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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday September 30 2015, @07:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the an-interesting-idea-but-will-it-get-traction dept.

Tom's Hardware is reporting on an IndieGoGo campaign to fund a dockable "smartphone PC". Symetium is pitching a customized UI Android 6.0 smartphone with a Snapdragon 820 SoC, 6 GB of RAM, and from 64 to 256 GB of flash storage along with an SD card slot. The Symetium IndieGoGo claims that the device "features an operating system designed to work seamlessly as a desktop OS and a mobile one". When docked with an external display (wirelessly or by USB), the phone can act as a keyboard and mouse.

If any of this sounds familiar, you may be remembering the Ubuntu Edge, a similar concept phone from Canonical that also used an IndieGoGo fixed funding campaign. Canonical sought $32 million for the Ubuntu Edge but only raised $12,809,906. Symetium is looking for just $1.25 million. Prices range from $499 to $999 and it is expected to ship by July 2016.


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  • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:06PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:06PM (#243679)

    i find this campaign to be a dubious because the video an pictures all appear to be computer rendering with no sign of an actually prototype anywhere. i'm not doubting their intent, just their progress.

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  • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:17PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:17PM (#243682)

    He has it set to Fixed Funding, which means they don't get a dime if they don't hit their target. Usually anything on Indigogo with "Flexible" is a scam or at least something people are not actually serious about making a real product and plan to shovel crap and run with the money.

    Still, no prototype, really cheezy and cheap looking 3d renderings that a high school kid could come up with, and no actual company backing it, just some random guy named Jonathan Gustafsson. I couldn't even find any articles about him on a quick google search. Website contains no pictures of the people or mentions of anyone else being involved. And he wants 1.25 million dollars? Smells very scammy to me.

    --
    "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
    • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:19PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Wednesday September 30 2015, @08:19PM (#243683)

      Before someone says "Well of course they don't have prototypes, they cant afford to build them yet!" No, that isn't how the real world works. You can't even come close to judging the scope and price for a project this big unless you have at least done some testing and prototyping first.

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
  • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday October 01 2015, @12:16AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <reversethis-{moc ... {8691tsaebssab}> on Thursday October 01 2015, @12:16AM (#243765) Journal

    Indiegogo when it comes to hardware should be called "scammer's corner" as frankly most of it is just that. Go to YouTube and look up Pat the NES Punk talk on that new "retro console" that is supposed to use Atari Jaguar cases for just one example. He points out they literally have nothing but the molds and are claiming its gonna cost over $300K for a prototype when the guy they had originally hired to design it (who quit because he smelt the bullshit) had fully built 5 of the FPGA boards for the thing with less than $2k out of his own pocket. With Kickstarter they HAVE TO HAVE a working prototype to get on there, with Indiegogo they don't....sorry, that right there is frankly a deal breaker.

    --
    ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.