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Universal Android Laptop Dock: Microsoft Nightmare, Or Toy?
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.
And a nice case of course.
I'd rather have a RPi, and a phone to do the phoning.
I just fail to see that this is a "game changer". The steam engine was a game changer IMHO.
rm -rf --no-preserve-root /
they only lack
No, there's much more missing than just the large screen and keyboard: Office applications, for one. A web browser is not enough.
And as we've just seen in the /. stories discussing Windows 8, a mobile UI is NOT a good idea for a laptop/desktop.
You have the choice of:
1) keeping the computer screen up and hands-free talking and annoying everyone in your office,
2) Picking the phone up out of the dock for a more private conversation, but losing your computer screen which could be a problem if someone has a question that requires your computer, or
3) Wearing one of those stupid headsets every time someone makes a call.
I like the idea, and the hardware looks sexy, but none of those options appeal to me. Anyone have a better way?
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
IT guys at large corporations have been monitoring this for at least TWO YEARS.
Heck, a friend of mine who works for SIEMENS says they've done some limited roll outs using the Atrix as a desktop replacement for some field support personnel. They've got teams learning the ins and outs of creating custom OS images for given phone sets so they can simply image peoples' phones the same way they do when you connect your laptop to their system now.
How eager people are to connect their 'work' phone, and what 'work' phone means now, is a bit more up for debate there. My friend says a lot of people are excited at the idea of ditching desktops AND laptops for certain types of employees and simply having offices filled with docking stations.
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The phones are quite handy, but too small for real mobile usage (apart the calling stuff).
This idea looks quite interesting as it'd add to a smart phone just what's missing for real usage.
But I see two major cons:
1. That thing would drain the phone battery very fast, whatever technology it will use for the display.
2. There's still the "other way around": use the smartphone to add a netbook/notebook what's missing (the connectivity) which is already widely available via bluetooth and/or USB.
I personally don't see the tablets a real mobile killer application: they're too large to be handy, there's still no keyboard (unless you have to type a 140 characters message), adding an external keyboard will bring the same weight as a netbook, with less features an power.
So I'd say: let's see how it goes!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
And I'm sure the reality is that the future of this device is somewhere between your two hyperbole-laden extremes - but that's not quite as exciting now, is it?
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
Mr. Shuttleworth has already been offering Ubuntu desktop on Android phones for phone vendors. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work for laptops.
The palm pilot gave answer to the need to take your data with you but it didn't offer much in the way of user interface because the device itself was limited by its size. This fundamental problem hasn't been addressed well since.
But now, we are seeing something I once told people was coming -- the computer [and data] is in your pocket and everything else becomes just the user interface. So wherever you go, you just plug in to whatever interfaces are available... whatever interfaces are appropriate. Your desk? Your car? The table at a restaurant or coffee shop?
Yeah, this is Microsoft's nightmare. They could have gotten involved with some of these really good ideas, but instead, they put their money and effort into keeping things the same which pretty much never works.
What a fucking stupid idea - the processor + storage are the CHEAP part of the phone. Now instead of having a phone + a laptop, you wind up with a phone + a lobotomized laptop that doesn't work without the phone, at a cost that's close to that of the complete set...
In every dual-core phone, there’s a PC trying to get out. http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android
Damn!
They could do it bback in 2008 with any device that had USB host (I was experimenting with acer n30 back then)...
And Get a "5yr old" desktop with some arm-linux flavor in a formfactor of PDA.
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.
As the risks of BYOD are primarily about things like data theft/breaches and introducing malware into the organisation, I don't see providing a nice screen and keyboard as a mitigating factor.
Well, it isn't a risk in the same sense, but the other risk with BYOD is employees not being able to effectively work together.
Right now BYOD is OK because people only use it for email and browsing, for the most part.
When you try to apply that to everything else, you start having problems. One employee starts authoring all their documents in one format, and another uses a different one. So, you impose some standard. Now a bunch of employees can't comply with the standard readily, unless you buy a lot of software for them. Some employees have devices that don't work well with the corporate Exchange server or whatever.
So, then you start certifying individual models of devices. At that point you're not really doing BYOD so much as Pay For the Corporate Device. My own company has started taking that route, which just means that I don't use my smartphone for work. They don't even certify a single device for my carrier, and since they aren't paying for my phone bills, I'm not going to revolve my phone around their selections.
Well the risks are that the device is not under your control, so you cannot wipe it etc...
Data can be stolen from a company supplied device, and malware can be put onto one just as easily.
On the other hand, a bunch of isolated android devices will be far less susceptible to malware than a bunch of windows boxes which have common access credentials.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
Even harder is a chromebook setup. This eliminates the need to pay for cellphone data plans, they pay for the data plan on the company owned chromebook. Then tell the employee to stuff it in their arse about getting reimbursed more than $10.00 a month for their cellphone bill.
It allows the company to screw the employee while maintaining security and you get automatic backups. Simply deduct the cost of a new chromebook + 40% from the employees paycheck if they get thiers stolen and hand them a new one after you reset their password.
All done. You can fire 90% of the worthless IT department, submarine the cost of replacement laptops back onto the worker by taking it out of their pay, and not even have to have a phone system because you are also making the worker pay for all your business communications. Bonus points if you can figure out how to deduct the Chomebooks data plan also out of the workers paycheck.
Heck put that plan in place and I'll bet they promote you twice and give you a nice big golden parachute. Corperate america loves it when you can screw the employees for better profits!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This. Now.
Why?
Smartphones may well "have multi-core processors powerful enough to deliver laptop-level performance", but only entry level laptops. Ie, those in the $200-300 range. And my guess is that 90% of the costs for those are design, assembly, shipping, marketing, & support. Costs which can't be reduced. (If it wasn't so, there'd be near-disposable $50 laptops using older generation technology.) That means you save almost nothing by leaving out the processor and memory (the only thing the phone provides). Oh, and then they need to add the cost of their custom dock for the phone itself.
Which means just to equal the price of a mass-market entry-level 13" laptop, they will be on razor margins, which means they can spare nothing for the design. So expect it to be slower, uglier, and clumsier to use (since you probably can't make calls and work at the same time).
I could see Apple making something shiny and clever in this design space, and being able to charge enough iTax to make it worthwhile, but this? No.
It would be much more useful if someone came up with a dock for Android tablets and phones that allows either or both to be used as smart-display touchscreens for your main desktop. Ie, it allows the user to move menus, toolbars, palettes, tabs, on to the phone/tablet, or an entire secondary program, or anything the user wants. Elegantly. Without taking focus away from the main window/display.
Or a wireless connection on the dock, so that if you remove the device in the middle of a sync or transfer, it seamlessly continues wirelessly.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
for the 21st century.
The problem is, two different sets of interface devices demand two different interfaces.
If one could re-work UI elements via theming so that the system would morph from smart phone to desktop interface and back (throwing in an intermediate Tablet size would be a great bonus) this sort of thing might work.
I've always been faintly surprised Apple hasn't had an option where an iPod could be slotted into a MacBook and used to store the user's home directory (as well as backing it up on the hard drive --- then determine which to boot based on the currently inserted iPod).
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Windows 8 could be the best operating system for this thing.
Stop laughing, I'm serious. The biggest hurdle is trying to merge two input paradigms into one OS. The second biggest hurdle is application support for the power-user.
So, on both counts, why try? An OS that has a huge application base and can switch between laptop mode and phone mode while sharing the same applications and storage is probabbly a better idea.
Incidentally, you can do this in Linux too. Install both window managers, say Gnome 3 and xfce, and switch between them at login time with xdm.
Patents are OK as long as you actually invent and market/license something.
If you take some exiting idea, patent it and expect other companies to pay you for it... then you must be living in the US...
This is virtually the same thing as laptop docs... not to mention existing mobile docs (Motorla Lapdock)
Anyone claiming license fees or royalties from this "invention" is actually hindering innovation and it's widespread adoption
I can't do android development on android
You must have missed this story from three months ago about AIDE.
No, he works. You play at home. My current Thinkpad (X200s bought at the end of '10) only has VGA out. It has DisplayPort on the dock but not on the unit. Because they know what their customers actually have. And you go somewhere and need to plug up to a projector you will get handed a cable with a VGA connector on the end. The projector might have been replaced in the last year or two (it could have failed or something) and now support a digital input but when the conference room was built a VGA cable was run through the wall/ceiling from the projector to a wall jack near where you are going to present from.
In other words VGA is going to stick around until all those locations undergo a major remodel because HDMI isn't enough better to spend money on a crew to come in and add a second cable + HDMI booster + jack.
Democrat delenda est
and if you think it will be around for ages, you also dont know much... Display Port is rapidly replacing it. HDMI will end up as the shortest lived connector spec out there.
Display Port is *not* rapidly replacing HDMI in *ALL* markets. Maybe in the high end office monitor market (where HDMI never made it into the high resolution monitors in the first place) ... but nowhere else.
How many TV's have display port ports on them? How many computer monitors aimed at consumers? How many non-apple consumer laptops? Virtually none.
I'd say that copper based Thunderbolt has a much better chance of being the next "one interface to rule them all" (for short distance runs) than plain display port since it combines display port AND PCI E on a mini display port connector. There's simply no reason for the consumer market to move from HDMI to Display Port at the moment, or in the next couple of years. I'd say that HDMI will last longer Component Video on consumer video, and has already lasted longer than the DVI interface on mainstream TV's.
Oh, btw, I agree that the HDMI connector is a POS, and the use of the DVI/HDMI spec for consumer audio/video where long runs are sometimes necessary is also garbage, but I just disagree that it won't be around for much longer.