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randomaeiou
n00b
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 14
Just wanted to gauge what so of interest there might be in an idea I just cooked up today whilst doing my usual rounds of tech sites.
Now, the basic premise is a combination of "good enough" computing, and the fact that we can, and probably do, upgrade our mobile phones frequently, and for the average user (i.e. non-[H] tech junkie), probably more frequently than we do our laptops.
Now, mobile phones are getting faster and faster. And just as a baseline, some comparisons to the usual x86 processors we are used to. Of course, there are significant differences in OS efficiency, yada yada yada, but that gives us something to spring off.
Assuming the *average to light* *mobile-critical* workload comprises low-power document editing, web browsing and watching movies/videos, current mobile phones are well within their processor, and to a slightly lesser extent, software, capabilities of handling such tasks. Creating content, particularly video-editing, might be a bit of a stretch at the moment, but that Cortex A15 I linked to earlier seems promising.
But anyway, moving on, so we have established that we have sufficient computing power in a mobile phone for a very large portion of the average person's daily computing needs. Why do we still have computers and laptops and not spend more time using our phones then?
A few reasons - form factor. The largest mobile phone screens are about 4+ inches. Some monstrosities go larger, but probably look a bit weird when held up to the ear as an actual phone. Secondly, input interface. Mobile phones are necessarily limited to either a tiny keyboard, or a pure touch interface, with aids like Swype, or somesuch. Also, there is the problem of limited battery life.
How do we get around all that?
My idea, is to take a modern day laptop/netbook, and remove the processor from it.
WTF, you say?! Wait, listen.
Imagine a 14" screen (the reason for this will become apparent later) which can be connected either via 3.5mm jack or micro-HDMI to the video out function of your mobile phone. So we have a decent screen, comparable to many laptops out there, and better than netbooks.
Then, we have a keyboard that connects via bluetooth. Throw in a standard 2.5" HDD for storage, that connects via wifi. How about a set of speakers via bluetooth A2DP for sound output. (or you could stick the more mundane 2.5mm/3.5mm jack)
And here's the beauty - you already have your own built-in "trackpad" - the touchscreen of the phone itself!
To power all these peripherals, throw in a battery or two, preferably with an internal small AC adapter so that power cables don't come with massive power bricks. This is less feasible in laptops due to power requirements necessitating a fair-sized power brick, but in the situation of feeding a mobile phone...
So how would all this fit? Imagine the 2.5" drive sitting underneath where the left palm would rest on a laptop. That's 10cm x 7.5cm, or near enough. Leave 1cm or so behind the drive for connectors, wiring. Next to that is a depression about 13mm deep (keeping in mind the standard 2.5" drive is 9.5mm or 12.5mm deep itself), where the phone sits, in a space 13cm by 8cm in size, with a rubberized floor so it doesn't slide around when you use gliding motions on your touchscreen. There will be 2 short cables running into this mobile phone "dock" area - one for power, and another with changeable tips, for video out. Throw in a lip on one end of the phone dock area, and a piece of velcro or someway of holding the phone in the dock area securely (*explained later). Underneath the right palm rest, in an area about 9x8cm in size, would be a battery pack and adapter. That's about 33cm across, which is in the same ballpark as a standard 14" notebook. It can't be any smaller as the 2.5" HDD and phone dock area are "fixed" dimensions.
Above this lies a keyboard, which is about 29x14cm in area, enough for a standard laptop keyboard. (Depending on how thick the keyboard is, there might be space underneath the keyboard for even more batteries!) On each side, about 2cm wide running along the keyboard, will be the A2DP speakers. That leaves about 3cm at the top of the base which will be for the hinge to anchor the screen, and bluetooth+wireless components, and controls to switch individual components on/off as necessary. The whole affair should be about 15mm thick on the base, and the screen, say 8-9mm or less? This puts it in competition with the dimensions/thinness of your standard ultraportable laptops. Now, if the phone is secure in its dock, if the screen can flip all the way over, then you have a tablet-like experience, with the keyboard, speakers, and phone on the underside of your 14" tablet/slate/whatever-you-call-it. That's assuming your 14" screen is touch-capable of course, though at this point it might be a bit overkill, but hey, we're all tech junkies here, aren't we
In the end, you have a mobile phone dock that provides a 14 inch screen, a keyboard, wireless storage, speakers (maybe throw in a microphone), large(r) battery for portable recharging on the go, adapter for wall power recharging, to replace your usual 14 inch ultraportable laptop. Granted, it won't do well with graphics intensive applications like video or serious image editing, but hey, how many people do that now, either on their mobile phones, or on their laptops? Answer - a tiny fraction of the buyer population, who would be best served by getting better hardware than a mobile phone anyway!
For everyone else, this means your "laptop" gets processor upgrades along with your phone, on average between 12-24 months depending on contract length. It's also "free" with your new phone + contract. You get longer mobile phone life thanks to the larger secondary battery which can be used to recharge your mobile phone on the go, and if you need, it can also provide a decent work environment!
Now, Intel won't be too happy about this. Neither will AMD be, I imagine. However, I think Microsoft seems to be coming along for the ride, which should make things a lot more interesting/easy. Apple, of course, is already neck deep in it, along with Google.
How does an eternally, semi-automatically upgrading 14 inch ultraportable notebook sound to you? And the beauty of this idea is - it can be used with almost any mobile phone that supports a) decent bluetooth connectivity including A2DP sound (almost de facto standard nowadays) and some version that can support a keyboard (SST/HID) (common, or otherwise not difficult to install in most cases) b) video out either via 3.5mm or mHDMI, and if the tip is designed to be changeable anyway, then ANY video out will do c) wireless connectivity - (what self-respecting smartphone doesn't come with that?!) And of course, with a few additional adapters, this could easily be hooked up to a desktop computer to provide a display and user interface, if that floats your boat. The wireless hard drive is also a convenient way of sharing data, not necessarily limited to the mobile phone.
P.S. - you could throw in a USB port or 2, powered off the note-dock's (copyright to me) battery. Not quite sure what you'd use it for though
Now, the basic premise is a combination of "good enough" computing, and the fact that we can, and probably do, upgrade our mobile phones frequently, and for the average user (i.e. non-[H] tech junkie), probably more frequently than we do our laptops.
Now, mobile phones are getting faster and faster. And just as a baseline, some comparisons to the usual x86 processors we are used to. Of course, there are significant differences in OS efficiency, yada yada yada, but that gives us something to spring off.
Assuming the *average to light* *mobile-critical* workload comprises low-power document editing, web browsing and watching movies/videos, current mobile phones are well within their processor, and to a slightly lesser extent, software, capabilities of handling such tasks. Creating content, particularly video-editing, might be a bit of a stretch at the moment, but that Cortex A15 I linked to earlier seems promising.
But anyway, moving on, so we have established that we have sufficient computing power in a mobile phone for a very large portion of the average person's daily computing needs. Why do we still have computers and laptops and not spend more time using our phones then?
A few reasons - form factor. The largest mobile phone screens are about 4+ inches. Some monstrosities go larger, but probably look a bit weird when held up to the ear as an actual phone. Secondly, input interface. Mobile phones are necessarily limited to either a tiny keyboard, or a pure touch interface, with aids like Swype, or somesuch. Also, there is the problem of limited battery life.
How do we get around all that?
My idea, is to take a modern day laptop/netbook, and remove the processor from it.
WTF, you say?! Wait, listen.Imagine a 14" screen (the reason for this will become apparent later) which can be connected either via 3.5mm jack or micro-HDMI to the video out function of your mobile phone. So we have a decent screen, comparable to many laptops out there, and better than netbooks.
Then, we have a keyboard that connects via bluetooth. Throw in a standard 2.5" HDD for storage, that connects via wifi. How about a set of speakers via bluetooth A2DP for sound output. (or you could stick the more mundane 2.5mm/3.5mm jack)
And here's the beauty - you already have your own built-in "trackpad" - the touchscreen of the phone itself!
To power all these peripherals, throw in a battery or two, preferably with an internal small AC adapter so that power cables don't come with massive power bricks. This is less feasible in laptops due to power requirements necessitating a fair-sized power brick, but in the situation of feeding a mobile phone...
So how would all this fit? Imagine the 2.5" drive sitting underneath where the left palm would rest on a laptop. That's 10cm x 7.5cm, or near enough. Leave 1cm or so behind the drive for connectors, wiring. Next to that is a depression about 13mm deep (keeping in mind the standard 2.5" drive is 9.5mm or 12.5mm deep itself), where the phone sits, in a space 13cm by 8cm in size, with a rubberized floor so it doesn't slide around when you use gliding motions on your touchscreen. There will be 2 short cables running into this mobile phone "dock" area - one for power, and another with changeable tips, for video out. Throw in a lip on one end of the phone dock area, and a piece of velcro or someway of holding the phone in the dock area securely (*explained later). Underneath the right palm rest, in an area about 9x8cm in size, would be a battery pack and adapter. That's about 33cm across, which is in the same ballpark as a standard 14" notebook. It can't be any smaller as the 2.5" HDD and phone dock area are "fixed" dimensions.
Above this lies a keyboard, which is about 29x14cm in area, enough for a standard laptop keyboard. (Depending on how thick the keyboard is, there might be space underneath the keyboard for even more batteries!) On each side, about 2cm wide running along the keyboard, will be the A2DP speakers. That leaves about 3cm at the top of the base which will be for the hinge to anchor the screen, and bluetooth+wireless components, and controls to switch individual components on/off as necessary. The whole affair should be about 15mm thick on the base, and the screen, say 8-9mm or less? This puts it in competition with the dimensions/thinness of your standard ultraportable laptops. Now, if the phone is secure in its dock, if the screen can flip all the way over, then you have a tablet-like experience, with the keyboard, speakers, and phone on the underside of your 14" tablet/slate/whatever-you-call-it. That's assuming your 14" screen is touch-capable of course, though at this point it might be a bit overkill, but hey, we're all tech junkies here, aren't we
In the end, you have a mobile phone dock that provides a 14 inch screen, a keyboard, wireless storage, speakers (maybe throw in a microphone), large(r) battery for portable recharging on the go, adapter for wall power recharging, to replace your usual 14 inch ultraportable laptop. Granted, it won't do well with graphics intensive applications like video or serious image editing, but hey, how many people do that now, either on their mobile phones, or on their laptops? Answer - a tiny fraction of the buyer population, who would be best served by getting better hardware than a mobile phone anyway!
For everyone else, this means your "laptop" gets processor upgrades along with your phone, on average between 12-24 months depending on contract length. It's also "free" with your new phone + contract. You get longer mobile phone life thanks to the larger secondary battery which can be used to recharge your mobile phone on the go, and if you need, it can also provide a decent work environment!
Now, Intel won't be too happy about this. Neither will AMD be, I imagine. However, I think Microsoft seems to be coming along for the ride, which should make things a lot more interesting/easy. Apple, of course, is already neck deep in it, along with Google.
How does an eternally, semi-automatically upgrading 14 inch ultraportable notebook sound to you?
And the beauty of this idea is - it can be used with almost any mobile phone that supports a) decent bluetooth connectivity including A2DP sound (almost de facto standard nowadays) and some version that can support a keyboard (SST/HID) (common, or otherwise not difficult to install in most cases) b) video out either via 3.5mm or mHDMI, and if the tip is designed to be changeable anyway, then ANY video out will do c) wireless connectivity - (what self-respecting smartphone doesn't come with that?!) And of course, with a few additional adapters, this could easily be hooked up to a desktop computer to provide a display and user interface, if that floats your boat. The wireless hard drive is also a convenient way of sharing data, not necessarily limited to the mobile phone.P.S. - you could throw in a USB port or 2, powered off the note-dock's (copyright to me
) battery. Not quite sure what you'd use it for though
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