Spider Phone turns into laptop, tablet, or gaming handheld

[Jos]

Korea's telecommunications provider KT has unveiled a new concept smartphone that can act as a gaming handheld, a tablet or a laptop. Dubbed Spider Phone, the device would work pretty much like Motorola's Atrix or Asus' Padfone, in that the handset itself can connect to several different accessories that expand its capabilities.

The laptop dock adds a QWERTY keyboard, an extended battery, and USB ports for adding a mouse or an external hard drive, all while relying on the phone itself as the touchpad. The tablet shell also sports its own battery and features a 10.1-inch display while adding a few slate-friendly tweaks to the UI. Meanwhile, the gaming dock is essentially a cradle with a D-pad and buttons for those serious about gaming on their Android smartphones.

All three devices will be fully powered by the smartphone, which packs a dual-core Qualcomm processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 16GB of internal memory. It also has a rather large 4.5-inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution, dual cameras (8MP rear-facing, 3MP front-facing), and Android 2.3.4 "Gingerbread" with a customized KT UI.

The Spider Phone will be launching in Korea sometime during November or December. Unfortunately, there's no information regarding price or an international release date at this point. A spokesperson for KT said that the company is taking a "wait and see" stance, based on the local performance, before figuring out the next step. Check out the video below for a brief demonstration of KT's Spider concept smartphone. 

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45356-spider-phone-turns-into-laptop-tablet-or-gaming-handheld.html

 

[lawfer]

This will never sell in the U.S. Don't even bother.

 

[Archean]

Yup, everyone wants a separate device for each task, as it is a nation of 'extra-healthy' population.

 

[Guest]

I like the Idea of turning my android phone into a tablet

I'd totally buy that

 

[aj_the_kidd]

I prefer to keep those devices separate, plus if you broke the phone well your kinda screwed.

 

[Capaill]

Likewise, if you wanted to change your phone you could no longer use all those peripherals you paid $$$ for.

 

[Guest]

And like sersiously who the hell needs a Dual core phone...not many applications out there! but it's look alrite except taking those add-ons around would be a hassle. so a quad core tablet (Transformer 2) would be more applicable than this joke!

 

[Vrmithrax]

Great in theory, there is a certain elegance to having a single platform to support and a single (non-cloud) location for all of your data, storage, etc. But for successful practical application, a few things would have to be true:

1) Expansion / dock system standardized, to allow phone change/upgrade (as @Capaill noted). Customers won't buy a system of peripherals that will be obsolete in a few months when the super deluxe new improved phone (it slices, it dices, it chops, it makes thousands of julienne fries!) hits the market and renders what they have archaic. Products like this will rely heavily on CPU/GPU advancements to get their hybrid model closer and closer to the performance of a "standard" model of the same form factor.

2) Expansion peripherals / modules would have to be dirt cheap - mass production should help price. If Phone + Tablet peripheral is more than just buying a Tablet directly (which probably performs better as well), only the geeky elite with more money than sense will buy this type of product.

3) With everything in one central "brain" phone module, larger and cheaper storage would become critical. If the beauty is to keep everything in one central location, that central location better have some serious room for me to store all my stuff.

 

[Capaill]

It's a great way for a single manufacturer or supplier to lock down their customers ... if they are dominant there or face little competition. Perhaps this suits KT in Korea. It won't work (or at least shouldn't work) in the wider world market. Unless someone like Apple were to try it!

If an independent manufacturer wanted to make a universal gamepad device for Android phones, they would probably need a micro USB connector and some way to grip or hold the phone in the right place. It's unlikely to catch on, unless it's driven by the game developers.

 

[TechMcgee]

I actually think this is a really nice concept, although that is before I have seen any prices :-O. I agree eventual standardization of phone sizes and connectivity are the only way that this product could have any longevity but it does kill a few birds with one stone.

I bought a tablet and took it back after 1 day of using it. I just could not see the point of it, I have a laptop, I have a phone, my tablet was just like holding my phone close to my face. It didn't `do` anything I couldn't really do with my phone or laptop and it cost more than both.

The tablet and laptop addons I think will be expensive because of the displays but in a perfect world it would be great it they were below the $100 - $150 mark (or pounds).

People already have laptop `docs` in their offices when carrying out day to day work so they can take their lap tops home with them. Imagine if you just had a laptop addon in your office and at home, you arrive at work, whack your phone in and your off. No more big bags etc.

The same goes if you're a commuter, whack your phone in the tablet thingy and away you go.

Im only guessing but I reckon the ad-dons will just be way too expensive for this to really take off but its a shame as it could have real potential.

 

[Guest]

One day I hope I can drive my tablet to work