Do not sink your money into this vaporware (it's a flexible funding campaign, so he gets any money that is pledged, even if he doesn't hit the goal). There's a reason why the Apples / Samsungs / Motorolas / Sonys of the world have hundreds of people working on new phones. This single dude doesn't have a prayer in the world of pulling this off.
The two red flags:
1. No functional device. Just some renders and a physical block of aluminum with glass over it.
2. No "here's my team of 50 people with loads of experience"
Also of note: this new product is an old product originally shopped around in April 2011 [1].
The company is called Kosmaz Technologies (they own voipvoip.com) and the phone used to be called the Compufon. It was supposed to be launched in Q4 2011. It was vaporware then, it's probably vaporware now. Having it set to flex funding just makes me believe this is a cheap trick to get cash and run. No doubt he'll be back again next year with a slightly updated design.
It's also a little strange that Indiegogo only allows campaign contributors to post comments, something I learned when trying post a similar warning message to yours in the comments section.
Every time I see a project like this I'm inspired to create a Kickstarter to bring cold fusion to the world.
Seriously guys, I'm an experienced software engineer with "a strong team in various backgrounds", this totally means I can pull off cold fusion, right?
My experience in the software services space certainly increases my credibility in the massive-power-generation-hardware space.
Sigh.
I think there should be a new de facto rule: at least half of your Kickstarter/Indiegogo/whatever page needs to be about you, your team, and why you think you can pull this off, and why we should regard you as anything other than ambitious, clueless, inexperienced, and tackling someone way above your level.
Sooo... basically the Asus Padfone but without the comfort of being made by a renowned hardware manufacturer and the nice feeling you have knowing it actually exists and you can buy it.
I see a bright future for this product[idea] indeed!...
/s
This has all the trappings of something that sounds like a good idea in theory but will most likely falter in the marketplace.
Considering how cheap you can get a laptop or tablet these days with a much faster CPU, more memory etc than a smartphone.
Also considering that it's going to be a pain in the ass to go around hooking/unhooking your phone from every device that you want to use. The software for each device is likely to need to be different too or provide a farily sub-par experience, leading to a lot of confusion.
Also , if you lose your phone you're not just losing your phone but also the brains behind all your other devices.
Also, syncing things is not as much of a headache anymore - circa 2006/7/8, this is a great idea. In the time of Dropbox, GMail, Netflix, and Github, there is no pain pushing me away from just using 4-6 different devices. I have not run into the "I need a file but it is only on my laptop which is 50 miles away" issue in several years now.
Also, seeing what a MASSIVE flop the Moto Atrix was (which was this exact idea, to a T - at least it was in the demo at CES), I have little hope of seeing this work. If a top-5 phone company fails at it, why should I think a crowdfunded version should do any better?
This will never work well because of a very simple fact, the phone experience, still one of the main aspect considered nowadays when purchasing a phone, would be seriously diminished when the phone is docked because you would have to use a bluetooth headset to answer the calls and it would be impossible to see who is calling you if you move away from the docked phone for a minute, because you won't probably carry a laptop around or because you probably won't take the time to remove the phone from the dock to light up a cigarette.
I'm not sure if this will be the best solution for the problem. But I do belive that in some point we'll have a sort of device like this one.
Must of us (pragmatic programmers, hackers, entrepreneurs) are always looking for resource efficiency, we're always looking for DRY. The way we manage our devices is broken, why do I need to install 4 times every single app in my ipad, android phone, PC and laptop? Why do I need 4 different processors, why do I need RAM distributed through all my devices?
I think this is a great idea, and we hackers would love it. But this solution may have some downsides though. I think there must be a single OS for both PC and Mobile, it just should change its interface, and I'm not sure if the power of my phone would be enough for a PC experience yet, anyways I hope this idea come to reality soon!
The only thing interesting about this to me is that they are going to finally try and force Canonical's hand at making Ubuntu for Android a reality. It's already tempting to leave the laptop at home when traveling for business, but there are always a couple of times when I'd be dead in the water if all I had was Android itself. Theoretically I could RDC/SSH into a remote PC, but that's a pita when all you need to do is make a couple of edits on a document or perform a similarly minor function.
I'm concerned about the laptop mounting design. If you were using the laptop in a public place, what's to stop someone swiping the phone from the back of the screen and running?
Have all the specs been left out or am I missing something? .. Anyway - ignoring that!
Interestingly the Perks/Rewards for this are a departure from what other KickStarter and Indiegogo campaigns have offered... Even the highest level ($10,000) doesn't seem to "buy" you a phone..
I think they should ditch the idea of docking devices and just focus on making good low power / inexpensive computers. If you're already paying for the screen, battery, enclosure, etc why not just throw in the cheap SoC and make it a standalone device?
I would like to see it taken a step further. While devices could have SoC to act standalone, Operating Systems should be able to utilize both the SoCs (the one on host Device and one on the docked device) to expand its computing power, besides sharing state and data
I can't imagine it costs less than $1 million to bring this concept to reality with all these options. How much did Apple spend on development of the first iPhone?
Also the screen sticks out of the front of the phone in a design that looks ready to snag everything: the inside of your pocket, the corner of your ear, the webbing between your fingers. That looks seriously painful, and I can see the screen getting hit from the side and shattering/chipping.
Presumably you answer it via speakerphone? I would expect (in a real product, not this) that the laptop and monitor shells would have speakers and microphones so the whole setup could be a phone.
It's not that different from your iPhone ringing during a game of Plants vs. Zombies.
It's still not original, but one might assume that a native English speaker elected to combine "Next" and "Phone" - two somewhat common-place terms that appropriately define his concept.
But you are right, Apple would probably sue him for use of their term "[i]Phone".
This is not a terrible idea, but it feels like a hugely niche product. Motorola has tried this already with the Atrix and it has yet to take off. Maybe Ubuntu will fix that, but I am not so sure. If this is a good phone experience and a crappy PC experience, nobody is going to care. This needs to be both a great phone and a great PC. Otherwise it's just a phone.
Also, why is this not using Kickstarter? It seems like Kickstarter is "the place" to raise money for something like this, so it's likely that it won't raise as much money as it could just because of the site they're using.
Flexible Funding campaign
This campaign will receive all of the funds contributed by Sat Nov 10 at 11:59PM PT.
Also, Kickstarter seems to work best when you offer the actual product as a perk.
I don't believe that there is even a remote possibility of this being more than a vaporware. Even if they get to their goal. The amount of money isn't enough for producing a smartphone in today's situation(patents & all that jazz).
[+] [-] brittohalloran|13 years ago|reply
The two red flags:
[+] [-] freehunter|13 years ago|reply
The company is called Kosmaz Technologies (they own voipvoip.com) and the phone used to be called the Compufon. It was supposed to be launched in Q4 2011. It was vaporware then, it's probably vaporware now. Having it set to flex funding just makes me believe this is a cheap trick to get cash and run. No doubt he'll be back again next year with a slightly updated design.
[1] http://phandroid.com/2011/04/19/compufon-attempts-to-be-a-sm...
[+] [-] inflatablenerd|13 years ago|reply
Explains all the positive feedback though.
[+] [-] jiggy2011|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mitchellhislop|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] potatolicious|13 years ago|reply
Seriously guys, I'm an experienced software engineer with "a strong team in various backgrounds", this totally means I can pull off cold fusion, right?
My experience in the software services space certainly increases my credibility in the massive-power-generation-hardware space.
Sigh.
I think there should be a new de facto rule: at least half of your Kickstarter/Indiegogo/whatever page needs to be about you, your team, and why you think you can pull this off, and why we should regard you as anything other than ambitious, clueless, inexperienced, and tackling someone way above your level.
[+] [-] brittohalloran|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vesky|13 years ago|reply
I see a bright future for this product[idea] indeed!... /s
[+] [-] jiggy2011|13 years ago|reply
Considering how cheap you can get a laptop or tablet these days with a much faster CPU, more memory etc than a smartphone.
Also considering that it's going to be a pain in the ass to go around hooking/unhooking your phone from every device that you want to use. The software for each device is likely to need to be different too or provide a farily sub-par experience, leading to a lot of confusion.
Also , if you lose your phone you're not just losing your phone but also the brains behind all your other devices.
[+] [-] mitchellhislop|13 years ago|reply
Also, seeing what a MASSIVE flop the Moto Atrix was (which was this exact idea, to a T - at least it was in the demo at CES), I have little hope of seeing this work. If a top-5 phone company fails at it, why should I think a crowdfunded version should do any better?
[+] [-] MartinCron|13 years ago|reply
This project seems to want to be a car + boat + airplane + truck.
[+] [-] mikemoka|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elboru|13 years ago|reply
Must of us (pragmatic programmers, hackers, entrepreneurs) are always looking for resource efficiency, we're always looking for DRY. The way we manage our devices is broken, why do I need to install 4 times every single app in my ipad, android phone, PC and laptop? Why do I need 4 different processors, why do I need RAM distributed through all my devices?
I think this is a great idea, and we hackers would love it. But this solution may have some downsides though. I think there must be a single OS for both PC and Mobile, it just should change its interface, and I'm not sure if the power of my phone would be enough for a PC experience yet, anyways I hope this idea come to reality soon!
[+] [-] mdonahoe|13 years ago|reply
Having multiple devices is useful. If they need to shared data, do it wireslessly, or through the cloud.
Otherwise I have these empty husks lying around my house that are useless without my phone.
The motorola atrix "lapdock" is a similar product idea. It is 78% on sale on amazon. I hated it the moment I saw it.
http://www.amazon.com/AT-Laptop-Dock-Motorola-ATRIX/dp/B004M...
[+] [-] eitally|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MattBearman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mediocregopher|13 years ago|reply
(Not hating on ipads, just saying this is not a problem that's been "figured out")
[+] [-] kiallmacinnes|13 years ago|reply
Interestingly the Perks/Rewards for this are a departure from what other KickStarter and Indiegogo campaigns have offered... Even the highest level ($10,000) doesn't seem to "buy" you a phone..
[+] [-] bbayer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsz0|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tapsboy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] egknight|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] IanDrake|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freehunter|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tvon|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MartinCron|13 years ago|reply
It's not that different from your iPhone ringing during a game of Plants vs. Zombies.
[+] [-] rjv|13 years ago|reply
And "NexPhone"? Really? Nexus + iPhone. Quite original.
[+] [-] imperialWicket|13 years ago|reply
But you are right, Apple would probably sue him for use of their term "[i]Phone".
[+] [-] mtgx|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] programminggeek|13 years ago|reply
Also, why is this not using Kickstarter? It seems like Kickstarter is "the place" to raise money for something like this, so it's likely that it won't raise as much money as it could just because of the site they're using.
[+] [-] SoapSeller|13 years ago|reply
I don't believe that there is even a remote possibility of this being more than a vaporware. Even if they get to their goal. The amount of money isn't enough for producing a smartphone in today's situation(patents & all that jazz).
[+] [-] thedeuce|13 years ago|reply
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