Isn't the phone already out in the wild? Little late to be changing the design. ... Though am I alone in thinking that this is really a non-issue? It isn't exactly rocket science here. We should be able to assume that the user knows how to line a tab up with a slot. Surely if this mechanism fails catastrophically it is the user's fault and not Razer's?
If we simply ASSUME that the entire system needs to be built for knuckle-dragging neanderthals incapable of comprehending that their phone should be inserted with the tab facing the slot, it wouldn't be very hard at all to mount the connector atop a button so that the docking system aborts if there's an abnormal pressure(such as the port pressing against a solid surface instead of a hole). It still won't stop them from cramming a paper clip into the connector, or yanking the computer out of the docking unit without retracting the connector first, but it will protect against THIS PARTICULAR flavor of idiocy. Nothing is foolproof. I am sure the idiots would even find a way to damage a system that relied purely on inductive coupling for data transfer.
I guess I'm old fashioned in that I prefer using a desktop computer. However, there are times when a desktop computer doesn't work, such as when I need to show something to someone in a different room, or when my office is being used as a guest room (usually for several days at a time). It's at times like that that I wish I had something like this with a remote desktop app. I wouldn't use a laptop often enough to justify buying one, though I don't know how much this Razer dock is projected to cost. Still, it would be one less computer to have to keep charged up and be updating from time to time.
Haha, it's Razer, you can easily buy budget laptop and remote desktop all the same. Also, you are mistaken that this is powered solely by the phone. This also have a built in battery so you have to charge it from time to time.
> "Ultimately this is meant to be for gamers that want to play Android games on a bigger screen with a mouse and keyboard"
... What are these games? Is it that Tencent MOBA? Are there competitive shooters with mouse/KB support? I'm not very hip to mobile gaming so I'd appreciate any enlightenment on what kind of games the Razer Phone and Project Linda are actually made for.
I play quite a few mobile games these days, moreso than I play games on my PC, but I don't see many cases where a touchpad and keyboard would be beneficial or even could be configured in a game to make play easier or better. I honestly think the best uses of Project Linda are for more mundane tasks that require lengthy data entry. The problem with the marketing of Linda is that the phone is from Razer and was advertised as appealing to gamer types so a productivity tool like this is going to have to get cloaked in marketing that appeals to the phone's target audience. The other side of that is that maybe the hardware has to be put into place first before app developers start making games that will use it.
Having owned an Nvidia Shield I can tell you that Android gaming is a sewage tank with the occasional gem. Very occasional. And that was including Nvidia's Shield only games.
If you are a gamer you would be far better served with a Nintendo Switch and a phone. iOS also has a bunch of quality games that are not on Android, presumably because Android users don't buy stuff on their phones.
It's great for the work-from-home crowd, as Android supports a huge amount of VPN's and remote desktop software that is great on a tablet, but painful on a phone. A 13" touchscreen 'dock' would give you the best of both worlds instantly.
On the gaming side, this would be *amazing* for RetroArch. I primarily play emulated games on my phone and would love to have a bigger screen + more than one USB port.
Hmm..... imho, it doesnt make alot of sense. One of the main thing about phone is mobility. I can play game with my phone anywhere. The only additional accessory is perhap just a powerbank in case i ran out of power.
Now, with this new gadget. I have to lug a notebook (same size) around, the only thing i get is a bigger screen and a keyboard.....
Btw, we all know how crappy touch pad is for gaming so we probably still need a mouse.
In the end, mobility is no longer there. If you need to put it on your lap or table to use, how is it different from a laptop or tablet? Its just an android verson of surface pro.
It might be arguable that having your games and saved progress on a single device is a selling point. Carrying around a totally independent, secondary device in the form of a laptop or tablet might imply spending time to sync up or simply not share that saved progress. Then again, PC games are probably a lot better suited to keyboard and mouse or keyboard and touchpad play since they were designed with those interface devices in mind from the start too.
I still don't quite get where Project Linda fits into the mobile equation from a mobile gaming perspective or totally understand the logic behind why Razer is making gaming a target usage case over the much more obvious productivity benefits that something like Linda would offer.
Imho, razor could think about those flexible oled screens for both keyboard and screen. Imagine roll it out of your phone or attach it for a bigger screen. Then a small led to project keyboard and mouse onto a surface. It detect your fingers movements (the led virtual keyboard came out ages ago but died). Its hard to type.
But i think it will be really cool and looks like something in sci fi movies
There are laser keyboards already out there. They aren't popular because they just aren't very good. Typing on a hard surface with no give what-so-ever begins to hurt quickly.
Sure, you can use some soft surfaces, but they tend to be uneven, which badly messes with key registration. Plus you then need to carry around or find such surface anyway.
Woah, we're back in 2011 again. It's a Motorola Lapdock. Or maybe 2012, with the Asus Padfone. We've had phones that could run desktop environments on large screens for a while, spearheaded by Motorola really, with the Atrix being the first I recall, but it turns out people didn't really want them, and still don't.
Wouldn't it be rather trivial to have the motor cut off/reverse if it encounters resistance beyond a certain threshold of force? I mean, CD and DVD players of the late 90s did this. Can't be that hard, and they certainly didn't have additional sensors to check for obstructions. This probably wouldn't avoid the connector nicking the paint of the phone, but that's the price you pay for not knowing how to use your own equipment. If they implement that, the only other thing necessary IMO is a sticker saying something like "place phone USB connector here" inside the cradle.
Honestly I'd really enjoy this as a product, as long as it doesn't cost as much as a real laptop and they fit enough battery into it to make it last a long time I would buy this.
With a razer phone refresh and this coming out around the time for me to upgrade from my HTC 10, it would be great to have this laptop for factor to use on lunch and breaks at work. I wouldn't use it enough to justify buying a laptop but this I would probably use fairly often.
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Pinn - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
s/Razer/Apple/gNXTwoThou - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Could they do something simple, like put a magnet in one of the corners of the phone to identify it's in the correct spot?dakishimesan - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
I was thinking the same. Or use a light sensor to verify that there is a hole in Front of where its port comes out and not a wall.Lord of the Bored - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Isn't the phone already out in the wild? Little late to be changing the design....
Though am I alone in thinking that this is really a non-issue? It isn't exactly rocket science here. We should be able to assume that the user knows how to line a tab up with a slot. Surely if this mechanism fails catastrophically it is the user's fault and not Razer's?
Alexvrb - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
After the engineers told you their genius solution was "don't", here's the first thing that came to mind:"What happens if you sell a device to the public that isn't idiot proof?"
"Don't do that."
Lord of the Bored - Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - link
If we simply ASSUME that the entire system needs to be built for knuckle-dragging neanderthals incapable of comprehending that their phone should be inserted with the tab facing the slot, it wouldn't be very hard at all to mount the connector atop a button so that the docking system aborts if there's an abnormal pressure(such as the port pressing against a solid surface instead of a hole).It still won't stop them from cramming a paper clip into the connector, or yanking the computer out of the docking unit without retracting the connector first, but it will protect against THIS PARTICULAR flavor of idiocy.
Nothing is foolproof. I am sure the idiots would even find a way to damage a system that relied purely on inductive coupling for data transfer.
Ktracho - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
I guess I'm old fashioned in that I prefer using a desktop computer. However, there are times when a desktop computer doesn't work, such as when I need to show something to someone in a different room, or when my office is being used as a guest room (usually for several days at a time). It's at times like that that I wish I had something like this with a remote desktop app. I wouldn't use a laptop often enough to justify buying one, though I don't know how much this Razer dock is projected to cost. Still, it would be one less computer to have to keep charged up and be updating from time to time.WorldWithoutMadness - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Haha, it's Razer, you can easily buy budget laptop and remote desktop all the same.Also, you are mistaken that this is powered solely by the phone. This also have a built in battery so you have to charge it from time to time.
https://www.razerzone.com/projectlinda
SeannyB - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
> "Ultimately this is meant to be for gamers that want to play Android games on a bigger screen with a mouse and keyboard"... What are these games? Is it that Tencent MOBA? Are there competitive shooters with mouse/KB support? I'm not very hip to mobile gaming so I'd appreciate any enlightenment on what kind of games the Razer Phone and Project Linda are actually made for.
PeachNCream - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
I play quite a few mobile games these days, moreso than I play games on my PC, but I don't see many cases where a touchpad and keyboard would be beneficial or even could be configured in a game to make play easier or better. I honestly think the best uses of Project Linda are for more mundane tasks that require lengthy data entry. The problem with the marketing of Linda is that the phone is from Razer and was advertised as appealing to gamer types so a productivity tool like this is going to have to get cloaked in marketing that appeals to the phone's target audience. The other side of that is that maybe the hardware has to be put into place first before app developers start making games that will use it.Diji1 - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Having owned an Nvidia Shield I can tell you that Android gaming is a sewage tank with the occasional gem. Very occasional. And that was including Nvidia's Shield only games.If you are a gamer you would be far better served with a Nintendo Switch and a phone. iOS also has a bunch of quality games that are not on Android, presumably because Android users don't buy stuff on their phones.
myrmidon - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
I can see this as dual-use.It's great for the work-from-home crowd, as Android supports a huge amount of VPN's and remote desktop software that is great on a tablet, but painful on a phone. A 13" touchscreen 'dock' would give you the best of both worlds instantly.
On the gaming side, this would be *amazing* for RetroArch. I primarily play emulated games on my phone and would love to have a bigger screen + more than one USB port.
abrowne1993 - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
NFC seems like a simple way to make sure the phone is oriented correctly, provided it's not located right in the center of the phone.abrowne1993 - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Or RFID I guess would be better.Tigersam - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Hmm..... imho, it doesnt make alot of sense. One of the main thing about phone is mobility. I can play game with my phone anywhere. The only additional accessory is perhap just a powerbank in case i ran out of power.Now, with this new gadget. I have to lug a notebook (same size) around, the only thing i get is a bigger screen and a keyboard.....
Btw, we all know how crappy touch pad is for gaming so we probably still need a mouse.
In the end, mobility is no longer there. If you need to put it on your lap or table to use, how is it different from a laptop or tablet? Its just an android verson of surface pro.
PeachNCream - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
It might be arguable that having your games and saved progress on a single device is a selling point. Carrying around a totally independent, secondary device in the form of a laptop or tablet might imply spending time to sync up or simply not share that saved progress. Then again, PC games are probably a lot better suited to keyboard and mouse or keyboard and touchpad play since they were designed with those interface devices in mind from the start too.I still don't quite get where Project Linda fits into the mobile equation from a mobile gaming perspective or totally understand the logic behind why Razer is making gaming a target usage case over the much more obvious productivity benefits that something like Linda would offer.
Tigersam - Monday, January 22, 2018 - link
Imho, razor could think about those flexible oled screens for both keyboard and screen. Imagine roll it out of your phone or attach it for a bigger screen. Then a small led to project keyboard and mouse onto a surface. It detect your fingers movements (the led virtual keyboard came out ages ago but died). Its hard to type.But i think it will be really cool and looks like something in sci fi movies
Tams80 - Friday, January 26, 2018 - link
There are laser keyboards already out there. They aren't popular because they just aren't very good. Typing on a hard surface with no give what-so-ever begins to hurt quickly.Sure, you can use some soft surfaces, but they tend to be uneven, which badly messes with key registration. Plus you then need to carry around or find such surface anyway.
piroroadkill - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Woah, we're back in 2011 again. It's a Motorola Lapdock. Or maybe 2012, with the Asus Padfone. We've had phones that could run desktop environments on large screens for a while, spearheaded by Motorola really, with the Atrix being the first I recall, but it turns out people didn't really want them, and still don't.Valantar - Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - link
Wouldn't it be rather trivial to have the motor cut off/reverse if it encounters resistance beyond a certain threshold of force? I mean, CD and DVD players of the late 90s did this. Can't be that hard, and they certainly didn't have additional sensors to check for obstructions. This probably wouldn't avoid the connector nicking the paint of the phone, but that's the price you pay for not knowing how to use your own equipment. If they implement that, the only other thing necessary IMO is a sticker saying something like "place phone USB connector here" inside the cradle.Labeled - Wednesday, January 31, 2018 - link
Honestly I'd really enjoy this as a product, as long as it doesn't cost as much as a real laptop and they fit enough battery into it to make it last a long time I would buy this.With a razer phone refresh and this coming out around the time for me to upgrade from my HTC 10, it would be great to have this laptop for factor to use on lunch and breaks at work. I wouldn't use it enough to justify buying a laptop but this I would probably use fairly often.