Lapdock
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A lapdock is a lightweight and portable docking station that can be connected to a mobile phone or tablet so it can be used similarly to a laptop computer. All computation happens in the smartphone or tablet, while the lapdock provides a bigger screen, a keyboard and a battery. The name lapdock is a portmanteau of laptop and dock.
History
[edit]In the 2000s several "smartphone companions" were launched that are similar to the accessories later called lapdocks. Two include the Palm Foleo (2007) and Celio's REDFLY Mobile Companion (2008), a dumb-terminal device with an 8-inch, 800×480-pixel display and full keyboard that connected to Windows Mobile smartphones via USB or Bluetooth.[1] Both received negative reviews and went off the market quite rapidly.[2][3][unreliable source?]
In 2011 the Motorola Lapdock was released for pairing with Motorola Atrix 4G phone, allowing users to run a desktop-like environment where the phone was "the brains" and the lapdock a "dumb laptop".[4]
In 2017, French company Miraxess launched the MiraBook, which connected to smartphones using a USB-C cable, and used desktop-like interfaces for mobile phones like Samsung DeX and Windows Continuum.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Arar, Yardena (28 July 2009). "Celio Redfly C8N Mobile Companion". PCWorld. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
- ^ Beschizza, Rob. "Redfly Recapitulates Foleo, But For Windows Phones". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ^ "Celio REDFLY Becomes A BlackBerry Companion". HotHardware. HotHardware. 2009-11-05. Archived from the original on 2025-10-15. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Gruman, Galen (2011). "Test-driving the Motorola Atrix's Lapdock". InfoWorld. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ Piltch, Avram (4 January 2017). "Mirabook Turns Your Phone into a 13-inch Laptop". Laptop Mag. Retrieved 29 May 2026.