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Home / News / Samsung’s new dock will turn your smartphone into a full-blown laptop

Samsung’s new dock will turn your smartphone into a full-blown laptop

A new patent reveals a potential secret weapon in the next-gen phablet war

Remember Asus’ crazy Transformer Book V? It lets you slide a smartphone into a combination screen/keyboard dock, essentially turning it into a fully functioning laptop. And now it looks like Samsung’s working on its very own kooky hybrid.

A new patent filed by the South Korean tech giant shows off a device that looks like a regular laptop, bar a large docking area between the screen and keyboard.

If the device ever comes into fruition, that’s the area in which you’ll be slotting in your Samsung phablet, transforming it into a proper workstation. The laptop dock itself is dumb, in the sense that all the brains and processing power will be supplied by the smartphone’s internals.

Interestingly, the handset itself runs Android as normal, and automatically switches to Windows once dock, serving up full-fat Windows apps and software.

Once docked, the phone’s touchscreen can also double up as the laptop’s trackpad, albeit in an odd location situated behind the keyboard itself.

Considering that Asus’ offering has yet to hit shelves, Samsung’s own take on a do-it-all device might never see the light of day. If it does, rest assured that we’ll put it through its many-talented paces.

[Engadget via Patently Mobile]

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.