Purism Combines Phone Docking Station and Laptop Shell For Lapdock Kit (puri.sm) 44
Their video says it all. Its official page brags it can "Transform your Librem 5 into a laptop."
But it all apparently started because Purism is proud that their Librem 5 line of phones run "the same desktop applications as our full-sized computers, just on a smaller screens," according to the announcement by Purism president Kyle Rankin: When only using the Librem 5 in its mobile form factor, it's easy to overlook that this is happening, as adaptive applications morph to fit the smaller screen.... It's only when you dock the Librem 5 that you really experience the power of convergence.... We have wanted to provide a lapdock kit to customers for some time now, and I've personally evaluated almost all of the options available to pick which one would best showcase the Librem 5. I'm so happy to announce that today we are launching our new Lapdock Kit and in this post I will explain a bit more about what's included and why it's a great companion to a Librem 5 or Librem 5 USA.
A lapdock is a docking station (or "dock") combined with a laptop shell. One approach to docking your Librem 5 is to get a USB-C hub and attach it to a power supply, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and we even sell those accessories for our Librem 5. Now imagine taking all of those components and squeezing them into a laptop form-factor, add a battery to power it, and you have a lapdock.
From the outside a lapdock looks no different from a standard laptop, but the difference is that a lapdock has no CPU, RAM or storage of its own. Instead, it uses the Librem 5 as the computer. Once docked, the Librem 5's screen extends to the lapdock screen, and you can use the keyboard and mouse on the lapdock to drag windows back and forth between screens. All of the applications are running on the Librem 5 and once docked, it behaves like a laptop running PureOS. Even better, the lapdock's battery charges the Librem 5 while it's docked, extending its run time. After evaluating a number of different options, we have decided to offer the Nexdock 360 in our Lapdock Kit....
The Lapdock Kit allows you to realize the power of having all of your apps and all of your data in one device that can fit in your pocket and act like a phone when you need it to, but then transform into a laptop when you want to type out an email, do some image editing or watch a video on a larger screen. The Lapdock Kit also allows you to run thousands of other desktop applications that haven't yet been updated to adapt to a phone's screen. Traditional Linux applications like the full LibreOffice suite, GIMP, Wireshark, Gqrx and many others run well on the Librem 5 with the addition of the Lapdock Kit's extra screen real estate.
"It demonstrates why we refer to the Librem 5 as a mobile computer in your pocket, and not just as a phone."
But it all apparently started because Purism is proud that their Librem 5 line of phones run "the same desktop applications as our full-sized computers, just on a smaller screens," according to the announcement by Purism president Kyle Rankin: When only using the Librem 5 in its mobile form factor, it's easy to overlook that this is happening, as adaptive applications morph to fit the smaller screen.... It's only when you dock the Librem 5 that you really experience the power of convergence.... We have wanted to provide a lapdock kit to customers for some time now, and I've personally evaluated almost all of the options available to pick which one would best showcase the Librem 5. I'm so happy to announce that today we are launching our new Lapdock Kit and in this post I will explain a bit more about what's included and why it's a great companion to a Librem 5 or Librem 5 USA.
A lapdock is a docking station (or "dock") combined with a laptop shell. One approach to docking your Librem 5 is to get a USB-C hub and attach it to a power supply, monitor, keyboard and mouse, and we even sell those accessories for our Librem 5. Now imagine taking all of those components and squeezing them into a laptop form-factor, add a battery to power it, and you have a lapdock.
From the outside a lapdock looks no different from a standard laptop, but the difference is that a lapdock has no CPU, RAM or storage of its own. Instead, it uses the Librem 5 as the computer. Once docked, the Librem 5's screen extends to the lapdock screen, and you can use the keyboard and mouse on the lapdock to drag windows back and forth between screens. All of the applications are running on the Librem 5 and once docked, it behaves like a laptop running PureOS. Even better, the lapdock's battery charges the Librem 5 while it's docked, extending its run time. After evaluating a number of different options, we have decided to offer the Nexdock 360 in our Lapdock Kit....
The Lapdock Kit allows you to realize the power of having all of your apps and all of your data in one device that can fit in your pocket and act like a phone when you need it to, but then transform into a laptop when you want to type out an email, do some image editing or watch a video on a larger screen. The Lapdock Kit also allows you to run thousands of other desktop applications that haven't yet been updated to adapt to a phone's screen. Traditional Linux applications like the full LibreOffice suite, GIMP, Wireshark, Gqrx and many others run well on the Librem 5 with the addition of the Lapdock Kit's extra screen real estate.
"It demonstrates why we refer to the Librem 5 as a mobile computer in your pocket, and not just as a phone."
low spec (Score:2)
The problem with the purism phone is its low spec versus its premium price. That are a view of how much your data worth for your actual phone manufacturer.
Re:low spec (Score:5, Funny)
Shitty, low-spec phone - $1299
Docking kit - $399
Laughing at idiots who buy this crap - Priceless
Re: (Score:2)
Why buy a whole laptop [chuwi.com] when you can get a USB-C dock for your crappy phone?
*taps head*
lowerspec (Score:2)
Why buy a whole laptop [chuwi.com]
...and if you don't need high specs, you could get a chromebook-class hardware at even half that price (and still higher spec than a Purism).
Some of those (I am thinking of the PineBook Pro by Pine64) are even supported by the upstream linux kernel and support installation of a large number of Linux distros instead of Google's ChromeOS or Android.
Yes I get the "cool factor" idea of plugging a smartphone into a dock and it suddenly becomes a laptop, but we're living in an era where adding a bit of CPU and RA
Re: (Score:3)
Some of those (I am thinking of the PineBook Pro by Pine64) are even supported by the upstream linux kernel....
I bought a PinePhone a few years ago, and couldn't be happier with it. It keeps fairly thick stacks of paper from being blown around by the wind. There is even a rumor that it may one day be capable of making phone calls and taking discernible pictures, though that's just a rumor.
As it stands, their efforts seem targeted at ensuring phone calls are as hard to make as humanly possible. Their accomplishments here have been phenomenally successful, and is a testament to how a small group of dedicated developer
Re: (Score:1)
Ya seriously. $1698
While Macbook Air M1 + iPhone 12: almost same around $1600
And that combo will outperform almost all windows laptop + android smartphone combination except the very high end bleeding edge models which no one actually buys. Even then its only if you are plugged in to a power source. On battery there's no contest anyway.
But TBH i would enjoy tinkering around way more with this purism phone dock shit than the apple devices, so..
Pretty much the difference between a polished mature lady and 19y
Re:low spec (Score:4, Insightful)
That isn't the only reason for the price differential. Economies of scale is probably the biggest. I have no idea what purism's sales volume is, but I expect it's less than 10^4 units/year. In consumer electronics, that's really low volume. If you're using any custom component (the display springs to mind immediately), that's going to be quite an expensive item. Some vendors won't even return your calls. Compare that to even a middle-tier Android vendor that's making 2-3 orders of magnitude more devices, and it's easy to see why. If Purism was producing 10^7 phones/year, that alone would probably knock a few hundred dollars from the cost. (Whether the customer would see that is a different question.)
A second contributing reason is that the Librem 5 is made in the US [puri.sm], not in Asia. I'm not saying that's good or bad - there's plenty that could be said on that subject - but it does result in higher costs because 1) the rest of the consumer electronics supply chain is in Asia, and 2) costs to manufacture most anything are higher in the US.
I've waited for my phone to ship for over 2 years (Score:2)
Regardless of where its made, they are very carefully choosing who to ship to and who not to, because word of this obscene backlog faded from their coverage long ago.
And yes... they have my money!
Re: (Score:3)
The problem is they make low volume. There are basic clamshell feature phones for 29 euros but if you were to design and order a limited production, they would probably cost you several hundreds dollars each, a ballpark price for prototyping volumes. An arduino replica with custom I/O, maybe a screen, costs hundreds in discrete components when purchased in low volume (and the prices since last year made this worse). They make a smartphone, where a ballpark price for low spec in a prototyping or low volume
FLOSS alternatives (Score:2)
In the meantime this is a toy for die-hard F/LOSS lovers who value more software freedom, ability to hack it themselves, over actual functionality or raw performance.
...and these need to be pretty hardcore FLOSS zealots.
As it's possible to find other hardware that is also supported by upstream vanilla kernel (and thus comes with similar freedom to hack), at a fraction of this price. Devices by Pine64 come as an example.
Purism specifically picked up a chipset that although much lower spec than everything else on the market, was already supported for opensource out-of-the-box by the original manufacturer, whereas others higher-spec efforts tend to rely on community effort
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly I would say these are more for people for who for some damn reason want to pretend they are that while not using one that is actually friendly to OSS, like the Pinephone, which is also significantly cheaper.
Re: (Score:2)
That's been the problem with all of the one's we've seen so far: Underpowered hardware and unimpressive performance.
I predicted this sometime around the turn of the century, though at the time I thought it would be the PDA that powered everything. We've seen a few of these things since then, in trade shows and as actual products. I had though Microsoft was going to push something like this with their Windows phone line, but they killed that quick.
There are actually quite a few laptop docs for android pho
Re: (Score:2)
'
My $130 Librem phone converted to a laptop:
And if I'm a journalist who's using a Librem phone to really, really protect my sources in the despotic country I'm working in — old thinkpad + tails connected to the Mifi.
Does anyone use this phone? (Score:3)
I'm curious as to how well this phone works as a daily driver. The specs would seem pretty low for an Android phone, but maybe that's plenty for PureOS. The videos look make the phone look pretty snappy, but promotional videos always do.
Wow, the price. (Score:3)
Its more expensive than my phone, personal laptop and desktop combined.......
I would rather prefer an privacy focused android based distribution on which i run a containerized Debian.
Re:Wow, the price. (Score:5, Interesting)
I would rather prefer an privacy focused android based distribution ...
You should check out the Volla Phones [volla.online].
They're close to what you are looking for.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
How do you want privacy from a device whose operation depends on knowing where it’s located? If privacy is your thing then you probably shouldn’t carry a phone.
Like apple.... (Score:1, Troll)
This is a dock and a USB C cable for $339 ... you just need to provide a keyboard, mouse screen etc ... and already have a Librum phone ...
Because to buy one the queue is currently 52 weeks !!
Pricing (Score:2, Insightful)
Remember that this is still early days. If this works out, you'll probably see more and cheaper options in the future.
Manufacturing choice (Score:2)
Remember that this is still early days.
Nope. The perf and price are due to deliberate choices by Librem.
If this works out, you'll probably see more and cheaper options in the future.
There ARE already cheaper and more powerful smartphone-with-Linux options around for open-source minded geeks.
- But the cheaper are made in asia, not in the US (one explicit choice of Librem)
- And the more powerfuly are chipset that got eventually supported in upstream vanilla kernel by community efforts (see the various Rockchip devices by Pine64 as an exemple), whereas Librem explicitely picked up a chipset that was a lot less powerful, but
That's good (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:That's good (Score:4, Insightful)
You think they can’t do any better on price and specs and they’re just gouging people? Of course making 1000 of something is more expensive than making 10 million.
Re: (Score:2)
Or... the elephant in the room. Apple does it. You buy the phone/laptop as a single purchase, and you get the benefits of a well integrated system for a reasonable pric
Re: (Score:2)
This again (Score:3)
Every few years, going back almost as far as mobile phones have existed, someone thinks "Wouldn't it be great if we could plug a phone into a laptop-shaped dock, and use it like a full computer?" And every time, the same factors prove them wrong. Nobody wants this. Oh, there's always a tiny niche that do. But basically nobody. I'm not even going to reiterate the flaws in this plan, as I'm pretty sure they are obvious to everyone reading this page. And I'm definitely not investing in Purism.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the power of smartphone hardware seems to now be about enough to handle that usecase.
I see two factors at play:
- all programs would need to ship at least two UIs and be able to switch between them on demand. And that's hard to do.
- the existing phone OS. It just sucks at being a general purpose OS. And it can't be forced to be. Even apple still differentiates MacOs and iOS.
I remember considering the AlwaysInnovating Smart Book many years back, but the perf just wasn't there.
Re: (Score:1)
It worked 5-6 years ago with windows phone, even if no-one else wanted a windows phone. It has been available in several forms on android even before that. Obviously some programs worked better than others, but the concept of having a phone/tablet app and a desktop app is something most programs need anyway...
If a $500 phone could handle it 5 years ago, a $1299 phone now should handle it brilliantly.
Fundamental issue (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is sending power wirelessly to your phone in your pocket, which isn't really feasible. Using your phone as a desktop means using more power. Barring an improbable revolution in battery technology, it's just not going to happen. (And if we did get that much more battery power, they'd just make the phone do more stuff to use it up anyway)
Good Idea - Almost, Again (Score:3)
"Superbook" had this idea a while back, and it wasn't really new then. Their appeal was. pretty much "any dang phone" but between delays, spec getting as progress went on, and some serious delays of delivery (I was one the of "lucky" suckers that got delivery) if delivered at all... well. And the battery charged FROM the phone. A good IDEA, but... an idea is not execution and the execution is what matters.
Maybe this will be better, and do I expect that one day a 'phone dock' setup really will be usable for a good many things. True laptops and desktops will still be around, course. But the day of the 'phone dock is a reasonable computer' isn't quite here yet. Another generation? Maybe. And if I am wrong and this really is as good as claimed? WONDERFUL! But I'm not betting that way.
Android doc that functions like a desk phone (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't that more or less like Zigee's dock is supposed to do? http://www.zigeedock.com/ [zigeedock.com]
Aaron Z
Re: (Score:2)
Wireless/VR/Chording Keyboard (Score:2)
This will happen for people riding the train and getting work done.
Just a few years away now.
Hopefully the politicians don't kill us all or fuck up the supply chain again.
Samsung DEX does this and more (Score:2)
Still overpriced, but less than the Librem (Score:1)
I wonder how many PinePhone owners might actually consider this. It costs almost as much as the RK3399-based PinePhone Pro which curb stomps the Librem 5 spec-wise in everything but battery life for $400 instead of over $1200, and costs more than a PineBook Pro, though. Personally, I'm happy with the keyboard addon for my own PinePhone Pro that turns it into an adorable 6" laptop with 30Whr of battery.
Again? (Score:2)
Purism is a straight-up scam (Score:1)
What about using ssh/remote desktop to the phone? (Score:1)
Hi all,
silly question: can one, from a desktop or laptop, open a remote desktop on a Librem phone? Or "ssh -X" into one?
Cheers,
Etienne