Transform Your Smartphone Into An E-reader, Tablet Or Notebook: One Inventor's Idea

E-reader concept with docking display

For some, the parade of new portable gadgets—electronic readers, tablets, notebooks and netbooks—is getting both expensive and unwieldy. Inventor Rajendra Kumar has a solution: a docking system that would enable people to insert their smartphones into a range of displays.

Depending on their size and shape, the displays could act as e-readers, tablets or notebooks. And since they would be powered by smartphones, they could be offered at more affordable prices and lighter weights than conventional gadgets.

Kumar, an electrical engineer who is based in Belmont, Calif., believes the concept will appeal to gadget manufacturers and operating system providers. E-reader makers, for instance, could use it to simplify their products and thus lower their costs. Kumar’s idea would turn a basic e-paper display into a full-featured e-reader by inserting a smartphone, which would provide the necessary power (processor), connectivity (wireless modem) and input mechanism (touchscreen). Since the two devices combine to create one device–communicating via Bluetooth–a “docked” e-reader wouldn’t be any heavier or bulkier than a regular one, says Kumar. The smartphone’s features would also continue to function. An incoming call could be answered via speakerphone, for instance, or through a Bluetooth headset.

Such an idea might be welcome to e-reader makers, who have been waging a fierce price war for months. Kumar says the concept is equally applicable to tablets (using LCD screens) and notebook and netbook computers (embedding the phone where the mousepad traditionally sits).

Netbook concept with docking display

The benefits are the same for these other manufacturers: products that are simpler and cheaper to design, produce, sell and maintain than current offerings.

Similar devices have not thrived–consider Celio’s Redfly “smartphone terminal” or Palm’s Foleo “mobile companion” device. Kumar says his docking display products will be more convenient because they fully integrate smartphones into their display units. “Other products operate via tethering or Bluetooth,” notes Kumar. “Some techies might like that setup, but regular consumers won’t.”