We often hear about how smartphones today are almost as powerful as low-power laptops, but that’s only talking about their potential. In practice, it’s not that convenient to use a smartphone as a regular computer, and not just because of the mobile operating system they’re running. The very form factor of the phone, which is basically all screen, isn’t conducive for anything but the most limited of interaction gestures, forcing people to peck away at a screen to type anything of significant length.
Of course, there are technologies that allow a smartphone to function as a laptop or even a desktop with the right peripherals, such as Samsung’s DeX or Motorola’s Ready For, but those aren’t always portable and take away the phone’s handheld charm. Short of having a BlackBerry-like QWERTY keyboard, your only recourse for such unconventional use cases would be an equally unconventional accessory, like this 3D printed case that transforms one such smartphone into a handheld laptop or, in more dramatic terms, an actually functional pocket cyberdeck.
Designer: Jeff Zimmerman ()
Those familiar with “ancient” devices like the HP Jornada 720 or the Nokia Communicator will probably know how these were too far ahead of their time. They tickled the imagination with their full-length QWERTY keyboard that made them look like miniature laptops, but they fell completely short of expectations because of the modest hardware and paltry software capabilities of their times. Now we have phones that can even run Windows XP in a virtual machine, taking us a bit closer to that fantasy.
Sadly, no manufacturer today will design and sell such a handheld device anymore, so it’s up to makers and tinkerers to come up with their own solutions. This 3D printed case for the Pixel 6 Pro, for example, not only gives the phone some protection but also adds a hinged section for a Bluetooth keyboard. Call it a handheld laptop or pocket cyberdeck, the design offers the potential to let you type faster, presuming thumb-typing with a physical keyboard is your thing. Alternatively, you can also type on it like a laptop, albeit with a more cramped hand position.
Given how it’s designed specifically for the Pixel 6 Pro, it won’t work with other phones without some major modification. That said, the 2021 Google flagship has plenty of muscle to show even today, and running some Linux desktop distribution is certainly within the realm of possibility. Whether you should just because you could is a different question, of course, but this design at least gives owners a new use for this smartphone that may have already been replaced by a newer model.
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