Apple phones have multi-core processors powerful enough to deliver laptop-level performance, they only lack usable screens and keyboards to be productive for most office work. ClamCase believes their 13.3-inch 1,280 x 720 ClamBook with keyboard, multi-touch touchpad, and dedicated Android keys will make up for the lack, and turn smartphones into fully-functional laptops. A device like the ClamBook could be a real game-changer for the computer industry. If it succeeds, peripheral makers could build docks which would allow any monitor, keyboard, mouse and storage to be powered by any Android phone. It's a combination which would make BYOD offices very tempting for the corporations who are the Windows/Office combination's remaining cash-cow." I only wish the company would license the idea as well to established makers, so otherwise conventional laptops could gain the ability to easily become advanced phone screens, too.

2 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Re:RaspberryPi + phone? by dreamchaser · · Score: 5, Informative

    I too prefer a discrete, separate phone. That's why I bought an Asus Transformer Prime. It doesn't have 3G/4G so it isn't tied to any carrier and the keyboard dock was made to match it along with dedicated Android keys and an extra battery. It's the best of both worlds from a tablet/laptop standpoint. The rare times I'm not near WiFi I use a portable hotspot which I use anyways so I can get connected on my laptop if I need to bring out the big guns for a work issue. Most of the time when I'm on the road said laptop, which is a huge beast, can stay in the bag because I get all my needs met by the tablet.

  2. EOMA-68 by mysteryvortex · · Score: 5, Informative

    This idea might be better implemented as an EOMA-68 to android phone converter. Then you could use any EOMA-68 compatible devices with it including, but not limited to, clamshell keyboard/screen/touchpad devices. (I.E. a netbook shell)

    As far as the RPi; I'm much more interested in this EOMA-68 compatible card which uses the more powerful Allwinner A10 CPU. That gets you the capability to run a complete open source stack (including GPU) and a datasheet! (Something which Broadcom refuses to give you for the RPi even though it was designed by Broadcom employees!)

    Shamelessly copy-pasted specs for the Allwinner A10:

            1.2ghz Cortex A8 ARM Core
            MALI400MP OpenGL ES 2.0 GPU
            DDR3 Controller 800MHz 1GB max
            2160p Hardware-accelerated Video playback (4x the resolution of 1080p)
            a NAND Flash Controller that is capable of 8-way concurrent DMA (8 NAND ICs)
            4 SDIO interfaces (SD 3.0, UHI class)
            USB 2.0 Host as well as a 2nd USB-OTG Interface (USB-OTG can be reconfigured as USB 2.0 Host, automatically)
            24-pin RGB/TTL as well as simultaneous HDMI out
            SATA-II 3gb/sec
            10/100 Ethernet (MII compatible)
            a 2nd 24-pin RGB/TTL interface that is multiplexed (shared) on the same pins for a standard IDE (PATA) interface.
            GPIO, I2C, PWM, Keyboard Matrix (8x8), built-in Resistive Touchscreen Controller, and much more.