
Relaxing with Runcible, the circular 'anti-smartphone' - ivank
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/runcible-circular-anti-smartphone/
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grey-area
The anti-smartphone I'd love to see is a small bluetooth communicator with a
mic, buzzer and speaker in some sort of small badge, with an SDK like
pebble's, but it has to be small and thin. You could do an awful lot of
notifications with subtle sounds, and of course have phone calls, send voice
messages or text messages (speech to text) via your phone. Love the filtered
notifications idea here though.

Once you start adding a screen, the battery requirements go through the roof
and you need something very big, at which point it's like a cut-down phone
without the internet connection and battery life and size become a constant
issue. The Apple watch is chunky and ugly in its current incarnation because
of these problems, and unfortunately this device is pretty big too.

We need internet connected things which complement phones and enhance our
lives, not compete with them in different form-factors. Another thing that'd
be nice is some sort of colour epaper scroll for a reader which winds up
really tight into a tube. It is interesting to think about where the future
could take us with printable electronics and better performance, but it feels
like we're on the cusp of all these technologies becoming possible, but not
there yet - a little like 90s feature-phones - promising but not persuasive.

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joshuapants
Your epaper scroll idea reminds me of what Rob Pike said at the very end of
this interview: [http://rob.pike.usesthis.com/](http://rob.pike.usesthis.com/)

>The world should provide me my computing environment and maintain it for me
and make it available everywhere. If this were done right, my life would
become much simpler and so could yours.

>I would allow the setup to force me to carry a computer screen around, as
long as it rolled up and fit inside something the size of a pen and had touch
input when unrolled. As long as it had no local storage.

~~~
snowwrestler
From a usability perspective that would be very cool. But I think we'd need
some big changes to our laws. Under current U.S. laws, data you have in your
physical possession is subject to greater legal protections than data you have
hosted at a 3rd party. Switching to a life without local storage today means
accepting lower protections for privacy and legal defense.

~~~
joshuapants
That's a good point. I guess that could be mitigated by operating your own
server, though that would never be a popular option.

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igvadaimon
"It runs on Mozilla's Firefox OS platform and lets you make calls, ask for
directions and browse the web. So when you're heading out to grab dinner with
friends, you can leave your smartphone at home and avoid the temptations of
Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat."

I don't understand these two sentences at all. If you can browse the web, how
does it help "avoid the temptation"?

It's a nice looking round thingy, but "anti-smartphone"?..

~~~
qznc
Because Firefox OS has no Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat Apps (yet).

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Digit-Al
But if you have a browser you don't need the apps... Just log in via the
appropriate website.

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benologist
Having a browser != having a browser you want to use. The e-ink kindles have
browsers that would only be well suited to an emergency.

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hemmer
This reminds me of the aesthetic in Her [1], which was summarised nicely here
[2] by the production designer:

    
    
      "You could say that Her is, in fact, a counterpoint to that prevailing vision of the future–the anti-Minority Report. Imagining its world wasn’t about heaping new technology on society as we know it today. It was looking at those places where technology could fade into the background, integrate more seamlessly. It was about envisioning a future, perhaps, that looked more like the past. “In a way,” says Barrett, “my job was to undesign the design.”
    

[1]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/)
[2] [http://www.wired.com/2014/01/will-influential-ui-design-
mino...](http://www.wired.com/2014/01/will-influential-ui-design-minority-
report/)

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netcan
There seems to be an interest in making, and perhaps owning secondary mobile
devices. The problem, IMO is that most people have one SIM for their phone. If
phone companies would give you a 2nd SIM for the same number, I think a new
little market could emerge for them.

~~~
fit2rule
Its quite easy to get a second SIM, and multiple SIM-slots are one of the
reasons for Androids' popularity in various non-US markets, namely: Asia. Its
very common to have two SIM's per phone - one for private, one for work, or
one for calls and one for Internet.

~~~
icebraining
Yes, but the point wouldn't be to have two numbers on the same phone, but two
phones with the same number, so you'd need two SIMs with the same number.

~~~
fit2rule
Well its probably different for your market, but I have no problems calling my
telco and asking for a second SIM for my account - same #, same plan, etc.

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dagw
An actual phone SIM? How does that work? Do both phones ring? Does the one
phone stop ringing when you answer the other? What happens when you're talking
on one phone, does the other phone ring?

I mean lots of places offer secondary data SIMs for your phone plan, but never
one that gives you the same phone number.

~~~
fit2rule
One is set as the 'parent' SIM and incoming calls will only ring on that
phone. If you're using the master and another call comes in, it can be
configured to either go straight to voicemail, or ring on the second phone.
Quite convenient.

This is available all over Asia - as usual, the Western countries seem to
either be being held back by some regulation, or simply behind the times.

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slyall
Video review of demo version:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlo8jHHeP8Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlo8jHHeP8Y)

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RankingMember
Perhaps it's time we stop beating around the bush and just release a StarTrek
communicator already. Looking for screenshots, I found someone already did:
[http://www.orionlabs.co](http://www.orionlabs.co)

~~~
grey-area
That's about 5 times the size of a StarTrek comm badge and far uglier, still,
at least it's a step in the right direction.

~~~
ivraatiems
Surely you're thinking of the TNG-VOY-DS9 era combadges, not the clunky flip-
phones from the original series?

~~~
grey-area
Oh yes probably.

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drzaiusapelord
My Moto 360 is this and more. The Runcible just looks like a poor re-invention
of the smartwatch. Its almost looks like a comically archaic pocketwatch
version of a smartwatch, which is a form factor no one is really playing with.

I love having Google now and Google search just one whisper away from my
wrist. Just the other day at dinner, we were discussing the ages of certain
celebrities and I just whispered, "Ok google, how old is William Shatner" and
got the proper answer with a headshot. I didn't just get a link to wikipedia
or a list of search results - I got the actual result with next to no effort.
Pulling out my phone and doing this just seems like a pain in the ass now. The
Android Wear products are full of hidden gems like these.

The minimalist mobile device is already here. The Runcible guys seem to have
been leapfrogged by AW and by whatever Apple finally releases.

~~~
userbinator
_Its almost looks like a comically archaic pocketwatch version of a
smartwatch_

I'd call it a dumbphonepocketwatch.

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verisimilitude
I assume the name is a reference to Edward Lear's favorite nonsense word?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runcible)

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anonymfus
It reminds me Siemens Xelibri series.

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Zigurd
Chumby 2.0

