Consumers haven’t flocked to grab the few smartphone-compatible docks. The Motorola Atrix comes to mind, but it experienced less success than the manufacturer probably expected. In fact, proprietary laptop docks, sometimes known as lapdocks, haven’t done much to sell consumers on the concept. After all, how useful is an accessory that you can only use with one phone? ClamBook is a lapdock that aims to change the way we look at docking our smartphones and encourage us to really get the most out of the miniature computers that most of us have on our person at all times.
Universal Compatibility
ClamBook is not yet available, but when it does become available at the end of this year, the docking system will be compatible with both Apple and Android phones. At least, ClamBook claims that now; however, Apple is working on a smaller proprietary port for its iOS devices that will see a release in fall, so we hope is that the company has taken that into consideration. ClamBook won’t require you to dock your phone into the laptop portion itself; rather, you’ll insert it into a dock that holds your iPhone or Android phone and then connects to the keyboard and monitor. Aside from that hardware, the power comes from your phone.
According to the official website, you only need a single cable to transmit audio and video data between the actual phone cradle and the laptop portion of the system. This put ClamBook lightyears ahead of the competition. Not only could you potentially use it with your current phone and your next phone, but ClamBook allows you to switch between Android and iOS phones, too. That sounds pretty good to us.
Unfortunately, only phones with Android 4.0 will be compatible with the dock. We’re not surprised; however, most of the market still uses older versions of the operating system. The numbers will continue to change toward the end of the year, but many Android users will feel disappointment upon learning this.
It’s Still Your Phone
ClamBook doesn’t want to necessary change how you use your smartphone. That’s why the company has included features such as pinching to zoom on the touchpad of the laptop dock. You’ll also have access to a widescreen monitor (16:9) and a full-sized keyboard; however, there’s no mention yet of the actual specs of that screen, other than it’s paper thin. One thing ClamBook does do right is including dedicated Android keys, so you can access your home screen, menu or go back without having to touch your phone at all. It’s similar to having the Windows key for shortcuts on your desktop keyboard.
The Benefits Over Laptops
The company also thinks consumers will like how the dock charges the phone while it works and how we can use our phones as controllers for some games, which will appear on the laptop screen. These features do sound nice, we can’t argue that. The company gives us a compelling argument for a laptop dock versus an actual laptop: it runs much cooler and uses comparatively less power.
So do we think this is a laptop killer? Not quite. Laptops are still more powerful than smartphones, and some people require that power. Some users prefer PC software, lack 4G networks and can’t work without CDs or DVDs. ClamBook is the closest we’ve seen to competition, however. It might eventually lead to a new face of computing. We’re just not there yet.
