Core77

Yea or Nay: Smartphone as All-in-One Computing Device?

By Ray Hu - September 11, 2012

in Tech

Noting our growing reliance on smartphones, designer and entrepreneur Emre Kosmaz is predicting that hardware is ultimately a zero-sum game: the more we use smartphones for personal computing and connectivity, the less we need tablets, laptops and PCS. He started his eponymous Bay Area company "to change the way people use the computer through an innovative hardware concept." Unveiled yesterday, just two days before what could be yet another historic debut at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Kosmaz Technologies presents the NexPhone:NexPhone wants to change mobile computing forever by taking the power of the smartphone to an unmatched level like never before. NexPhone is designed essentially to become user's primary PC to create, view and edit documents and other content. This is achieved by Ubuntu for Android software, bringing real computer experience... NexPhone also becomes your tablet when it is used with our tablet dock and becomes your Laptop or PC bringing full desktop experience when it is used with our NexLaptop or NexMonitor docks. Together, they provide revolutionary interactive computing experience that empowers consumers to use one single device at home, at the office or on the road without the need of synchronizing their content or contacts with other devices.

By tapping the ever-increasing processing power of mobile devices, Kosmaz augurs a smartphone-centered ecosystem of peripherals as analogues for the current categories. "With NexPhone, we are rethinking what a smartphone can be in the future and creating a new category of consumer electronic device that combines the power of a tablet and PC with the latest smartphone features, while eliminating consumers' need for additional computers."

Aside from the OS and renderings, details are scant at this point; in the "Design Story" section of the site acknowledges that Apple is the only consumer electronics company that has achieved an iconic brand identity. Recent litigation aside, I'm more interested in the fact that the NexPhone is expressly designed as a sort of anti-cloud device, forgoing the need for syncing by localizing all of one's data within a single, pocketable object. (The Phone is attached to a data plan, providing connectivity when attached to any of the larger devices.)

Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen this kind of plug-and-play hardware concept: the Asus version from nearly a year ago was met with quite a bit of skepticism. Personally, I thought that the previous 'nesting' concept—the Asus smartphone plugged into the tablet like a removable battery—was rather more elegant... but the question remains: yea or nay?

o

Favorite This
Q
10

Comment

Comments

JD

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Doesn't this overlook one of the main points of having multiple devices which is that you can use more than one device at once? I watch this video and immediately think, "And what if someone actually calls me?"
!Report as spam
Azrehan

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

My issue with this is that sometimes I like to have independence in my devices. I like to talk on the phone while surfing the web, sometimes relaying the info to the person I'm having a conversation with.

Might be ok for the average Joe, but for a designer who uses a mac for sound recording, a pc for 3D modeling and an ipad for social networking and surfing on the couch, technology has a way to go before this would be a reality for people like me.
!Report as spam
Thomas Garrard

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

The Motorola Atrix was doing this 2 years ago. It had both a monitor dock and laptop dock, both of which were the phone's processor doing the hard work.
!Report as spam
Sean

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This is almost exactly what Motorola's Webtop does. Or at least did before Webtop 3.0.

Plug in an HDMI cable. hoop up a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you're off to the races with a full version of firefox and other desktop applications.
!Report as spam
Scott

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This approach would appeal from a standpoint of mobile computing: have the ability to bring one device on a business trip and tap into a full laptop experience in the meeting while sticking to a tablet for the flight, and the standalone phone in line for a coffee; but at home? I don't see it replacing anything but the living-room email and bills terminal for most users, simply due to the demands of ever-evolving software.

If the device is able to readily and seamlessly act as a client portal to a super-computer/cloud which can provide the horsepower needed to play the latest games, render the biggest money shots, and everything else, then I can see the appeal beyond a more versatile mobile-internet-checker-upper/Angry Birds console.
!Report as spam
Chris

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

They aren't doing anything special, its already being done. There are hacked smartphones running the latest Ubuntu. People can hook it up to a screen to watch HD content or play a fairly light game. The latest Galaxy S3 has a quad core. Kinda beats the 133MHz pc I first got.
!Report as spam
JamesRPatrick

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This is the natural path that personal computing will take. However, we won't be fooling around with docks. The phone will stay in our pocket and wirelessly sync with the interface and power source(ideally located on the underside of the table.
!Report as spam
Shane Johnston

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

YES!

I hate using my laptop, imac and iphone all independently. Yes there are synchronization services and I make heavy use of dropbox. But if I make a configuration setting on my desktop, or download new software on my laptop, I have to keep every device up to date manually. Those of you running different versions of CS on different stations know what I'm talking about...
!Report as spam
aepxc

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Nay.

Why buy docks when you can buy background-synced standalone devices. It's not as if the cost of computing is not falling precipitously. Basically, a smartphone + tablet dock, or laptop dock, or AIO dock is inferior to a smartphone + tablet, or laptop, or AIO.
!Report as spam
Honestade

12 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This seems to be the way the portable computing is going, but one thing will certainly have to improve before it becomes a reality - the durability of the electronics. Constantly using any mobile device, even a laptop, for computing will fry it relatively quickly. This would be a particular problem in hot climates. I don't think I'd want to have one device for all my needs that needed replaced every year or so.
!Report as spam