Razer is best known for its iconic black gaming PCs and accessories. The company has recently branched out into smartphones, releasing a device that’s unsurprisingly optimized for gaming with a fast 120MHz display to ensure a smooth gameplay experience. Now, Razer has unveiled Project Linda, a concept dock that allows the Razer smartphone to morph into a notebook.
Kevin Sather, director of product marketing systems for Razer, stopped by our booth to talk about Project Linda and give some insight into how and why the product developed. Regarding the how, Sather focused on the wealth of design experience that Razer had accumulated in building its premium gaming notebooks, along with its experience in creating the Razer smartphone itself.
The why? It just made sense to put those two together and make a product that the market might appreciate. It didn’t hurt that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU provides some serious power that could be put to better use than simply powering a smartphone. In terms of creating a solid Android-based notebook experience, Sather spoke to the company’s decision to use the Centio desktop environment, and he provided an overview of how that experience made sense for Project Linda.
In our initial assessment, we found Project Linda compelling as a notebook, with a pleasant keyboard and a solid design. We were less certain about the usefulness of using the Razer smartphone as an LCD-based touchpad, at least in terms of how the concept has so far been designed and programmed. Sather spoke to that question a bit, touting Razer’s past experience with utilizing dual displays on a notebook and promising more functionality to come.
Sather also talked about the Razer smartphone, highlighting the company’s desire to create something special for gamers and also for media consumers. The 12MHz display is one aspect, an immersive audio experience is another, and Razer rounded things out with support for both HDR10 and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. That combination of features would make for a solid notebook experience.
There’s no word yet if or when Project Linda will become a product you can actually purchase. It’s possible that Razer will utilize Project Linda to test new features and functionality for the company’s notebooks and accessories. But if it does make its way to the market, it could be one of the more interesting solutions for converting a smartphone into a notebook.
