Razer Project Linda prototype – Convincing laptop dock for smartphone
Razer regularly brings prototypes to CES. Last year it was Project Valerie , a three-screen laptop, and a few years earlier, the company showed Project Christine , a modular PC case. This year, the manufacturer brought another lady: Linda. It is a somewhat less exuberant project than last year, but an interesting device.
Project Linda is a laptop dock for the Razer Phone . It’s a 13.3″ laptop without guts, with a cutout where the touchpad would normally be. The square design of the Razer Phone comes in handy for this application, as it fits snugly into the case. Top right on the keyboard has a button that allows you to extend the usb-c connector in the dock. When you press the button, the plug comes out of the housing and the phone is firmly clamped. With the same button you can also disconnect the phone.
Razer has left a recess at the front so that the fingerprint scanner, which is on the side of the Razer Phone, can still be used. That is also the on/off button for the phone and therefore also for the laptop. The laptop does not have speakers, because Razer’s smartphone already has stereo speakers on the front and they therefore also work in the laptop dock.
Furthermore, Project Linda is very similar to the existing Razer Blade Stealth laptop. It has an aluminum housing and is 15mm thin. The weight, including the phone, is 1.25kg according to the manufacturer. On the inside is a 53.6 Wh battery that charges the phone when it is in the housing. There is also 200GB of storage space. The housing has a USB-C connection, which is also used to charge the battery, a USB-A port and a 3.5mm jack.
The RGB-backlit keyboard is taken from Razer’s existing laptops, but modified a bit for use with Android. For example, the top row of buttons contains the shortcuts for Android, for example to go back, navigate to the home screen or to switch apps.
Software
When the Razer Phone is docked and connected, the Android device’s interface changes to a horizontal view with a sort of launch bar and desktop. Razer has not reinvented the wheel, but has teamed up with Sentio . That company has also made a simple laptop dock for smartphones, with its own software. Razer has provided that software with its own skin. Razer’s demo setup at the show used an external mouse, but you can also use the phone’s touchscreen as a touchpad. The screen automatically dims, but remains on.
If a mouse is connected, the phone screen should be able to be used as a second touchscreen, with which you can, for example, pull sliders in image editing programs. Razer shows this in a promotional video, but that does not work with the prototype at the fair. At present, the large screen can only duplicate the phone screen display. Razer should further tweak its Android software to allow for more advanced functionality.
We played an Android game on the laptop screen; that worked well and the larger screen provides a clear added value. The display of Chrome on the big screen is also nice, it corresponds to what you expect on a laptop and the use of mouse and keyboard works fine in the browser. With its Snapdragon 835-soc and 8GB ram, the Razer Phone also has quite fast hardware on board, which should enable multitasking in laptop mode.
Screen
A unique feature of the Razer Phone is the 120Hz screen, and Razer wants to extend the fluid experience that provides to the laptop. Therefore, Project Linda should get a 13.3″ screen with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels and a refresh rate of 120Hz. However, the prototype that Razer is showing does not have such a panel. It appears to be a traditional 1080p screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz. 60Hz.In the top screen edge is a 720p webcam, with two microphones.
The screen has a glossy finish, but the prototype doesn’t have a touchscreen, although Razer makes it appear that way in its marketing materials. In fact, such a screen is also necessary, because not all Android apps can handle mouse control.
Not new, but well developed
Project Linda is certainly not the first time that a manufacturer has made a laptop dock for a smartphone. The Motorola Atrix smartphone from 2011 already had that function. In recent years, Canonical with Ubuntu Touch, Microsoft with Continuum, Samsung with DeX and Huawei with PC Mode, among others, have tried to turn smartphones into PCs or laptops.
Previous projects have never been very successful, so Razer faces a difficult task. What the manufacturer has in any case is expertise when it comes to making laptops. We also find the hardware implementation of Project Linda very good. The integration of the phone in the housing is beautiful and also functional. Of all the laptop docks we’ve seen, Project Linda is perhaps the best.
Continuation unknown
Razer takes a big hit at the fair with Project Linda. The prototypes are prominently displayed and the manufacturer has set up a page with information on its website . However, it is unclear what exactly the follow-up plans are. It is only a concept for the time being and in its current form Project Linda will probably not come to market.
It is not known whether Razer plans to further develop the laptop dock and perhaps release something similar in the future. The manufacturer does not make any statements about this. If Razer plans to do so, there is still a lot of work to be done. The hardware is well put together, but the software does not yet work optimally. For example, there are now many bugs; during our test, for example, the screen’s touchpad functionality stopped working, leaving us to use only the mouse. The promised functionality of the phone screen as a second screen also needs to be worked out.
We could imagine Razer combining a commercial launch of Project Linda with the launch of a new smartphone in the future. It remains to be seen whether the laptop dock will work with one version of the phone or whether Razer would choose to keep its phones the same shape for a number of generations. Motorola does something like this, for example, partly to ensure compatibility with the Moto Mods.
Should Razer decide to actually release the laptop dock, it will probably be an expensive device. The aluminum housing will not be cheap to make, but above all the 120Hz screen with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels will probably lead to a hefty price.