6 ms·

I'm not really sure why people keep thinking that you're supposed to lug this around. If I were to get this, I would only use it at home when a keyboard and big

I'm not really sure why people keep thinking that you're supposed to lug this around. If I were to get this, I would only use it at home when a keyboard and bigger screen would be nice; or I would buy one for the office and the house. imo the whole point of this is so you wouldn't have to carry anything huge anymore.

dpark 10y ago
Then why a laptop form factor? Laptops exist to be lugged around.
- mikestew 10y ago
  If I'm going to park one at home and at the office, it's going to have to be better than what $99 buys you. Hell, my desk keyboard alone costs more than that. So I compromise with that teensy eensy screen and (what I have to guess to be...) a mediocre-at-best keyboard so that I ... don't have to carry it around? Why not a docking station into which I can plug whatever screen and keyboard I desire? I dunno, I don't care to come across as a hater, but this looks like one of those things that is cool at first glance with all kinds of possible use cases, but you buy it, reality kicks in, and it gathers dust after a month.
  - chaostheory 10y ago
    I don't disagree with your desire for better quality, but as of this moment; I'm not aware of any competing products that allow your phone to transform into a laptop. The only one I was aware of is a Motorola product from 2-3 years back. If there is one, feel free to link to it. Your complaint sounds a lot like the complaints that people made when the iPhone first came out: nitpicking the specs and disregarding the paradigm shift that it brings to the table.
    - dpark 10y ago
      This isn't a paradigm shift. This is dock for your phone. It's literally the same paradigm as a laptop dock. You plug in your device and get to use it with a bigger screen and keyboard. That's all. I've been proven wrong before, so it could certainly happen again, but I just cannot see this being a widely-desired product. How large is the set of people who want a tiny, low-powered laptop that is useless without a phone tethered to it? This is a geek fantasy, where we imagine that having a single computing device is better somehow, despite there being no meaningful scenarios that this enables.
      - chaostheory 10y ago
        > This isn't a paradigm shift. This is dock for your phone. It's literally the same paradigm as a laptop dock. This is NOT a laptop dock. You speak as if there are already tons of other docks for phones. I'm not aware of any aside from that old Motorola dock. Am I wrong? You can say the same thing about the iPhone. "It's just a Blackberry without the keyboard... or a Palm without a pen." "The app store is not anything new that we haven't seen from the carriers" The list goes on. > How large is the set of people who want a tiny, low-powered laptop that is useless without a phone tethered to it? I don't know but I do know in Asia (and in places like Manhattan) there are a lot of people who live in tiny apartments and who primarily use their phones as their primary (or really their only) personal computer. This would be useful for them. It may not be this company that popularizes this design, but I predict it will be widespread in the coming years. > despite there being no meaningful scenarios that this enables ok this is already not true. Not having to carry something as big as a laptop is already a meaningful use case. > This is a geek fantasy, where we imagine that having a single computing device is better someho It's not a fantasy when 1. someone has already made it and 2. when you look beyond the suburbs and your own needs and taste. Not everyone needs a super powered laptop or for that matter can even afford one. Also not everyone knows how to sync their phone with their other computer
        dpark 10y ago
        > You speak as if there are already tons of other docks for phones. I didn't speak that way at all. This isn't a new category of device or concept (given Motorola's device and Continuum from Microsoft), but that's not the point. A paradigm shift is not merely defined by the creation of a new product. "Hey, I taped a duck to a car. Everybody needs a duckcar. What a paradigm shift!" The point is that this isn't a useful product for the vast majority of people. Who wants to sit on the couch using their laptop with a phone awkwardly tethered to it? Who wants to have a laptop that they can't simply hand to someone else to use (without also handing them their phone, or having them install some app on their phone, which must also run Android). Who wants to invest $100 (more after the early bird kickstarter stuff is done) in a device that has a crummy screen and probably a crummy touchpad and keyboard when they could buy a better chromebook or similar device for $200, and end up with a laptop that doesn't have the same shortcomings? Who's needs are better filled by this than by a separate device? Again, I think this is a geek fantasy. We see two devices that are both computers and think "hey, we should merge these". But that doesn't provide any utility. It doesn't save much if any money. It doesn't enable new functionality. It does exactly what mikestew said: it gathers dust. This is very much like the Asus Padphone. It sounds interesting to merge a phone and a tablet like this, but it's not actually useful. You just end up with a tablet that's useless without the phone. It's not a better experience in any way.
- chaostheory 10y ago
  Because sometimes you want to work on your bed and other times you want to work on the couch. At the office, sometimes it's useful to be able to work at the cafeteria or bring a laptop to a conference room to use as part of a presentation.

dpark 10y ago

Then why a laptop form factor? Laptops exist to be lugged around.

mikestew 10y ago
If I'm going to park one at home and at the office, it's going to have to be better than what $99 buys you. Hell, my desk keyboard alone costs more than that. So I compromise with that teensy eensy screen and (what I have to guess to be...) a mediocre-at-best keyboard so that I ... don't have to carry it around? Why not a docking station into which I can plug whatever screen and keyboard I desire? I dunno, I don't care to come across as a hater, but this looks like one of those things that is cool at first glance with all kinds of possible use cases, but you buy it, reality kicks in, and it gathers dust after a month.
- chaostheory 10y ago
  I don't disagree with your desire for better quality, but as of this moment; I'm not aware of any competing products that allow your phone to transform into a laptop. The only one I was aware of is a Motorola product from 2-3 years back. If there is one, feel free to link to it. Your complaint sounds a lot like the complaints that people made when the iPhone first came out: nitpicking the specs and disregarding the paradigm shift that it brings to the table.
  - dpark 10y ago
    This isn't a paradigm shift. This is dock for your phone. It's literally the same paradigm as a laptop dock. You plug in your device and get to use it with a bigger screen and keyboard. That's all. I've been proven wrong before, so it could certainly happen again, but I just cannot see this being a widely-desired product. How large is the set of people who want a tiny, low-powered laptop that is useless without a phone tethered to it? This is a geek fantasy, where we imagine that having a single computing device is better somehow, despite there being no meaningful scenarios that this enables.
    - chaostheory 10y ago
      > This isn't a paradigm shift. This is dock for your phone. It's literally the same paradigm as a laptop dock. This is NOT a laptop dock. You speak as if there are already tons of other docks for phones. I'm not aware of any aside from that old Motorola dock. Am I wrong? You can say the same thing about the iPhone. "It's just a Blackberry without the keyboard... or a Palm without a pen." "The app store is not anything new that we haven't seen from the carriers" The list goes on. > How large is the set of people who want a tiny, low-powered laptop that is useless without a phone tethered to it? I don't know but I do know in Asia (and in places like Manhattan) there are a lot of people who live in tiny apartments and who primarily use their phones as their primary (or really their only) personal computer. This would be useful for them. It may not be this company that popularizes this design, but I predict it will be widespread in the coming years. > despite there being no meaningful scenarios that this enables ok this is already not true. Not having to carry something as big as a laptop is already a meaningful use case. > This is a geek fantasy, where we imagine that having a single computing device is better someho It's not a fantasy when 1. someone has already made it and 2. when you look beyond the suburbs and your own needs and taste. Not everyone needs a super powered laptop or for that matter can even afford one. Also not everyone knows how to sync their phone with their other computer
      - dpark 10y ago
        > You speak as if there are already tons of other docks for phones. I didn't speak that way at all. This isn't a new category of device or concept (given Motorola's device and Continuum from Microsoft), but that's not the point. A paradigm shift is not merely defined by the creation of a new product. "Hey, I taped a duck to a car. Everybody needs a duckcar. What a paradigm shift!" The point is that this isn't a useful product for the vast majority of people. Who wants to sit on the couch using their laptop with a phone awkwardly tethered to it? Who wants to have a laptop that they can't simply hand to someone else to use (without also handing them their phone, or having them install some app on their phone, which must also run Android). Who wants to invest $100 (more after the early bird kickstarter stuff is done) in a device that has a crummy screen and probably a crummy touchpad and keyboard when they could buy a better chromebook or similar device for $200, and end up with a laptop that doesn't have the same shortcomings? Who's needs are better filled by this than by a separate device? Again, I think this is a geek fantasy. We see two devices that are both computers and think "hey, we should merge these". But that doesn't provide any utility. It doesn't save much if any money. It doesn't enable new functionality. It does exactly what mikestew said: it gathers dust. This is very much like the Asus Padphone. It sounds interesting to merge a phone and a tablet like this, but it's not actually useful. You just end up with a tablet that's useless without the phone. It's not a better experience in any way.
chaostheory 10y ago
Because sometimes you want to work on your bed and other times you want to work on the couch. At the office, sometimes it's useful to be able to work at the cafeteria or bring a laptop to a conference room to use as part of a presentation.