China's Honor debuts laptop with bonkers removable camera that lives in a little slot Chinese consumer electronics outfit Honor has thought outside the clamshell by creating a laptop with a stowable magnetic camera. The MagicBook Art 14 weighs approximately 1kg and is 1.3cm thick, although it curves and tapers down to 1cm at its thinnest point. The light weight is attributed to use of aerospace-grade materials …
What, apart from the 4 copper connectors which are visible at 1:35? Looks to attach via magnets to the dock and the top of the laptop with those 4 connectors providing the necessary power/connectivity to the camera.
Is it a good idea? I'm not so sure. As mentioned, there's a decent chance of it getting lost. Interesting gimmick though.
I was in a phone shop last week. So I had a good look at one of the folding phones on display.
It feels really weird when you bend it. If you put your finger on the screen, if feels like glass, but then moves and bulges in very odd ways. It didn't feel like a system that would last a long time, but I'm presuming the manufacturers know a lot more than I do. But I'm going to stay away from the tech for a while.
I do like the idea of something like an 8" tablet that folds in half to become phone sized.
Yep they know exactly how long the folding bits won't last as the get clogged with pocket/bag swarf, and how long before the screen is covered in scratches from bits of grit being ground between the opposing surfaces.
Mostly they know they'll have some mug's money in their bank account before that happens.
The concept itself could be interesting, once longevity issues have well and truly been solved. But the current form factors are weird, clunky. Fat square clamshell that unfolds into something closer to a standard widescreen format, or fat rectangular clamshell that starts close to a standard widescreen format but the unfolds into a square. Too thick when folded, odd shape when folded or unfolded, depending on the starting shape.
Not sure how folding phones came from a topic on laptop camera innovations...
> I do like the idea of something like an 8" tablet that folds in half to become phone sized.
Yep! My phone is already trouser-pocket sized; folding it in half only makes it thicker. An iPad-mini-sized thing that folds up to phone size would be a better idea.
At least I imagine it would be a good idea if I travelled regularly by train and wanted to watch TV or read graphic novels.
When you've got a whole bunch of people trying to put their own spin on the newly reinvented wheel (!) then you're bound to come up with some pretty weird stuff. A lot of it will be "WTF?" but one or two things might be neat.
But at least they're coming up with stuff. Our efforts seem to be more abstract, trying to monetize every last detail of existing technology while finding endless ways to stop previously functional things from working until some kind of ongoing payment has been extracted.
Not only can you be sure that it isn't on, but you can easily upgrade it too! I wonder can/will they provide a wired caddy so you can point it around without needing to do acrobatics with your laptop? TBH I just end up using my phone if I want to take a picture/video nowadays.
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