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Samsung working on an Android phone and Windows laptop hybrid

by Mark Tyson on 27 May 2015, 11:05

Tags: Samsung (005935.KS)

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Ideas about smartphone and PC hybrids have been floating around the tech universe for quite some time. In recent memory, a couple of years back ASUS introduced a good hybrid effort with its PadFone smartphone/tablet devices and keyboard accessory but it was Android only. Much more recently ARM demonstrated a Seamless Computing concept, but again it was Android only. Last month we saw Microsoft's Continuum for phones revealed in full, but that is Windows only. Now Samsung is looking like it is preparing a new hybrid and it will blend the most popular smartphone OS, Android, with the most popular desktop OS, Windows.

A patent application by Samsung, published last week in the US, describes an Android/Windows Hybrid laptop which uses an Android tablet at its core. It's reasonable to assume the tablet would pack an Intel processor for both Android and Windows duties. The patent, as described in a report on The Verge, specifies that the tablet contains all the user data and both OSes. While the patent and drawings talk about a tablet it could also be a smartphone that powers the hybrid.

There's plenty of flexibility in the dock design and idea. For instance, once docked the tablet screen could be either a large trackpad device, a second screen for Windows or even remain an active regular Android system. If the Android device screen is not used as a trackpad, then the dock keyboard offers a flip-out or pull-out trackpad for the user.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes from this Samsung patent in the future. With mobile processors getting more powerful these smartphone/tablet/laptop hybrids could start to get more market traction. Who will be first to crack the concept and score a popular device hit?

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge Iron Man Limited Edition

Samsung is making the Galaxy S6 edge Iron Man Limited Edition available in S. Korea today. Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics described the new smartphone model, saying it "embodies the power of the iconic Avenger with a dual-curved edge design and advanced features that will provide Marvel fans with the ultimate entertainment experience".

The eye-catching edition of Samsung's flagship smartphone includes 64GB of built-in storage, a matching wireless charger, a clear protective cover and a custom Avengers theme. The limited edition smartphone will be made available in China and Hong Kong next month. There is no word about when, or if, it will be launched in other countries.



HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

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I thought Microsoft and Google had said NO MORE to mixed OS hybrids?
I have just bought a dual boot tablet with windows 8.1 and android, wouldn't have bought it (or a tablet in general) if it was just one OS.
Biscuit
I thought Microsoft and Google had said NO MORE to mixed OS hybrids?

They probably don't like it but as long as any licenses are adhered too not much they can do. I'm guessing Samsung plan to make the phone Android and the tablet Windows and get round it that way?
Maybe I'm being hard-faced, but this idea of Samsung's strikes me as (a) monumentally stupid and (b) not novel and therefore not patentable.
For (a) smallest tablet is 7“, so that ”trackpad“ area is going to be pretty darned massive which means, in turn, that the overall device is going to be ”chunky".
For (b) as pointed out, Asus already did this (minus the dual-OS idea) with PadFone, so there's some prior art.
Biscuit
I thought Microsoft and Google had said NO MORE to mixed OS hybrids?
Think that was both OS's in one device, I'm assuming that this Samsung setup will be Android when a tablet, and an Android-assisted peripheral/storage-device for Windows when in “docked” mode.
Percy1983
I have just bought a dual boot tablet with windows 8.1 and android, wouldn't have bought it (or a tablet in general) if it was just one OS.
Interesting - presumably one of those no-names, no-question Chinese devices since, as Biscuit says above, the majors got warned off by both Microsoft and Google.
Even with dual-OS, this was done back with the Motorola Atrix 4G, mixing Android and Linux with a ‘lapdock’.