Many have tried to turn a smartphone into a laptop with a docking accessory, and haven’t really succeeded.
Whether it’s Microsoft, Samsung, Huawei or Motorola, the idea of turning a phone into a proper laptop has never really worked as desired. But this has done little to put off Razer, with the company introducing Project Linda at CES 2018.
In essence, this is a Razer laptop completely powered by the firm’s surprisingly good debut smartphone. You slip the phone into a slot where you’d normally find a trackpad, a retractable USB-C port locks it in place and voila, you can now view all your content and play games on the Quad HD 13.3-inch display.
Unlike other attempts at the ‘lapdock’, Project Linda utilises the phone as a trackpad. This makes a lot of sense, not only as a way of navigating the UI, but also as a secondary screen for displaying, say, parts of a game or editing tools in a photo app.
Project Linda, which is simply a prototype at this stage, has one USB-A port on the side for peripherals and another USB-C port for charging. There’s also a headphone jack, which was lacking on the Razer Phone, along with an extra 200GB of internal storage. There are no speakers, but that shouldn’t be an issue since the audio produced by the phone is among the best out there.
The keyboard features the brand’s iconic Razer Chrome tech for colour customisation and it has some specific Android keys for accessing Google Assistant and the App tray.
Whether we’ll ever see this as an actual product that you can buy remains to seen – Razer is known for using CES for showcasing concept products that never make it onto shelves – but it certainly seems like one of the most well-rounded ‘lapdocks’ I’ve seen so far.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
