Razor has withheld its reputation as a major innovator in the tech industry by winning “Best of CES” awards unprecedently eight years in a row. Razor’s series of innovative product lineup such as Razer switchblade, Razor Edge tablets, Razor Blade Stealth, Project Christine, Project Valkyrie, Project Ariana has already amazed us. And yet again it has mesmerized tech-savvy consumers, showcasing another innovative prototype product-“Project Linda” at CES 2018.
Project Linda is an ultraportable laptop powered by the Razor’s very own flagship phone. It is some sort of hybrid device that is an amalgamation of both the mobility of a smartphone and versatility of a laptop. However, this hybrid device factor is not so new to the tech industry. We have already seen similar innovations in the robust android-desktop environment from Samsung’s Dex setup and Huawei’s latest Mate-10 configuration. That said, Razor’s Project Linda has accomplished groundbreaking results that blurs the lines between laptops and smartphones by bringing more sophistication to personal mobile computing than the previous two.
Visually, Project Linda’s Razor laptop serves as the docking station for Razor phone but its functionality is much more than that. The laptop is literally equipped with everything; a 13.3-inch Quad HD display, in houses 53.6Wh internal battery,200 GB of storage, 3.5 mm headphone jack, a USB Type-A and USB type-C port, a USB charging port, 720p web camera and dual-array microphones except the elements like touchpad, speakers and processing unit of the computer that is replaced by Razor phone. You heard it right the brain, speakers, and touchpad of the laptop is the Razor phone itself. When docked inside the hollow chassis of Project Linda, the Razor phone’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SOC and 8 GB of RAM provides greater performance. Its sharp resolution display serves as an intelligent touchpad and secondary screen to display supplementary information based on the app or service being used. The dual front-firing speakers of Razor phone also provides an immersive sound experience that is loud and distortion free.
Project Linda’s creative engineering lies in the power button that serves as Dock/Undock button when pressed triggers a USB Type-C connector sliding out from the chassis and connecting the Razor phone. Thanks to the small notch in the tray of chassis which gives access to the Razor’s handset’s side-mounted fingerprint sensor that functions as a biometric password for the laptop.
The build quality of Project Linda is the unibody CNC Aluminum chassis that weighs just under three pounds and is just 15 mm thin including the docked phone. The laptop is light weighted and super thin at the same time designed especially for the people on the go-who aspire gaming, creativity, and productivity. The display of Project Linda’s laptop is of 13.3-inch Quad HD touchscreen calibrating at 120Hz that mirrors the Android experience to a larger display providing fluid motion and vibrant visuals. Though what appears on the spec sheet of Project Linda, the prototype displayed at CES didn’t have any touchscreen feature. Razor claims to add such touch displays on coming iteration of the prototypes.
The laptop also features a 53.6 wh internal battery coupled with 4000mah battery of Razor phone that can rapidly charge the docked phone three times over its charging cycle. The laptop in-house 200 GB of storage, allowing for backups, local media consumption, and app storage. There’s a USB Type-A port to connect a mouse, as a pointing device, instead of using a touchpad. The 720p webcam is installed to make better video calls in skypes. Razor has also kept the hopes high for 3.5 mm headphone jack by not ditching it. The desktop UI is all handled by a customized version of Sentio desktop which gives a glimpse of advanced stealth version of Remix OS that is quite elegant, user-friendly and efficient.
Project Linda is a futuristic device that has amazed everyone at the CES with its uniqueness but Razor is a company that likes to keep consumers in desperation limiting their products as concepts only rather than commercializing it to their advantage. Let’s hope Project Linda turns into an actual product from just being a concept. and get hands on it rather than peeking only to these products at CES.
