
Device turns Android phone into computer. A reason to make HTML 5 apps? - scriptproof
http://clamcase.com/clambook-android-and-iphone-laptop-dock.html
======
Casc
Getting closer...

I really think a smartphone docking into stations is the future. "Mannequin"
Laptops, desktops etc that are activated once a smartphone is plugged in. You
can now use a keyboard, external monitors, your OS slightly adapts... iOS
becomes Snow Leopard (not exactly, you just have more functionality)

Once docked, a smartphone can unlock additional cores that would otherwise
consume too much power, activate a more powerful GPU, possibly one even housed
in the docking station itself...

I really think smart phones will become the magical little chip you place
inside a cyborg to operate a larger, more powerful creature.

Imagine working at home off your docked smartphone computer (fully functioning
OS), undocking and using your simple apps on the train to work (mobile OS, not
much different than current experience), getting to work, docking into your
station and you're right back at it (full OS)... portability with a familiar
ui/ux feel... seamless experience.

Or gaming at home, undocking and going to a LAN party with your friends, not
having to worry about whether or not the games / apps are installed, the docks
are generic... plug and play.

(Ignoring the whole home to work aspect and security issues / work policies,
of course)

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3902051>

~~~
jiggy2011
Possibly, a few issues though:

Hardware is getting cheaper , for example the $25 raspberry pi computer. It
will become likely that peripherals like the screen , case and keyboard will
be more expensive than the actual computer itself (especially if the CPU etc
are smartphone grade stuff).

If you have additional hardware inside your phone that is unlocked only when
it is plugged into a docking station, then why are you carrying that extra
hardware around in your pocket the whole time? Why not just put a very fast
GPU inside the docking station for example and have some sort of high speed
bus.

If you are making 2 versions of the same application with different UIs then
that is really very similar to making 2 applications. Sure you can do a lot of
code re-use, but this is possible anyway even when you are programming for
separate devices.

Portable things like phones get easily lost of broken, imagine losing your
smartphone and being basically unable to do anything until you replace it
because there is no such thing as a "fat terminal" anymore.

Businesses are probably going to prefer bolted down systems (physically and in
terms of software) that employees do not take home with them.

The internet makes this sort of a moot issue anyway, because if most of your
applications are SaaS and all of your data is stored on a server anyway then
anything with a web browser can become a dumb terminal, there is no need for
your own hardware.

~~~
Casc
I don't think all applications will work cross dock.. Some sure, all no.

And in regards to housing the GPU inside dock, thats exactly what I was
thinking. I believe you may have missed:

"Once docked, a smartphone can unlock additional cores that would otherwise
consume too much power, activate a more powerful GPU, possibly one even housed
in the docking station itself..."

~~~
jiggy2011
I missed the part about the docking station and assumed you meant inside the
phone, sorry.

Once you have put the GPU inside the docking station though, people will start
to say "hmm, why not put a faster CPU in there too" "oh, and a bigger SSD so
we can cache more stuff" at which point the phone starts to become redundant.

As with all of these things , I imagine it will be cyclical.

~~~
Simucal
To me, the phones primary purpose in this scenario is to maintain state.

I can be working at home and instantly sleep my "phone-computer", slip it in
my pocket and then resume right where I left off when I arrive at work by re-
docking it.

~~~
dmragone
Exactly! Even now I'm annoyed that I have to type on my iPhone keyboard when
I'm sitting at my computer and someone sends me a text. Would infinitely
prefer that when I'm in proximity of my computer and logged in that the phone
functionality was available in the computer's OS and on screen.

And then being able to get up and carry what I was doing on my computer
wherever I go would be the next step.

~~~
jiggy2011
Wouldn't it be simple enough to write an app for your phone that would check
if it was connected to your "home" wifi and then upload incoming sms messages
to your desktop/laptop.

The phone app could wait for you to type a reply on your PC which is then sent
back to the phone and then the phone would send it.

I'd be amazed if something like this does not exist.

~~~
MartinodF
AirDroid is a pretty good start:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdr...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid).
It lets you manage most of the phone functionality from your desktop.

------
glogla
I love the power consumption charts with no numbers, not units and basically
not information whatsoever. Gem of marketing, really.

Also, I don't really think this is a good idea. Phones have different power
and thermal envelopes, so even with Moore's Law, dedicated desktop is always
going to be more powerful than laptop, and laptop is going to be more powerful
than this. Same goes for storage, memory, graphics and everything.

And one more thing, after playing one of the games in lastest Humble Bundle
that was originally released for iOS, I am of the opinion that touch and
mouse/trackpad interfaces are incompatible in both ways, that using mouse or
trackpad with touch apps is as impractical as using touch interface with
traditional desktop apps.

~~~
swalsh
The thing is most people who have a need for a laptop, don't have a need for a
beefy laptop. Its the form factor they care the most about. Sure you and me
need something more beefy. I have emulators, and simulation programs, and
virtual machines running. My brother on the other hand has 3 spreadsheets, a
word doc, and about 5 tabs open in chrome. A smart phone could probably handle
his workload. I would take a guess that the average computer user has more in
common with my brother then myself. To them there's probably a lot of value in
having this all on one device.

~~~
jiggy2011
A smartphone probably _could_ handle his workload, but a CPU/motherboard
design that was less constricted by size would be able to do it faster.

Also would your brother want to dock/undock his phone with his laptop all the
time? I generally just leave my phone in my jacket pocket most of the time so
if I want to go out of the door I don't have to hunt it down. Under this
system your going to have to go find your laptop and unplug it before you can
leave.

Under this logic it would have made sense for Apple to launch the iPad as
simply a "big screen" dock for the iPhone. Instead they launched it as a
separate device with faster hardware.

I predict that tablets will start to become far more powerful than smartphones
in the long run as demand for high end graphics will increase whereas
smartphones will become more optimized to reduce power usage.

~~~
maxerickson
You are trying to shove the future into a present-day sized box.

If things were working correctly, there wouldn't be any need to take your
phone out of your pocket to have it drive the laptop.

And the laptop needn't be useless if the phone isn't around, it should just be
able to advertise its screen and keyboard to the phone, so that a user that
wants to push text at the phone can use the laptop to do it (without messing
around with much of anything).

~~~
jiggy2011
It really depends who far into the future we are thinking. If we have the
technology to reliably stream high resolution video (of the desktop/UI)
through the air with no noticeable latency at 120fps then all bets are
basically off.

------
andybak
Even a ballpark indication of price would be helpful. I have a bad feeling
that it will price itself too high to be useful (especially considering I'm in
the UK and tech seems to use bizarro $1=£1 exchange rate).

~~~
coob
Prices in the US don't include sales tax (VAT). In the UK they do. Take the
new iPad for example. $499, add 20% UK VAT ~$599 which at today's rate is
~£385.

The UK price for the same iPad is £399. Yes there is a discrepancy, but you're
not being ripped off as much as you think you are.

Unless you buy an Apple TV, that is.

~~~
mibbitier
Could also be due to licensing regulations etc etc. There seem to be a million
and one EU directives regarding different levies placed on tech. For example
if something can record more than 30 seconds of video I believe it's classed
in a separate category and carries with it hefty levies.

~~~
dan85
Also, if I remember right, in Europe, electronic devices must come with at
least 2 year warranty, compared to 1 year in the US.

------
reason
Something about this just doesn't seem legitimate.

Also, in the fine print at the bottom:

"The images on this website are examples only. Actual products may not contain
the same design or functionality as featured on this website. "

------
quarterto
This thing is just begging for Ubuntu for Android.
<http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android>

~~~
mtgx
Not exactly the same solution. Ubuntu for Android lets you run Ubuntu on the
desktop, and no Android apps I think.

This seems to work more like Asus' Padfone, so when the phone is docked, you
get ICS on the larger screen, and get to use all Android apps.

~~~
danieldk
From what I heard, it's possible to run Android apps on Ubuntu for Android:

[http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/ubuntu-for-android-
announ...](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/ubuntu-for-android-announced)

The fact that they run in a special window suggests that the applications
actually run in Android, but that they are composited in/on the Linux desktop.

------
MehdiEG
No.

Isn't it ironic how just a few hours after somebody posted the wikipedia
article on Betteridge's Law of Headlines
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4092880>), two of such headlines make
the top 2 of HN :)

More on topic, this looks like Palm Foleo re-invented
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Foleo>). I always found the Foleo concept
great so I wouldn't mind seeing another attempt. That said, the success of
iPad and other tablets is going to make this device even more niche than the
Foleo would have been. It'll be a tough sell.

~~~
Digit-Al
>That said, the success of iPad and other tablets is going to make this device
even more niche than the Foleo would have been. It'll be a tough sell.

You are probably right - but not necessarily. This, after all, fills a
different niche to a tablet. You can't put a tablet in your pocket and tablets
are expensive because of having their own processor, memory, etc. This way you
can use all the facilities of your highly portable phone on a laptop sized
device that should, in theory, be a lot cheaper than a laptop or tablet.

~~~
bryanlarsen
Tablets are expensive because of their screen, touch screen, battery and
mechanicals. Everything else is cheap in comparison.

[http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/New-
iPad-32-GB-4...](http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/New-
iPad-32-GB-4G-Carries-364-35-Bill-of-Materials.aspx)

Devices like this still have a screen and battery and mechanicals. Instead of
$20 of CPU and $10 of RAM they have a $10 CPU that includes RAM. That's pretty
much the only savings available.

On the other hand, tablets sell in huge volumes; this is a niche market. So
it's quite probable that tablets and/or notebooks without a CPU will be more
expensive than ones with a CPU.

------
jopt
To me this, if anything, looks like a trade dress infringement (MacBook line).
Can someone help me understand why it isn't?

I don't support IP whatsoever; I'm vehemently against all these laws. I'm just
curious how they're planning to get away with it.

~~~
JackC
I'm by no means an expert on trade dress, but look at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_dress> , especially the law itself (which
is pretty straightforward) and the section on distinctiveness. The key point
is that to win a trade dress suit, you must prove that consumers are actually
confused about who made the product.

Now look at me. Now look at the clambook pictures. See how it prominently says
"clambook" when it's open, and prominently shows the clambook logo on the
back? I suspect that it would be hard to find a meaningful group of people who
would answer the question "who made this" with "Apple." If you know enough to
associate that design with Apple, you know it's not going to have a picture of
a mollusk where the Apple logo's supposed to be. No customer confusion == no
trade dress problem. (This isn't a hypothetical -- they literally do this kind
of survey in trademark cases.)

Incidentally, not all IP law is the same, and trademark/trade dress law in
particular is a Good Thing. You don't _want_ to buy a knockoff Apple power
charger thinking you're getting the real thing. You don't _want_ to pay French
champagne prices for California bubbly, or Coke prices for store-brand soda.
The basic question in trademark law is "how often does this product succeed in
tricking someone into buying one thing when they meant to buy something else?"
Obviously courts will get the answer wrong sometimes, and there might be areas
where the line should be drawn a little differently, but for the most part
this is an area of IP law you should vehemently support.

I'm on a horse.

------
mtgx
Why is it not a reason to make Android apps?

~~~
redthrowaway
I'm far more interested in this. If I could have full productivity features
with Android, I'd take a serious look at making it my only device. As it is,
tablets simply can't bring enough to the table to convince me to ditch the
laptop.

~~~
mtgx
Same here. I've just bought a new Windows laptop, and I'm planning on getting
a new "machine" around 2015 or so. The hardware should be "good enough" by
then (quad core 2.5-3.0 Ghz Cortex A20 - or whatever they are calling the
next-gen 64 bit chip after A15), and I'm hoping Android will be mature enough
as an OS by then with a lot of productivity apps, that I can just use an
Android machine (like a Transformer device) for everything.

I'm also on the lookout for a Windows alternative in the future, as I'm not
liking the direction Microsoft is taking with Metro at all. But Google needs
to become a lot more serious about tablet (and desktop) apps by then. So far
I've not seen that, but maybe things will change when they launch their own
Android tablet at I/O, unless they will keep pretending phone apps are good
enough for larger screens.

------
pragmatic
I can do this with my current phone with this device:

[http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/Motorola-
Lapdock-100/73...](http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/Motorola-
Lapdock-100/73945,en_US,pd.html)

The clam case is much sexier.

But, even at $250, I can't find a compelling reason to use my phone in laptop
environment. The apps just aren't there.

Also, $250 gets you a fully funtional (and more powerful) Windows/Linux
laptop. Spend some more and you get a machine you can write code on and game
with.

I wish them all the best, but this is going to tank.

~~~
dave1010uk
I bought a Motorola Lapdock for my Atrix for £50 (about $80) in a sale. It
seems really cool but hardly gets any use as I have a real laptop with a
proper desktop OS.

------
mistircek
It took me a while to understand what actually the product is. Is it just a
dock? A MacBook Air like laptop? Only then I understood it was a laptop that
"connects your phone to laptop" (I'm still not sure if I got it right, so
correct me if I'm wrong). I'd probably won't buy it but good luck to them.

It's funny that now every laptop is looking like Apple's MacBook Air.

~~~
sneak
It's not a laptop, it's an all-in-one external display, keyboard, and battery
for an Android phone.

For 90%+ of computer users on Earth, it's way better than a laptop.

This smells like the future.

~~~
jasongullickson
Citation please.

~~~
sneak
From TFA:

> MHL Technology simultaneously delivers digital video to ClamBook and power
> to your Smartphone

> Standard Laptops can run uncomfortably hot in your lap. ClamBook's
> processing happens on your Smartphone, so it runs cool as cucumber.

> With MHL® technology, your smartphone charges while it’s connected to
> ClamBook.

> ClamBook's slim and sleek aluminum design features a widescreen display,
> full-sized keyboard and multi-touch trackpad. Add style and functionality
> while transforming your Smartphone into the ultimate connected device.

> Impossibly thin, Incredibly light

Apparently it has speakers too.

~~~
jopt
Those are advantages of this product. The citation (I think) should look more
like the source of that 90% figure.

------
chubbard
Now it looks like producing apps that are tablet + phone capable is important
for this to succeed. Think if you have an app running on your phone, and you
dock it now you just got more space so you're app should change to tablet
style interface. Android's architecture might shine because apps are capable
of single binary with all of the goodies included for phone vs tablet. So
plugging in your phone just causes the Android App to run onCreate() again on
your activity and now you're in tablet layout vs. phone layout. iPhone is a
universal binary, but it's two different executables in one package so you'd
have to start the app over. The over arching point is form factors like this
require app developers do certain things to make their apps behave well in
these environments.

------
jcromartie
I see a lawsuit from Apple coming:
[http://lghttp.5654.nexcesscdn.net/8041F9/mage/skin/frontend/...](http://lghttp.5654.nexcesscdn.net/8041F9/mage/skin/frontend/pro/cc/images/cbgallery/clambook_laptop_dock_02.jpg)

~~~
swalsh
It's more rectangular then it is wedge shaped.

~~~
joeblau
I don't think that argument is really going to hold up against Apples legal
team.

------
arturadib
Interesting bet. While most are betting on having all your data and apps in
the cloud so you can live device-agnostic (eg iCloud, GDrive, Chrome OS, etc),
these folks are basically proposing a mobile-centered world.

The only advantage I see of this model over the existing cloud model is
possibly cost, as presumably the device is much cheaper than a laptop.

But that comes with a UX price tag - as already pointed out here, app
interfaces built for touch can be frustrating to operate with a mouse/trackpad
cursor.

If they can pull off an attractive price point AND an elegant solution to the
UX problem, this could be a serious sales machine.

------
phate
Hasn't this already been done with the Redfly Mobile Companion
(<http://www.celiocorp.com/companion>) and the Palm Foleo and failed miserably
both times?

~~~
token78
One glance at Redfly is enough to tell you why it wasn't embraced!

And by your logic, the iPad was destined for failure too, no?

I'm not sure if this will fly, but I suspect execution and design will be
major factors.

------
mark_l_watson
I read "Dive into HTMZl 5" 18 months ago when we were in Japan an China. I was
pretty much convinced that this was the future but when I got home other stuff
required attention.

Today I bought 2 more HTML 5 books, and I am trying to take breaks from
consulting to master HTML 5 based apps. Something is wrong in the world if
HTML 5 apps don't replace a majority of platform specific apps because in is
in just about everyone's interest to have a portable UI platform across
devices.

------
netcan
Headline I'd like to see:

 _"Google Turns Android Into A Computer"_

I almost suspect that the chromebook project is down Google's attempt to make
a new kind of laptop.

------
lohn
Here's my question. What if you could purchase a small black cube that served
as a micro-kernel with large computing capability and some type of wireless
connectivity. From there, we could have multiple slave devices such as this
laptop or a smart phone that then could turn connect to your computer box?

That would be pretty cool?

------
angerman
Interesting, they just say "Smartphone", and have an iPhone (am I mistaken?!)
lurking behind the Android device. Similarly, on the part where they had their
marketing department create a "Gaming" sample, the device used as controller
looks very much like an iPhone, even the connector does.

~~~
dan1234
In the small print:

"Some of the ClamBook features highlighted may use modified software. It is
important to note, most manufacturers strongly caution against installing any
software that modifies the original device software (this process is often
referred to as “jailbreaking” or “rooting”)."

There are iOS AirPlay APIs for video mirroring on later devices[1] (you can
even have different content on the external screen and phone's screen), though
I'm not sure how they'd manage to connect a keyboard or trackpad.

This strikes me as more of a design mockup than a viable product. The company
does have existing products[2] but they're not nearly as polished.

[1]<http://www.apple.com/airplay/> [2]<http://clamcase.com/ipad-3-keyboard-
case-black.html>

~~~
angerman
As I mentioned in reply to notatoad, you can connect bluetooth devices to your
iOS device. The trackpad, is the interesting thing though. I don't think iOS
has a concept of Mouse...

------
smoyer
No

The reason to make HTML5 apps is that they'll run on anything with a modern
browser. Some applications are related to the underlying device hardware and
need to be written in the appropriate SDK, but many programs could be done
just as well in HTML5 and would be inherently cross-platform.

------
rbn
I love how they are saying less processing power is better. If netbooks taught
us anything is that sacrificing too much processing power for battery life
ends up with frustrated users. Why not just use a Ultrabook? Everything is in
the cloud already.

~~~
mtgx
It's not the same thing. Netbooks were forced to use a 20 GB OS with much more
bloated apps compared to the lean mobile alternatives, and on a single core
processor. Use Office on a netbook, and then use an "Office" app on iPad. See
which is faster.

The thing about netbooks is that everything from the OS itself to the
applications written for Windows were made with powerful processors in mind,
and as processors became more powerful, those apps became more resource
intensive as well. Then you took all that and crammed it into a very low-
performance netbook.

Mobile operating systems and apps were designed from the ground up to use very
little resources and be lean so they don't use a lot of battery life, either.
So yeah, the comparison is not the same. The most "advanced" app on a dual
core tablet will probably feel just as fast as the "most advanced" program on
a high-end PC, if not faster.

~~~
rbn
mmm.. yes that is true. It will be interesting to see which paradigm wins or
we might have all of them exist side by side. Apple is betting on separation
of mobile and full size computers. Windows and Ubuntu are betting on the same
OS on all screens.

~~~
mtgx
I think either Apple's method or going bottom-up with Android, but they have
to fix the problem of making "mobile apps" work well in desktop environments,
too. Plus, they probably need an improved Android UI for desktops as well,
although the current tablet ICS one comes pretty close to a desktop interface.
But they need to enable a more "desktop-like multi-tasking" and so on.

------
JVIDEL
I'm getting a sort of deja-vu feeling, this thing reminds me of all those
desktop docks for laptops that appeared during the '90s when I was a kid.

I remember it seemed really cool, but in practice it was a pain in the ass.

------
hosh
It would be far more interesting to see this technology on wallboards (TVs),
car devices (de-coupling of interface devices with processing devices such as
GPSs), and supplemental processing units.

------
joelhaasnoot
Wait, where have I heard this before?

Oh wait it's Palm Foleo (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Foleo>) all over
again

~~~
vidarh
Except the Palm Foleo contained a computer. This is a "dumb" box.

It's much closer to the Motorola Atrix laptop dock.

------
UTHorsey
Interesting concept. I'm not sure it will totally catch on though, I use my
smartphone when on the go. I have a PC at home that vastly outperforms any
smartphone.

~~~
vidarh
PC manufacturers other than Apple despair because people overwhelmingly opt
for the low end, low margin devices, since most laptops are now "fast enough"
for people to use them as their primary computers. It's not that long ago that
using a laptop as your primary computer was inconceivable. And even shorter
ago since the thought of using a phone as replacement for a laptop would've
been considered science fiction.

In other words: Your phone will catch up to where it is fast enough for enough
uses for enough people that there will be a substantial market for taking
advantage of the enhanced mobility and flexibility.

Power users will still want more, but power users are a small niche.

------
matmann2001
Motorola will be filing for patent infringement shortly....

------
chj
Now it makes more sense for those quad core android phones.

~~~
mtgx
And 2 GB of RAM. I'd prefer dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 CPU's vs quad core 1.5
Ghz Cortex A9, though.

------
rex64
"Don’t have your chestnuts roasting on an open fire" lol

------
parkrrr
Considering Apple patented the clamshell design from the Macbook Air recently,
I expect this design to shift radically.

------
vignesh_vs_in
omg even the site design screems apple :O

~~~
DeepDuh
yep. "How close to an Apple keyboard can you really get" seems to be one of
the questions they have asked themselves.

About the idea - it's kinda neat but I think it's 2-3 years too early.
Graphics, ram and networking are ok in today's smartphones and may be able to
power a netbook - the CPU however isn't. As an example, HD flash videos is
something today's users expect in an ultrabook sized device and this will
disappoint them. And if this is thought to be an additional device to your
notebook then I have to ask - why? You're still much better off with an ARM
tablet and a keyboard dock.

~~~
vidarh
> As an example, HD flash videos is something today's users expect in an
> ultrabook sized device and this will disappoint them.

There are Android phones out there that can display video at 2160p to an
external display, so I'm not sure why this should be a problem.

But I really don't think people who want to play flash videos are the target
market for this device today.

Rather people like me for whom having a netbook for very basic stuff is very
useful, but who really have no need for it to be an extra computer.

I have everything I need in order to manage the servers I'm responsible for on
my phone, for example, but I'm hampered by a small screen, no keyboard (ssh
via on screen keyboard on my 4.3" phone is somewhat painful) and short battery
life, so today I already carry around spare batteries and a large battery pack
in my back, and really should have a keyboard with me too. That still leaves
the screen. And cables. Getting it all in one sleek case would be great.

> And if this is thought to be an additional device to your notebook then I
> have to ask - why? You're still much better off with an ARM tablet and a
> keyboard dock.

My laptop is a 17.3" "desktop replacement" that never leaves the house. I
don't usually need a laptop when I'm out and about, but as mentioned above
there are cases where _some_ limited capabilities beyond what my phone offers
would be great.

You're right that a tablet + keyboard could meet it, but I'd prefer a 7"
tablet I can easily hold in one hand during commuting, while I'd prefer a
larger screen if I need to have extra stuff to be able to do work anyway.

There's room for a lot of different form factors and types of devices - people
have different usage patterns.

~~~
DeepDuh
How is HD resolution on an external display the same thing as DECODING IN
SOFTWARE a HD flash video? Please keep in mind that Flash decoding is still
not GPU supported on ARM devices (at least as far as I know).

And concerning a target market: Yes it might be useful for some audiences like
sysadmins or people who don't really want to consume media on their computers.
I still think that most people who want to use devices like these want to be
able to watch videos. Even on iPads the lack of flash is what has been most
limiting to many people - luckily the situation gets increasingly better with
the adoption of iOS native formats. I guess we have to see.

~~~
vidarh
> How is HD resolution on an external display the same thing as DECODING IN
> SOFTWARE a HD flash video?

How is software decoding remotely relevant? Doing that when almost all modern
phones and tablets have GPU's that supports accelerated decoding of the
formats that actually get used on the web would be entirely pointless.

> I still think that most people who want to use devices like these want to be
> able to watch videos.

And they will be, given that pretty much even the cheapest Chinese Android
devices around have hardware accelerated video decoding for the common
formats. In fact, the most common chipset in the cheapest of the cheap Android
devices these days tend to have the ARM Mali GPU architecture largely for this
purpose.

------
metaedge
The new Palm Foleo

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Foleo>

------
bbeaudoin
This won't do me any good until Samsung releases Ice Cream Sandwich for my
Infuse.

------
jmitcheson
Client side form factor detection: nightmare mode

------
alex1422
It looks fake..

~~~
bbeaudoin
I agree. Maybe a digital mockup for market testing purposes.

~~~
linker3000
Probably - look at the shot of the racing game; the speed and timing on the
ClamBook display do not match those on the phone.

It's a nice idea and I could use it to replace most of my desktop
functionality - but then I sometimes have to burn a few DVDs, run some in-
house developed apps, read/write USB sticks and use a (USB) Yubikey (OTP
generator) to access some of our systems so it would be very hard to switch
100% to a ClamBook, and there's no way I'd want to keep alternating between
two sets of kit - kinda defeats the purpose - but some may be able to cope.

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franzus
That's certainly a cool direction computing could take. Instead of having a PC
and a smartphone you will only have one device.

~~~
m_for_monkey
You still have two, only you don't have to synchronize your data between them.

~~~
mbreese
Well, you have one _smart_ device, and one or more _headless_ devices that
require you to dock your smart device. But, the big idea is that these dumb
devices could be anywhere... the office, your home, your car, the coffee shop,
etc... Many locations, one device - no syncing. With each dock conveniently
adapted to it's locale. So, the desktop at work has a big screen and extra
storage, the laptop at home is small with a larger battery, and the dock in
your car simply charges the device as you drive.

It's a great vision, if someone could just standardize on a docking mechanism.

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ktizo
Laptops are ergonomically horrible.

If we have removed the technological restrictions that tied us to that form
factor, are there not better ways to modularise this kind of functionality
than to just make a dumb terminal in the shape of a laptop.

For this kind of product, if the keyboard can't unclip from the screen, then
you are doing it wrong.

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MisterBastahrd
Nothing says ergonomics like typing on a hard glass screen.

Not that they're doing it right either. I don't want to have to carry around a
dongle in addition to a fake laptop. Better to sync my data to the cloud
securely and have my device of choice (for actual work) automatically pull
down the relevant data.

~~~
ktizo
_Nothing says ergonomics like typing on a hard glass screen._

I agree. Tablets are ergonomically stupid as well. Don't even get me started
on the general problem of having your fingers blocking what you are trying to
see, let alone the lack of any kind of nice tactile feedback. The current
minimalist design principles for personal computing devices are mirroring the
worst of the architectural ones. Clean, sleek, beautiful, refined, and fairly
useless for most people.

Today's computing devices are fragile toys that look the part, and do more
things, but are functionally worse at doing the tasks of the objects they are
supposed to replace. The fact is I am very close to binning my smart phone and
finding an old nokia 3210, purely because I could use that without looking at
it most of the time, it was much quicker to make a call, it crashed a lot
less, booted up quicker and the batteries lasted longer.

