What looks like a laptop, but isn’t? Chinese vendor releases innovative phone dock that takes inspiration from the long-lost Asus Transformer project
The idea of a laptop powered by a smartphone isn’t new. The Asus Padfone, part of Asus’ Transformer project, launched in 2012 and allowed users to plug a phone into a tablet and connect it to a keyboard dock. In 2017, Mirabook released a laptop powered by your smartphone, and in 2021, the Nexdock 360 came out, which took things a step further but only worked with phones that offered a “wired display” over USB-C.
I was reminded of these previous projects and more when I saw the UDock X 15.6 Pro Wireless Lapdock from UPERFECT. It’s primarily designed to work with Samsung DeX, but it can be used with other phones as well, and is currently priced at $409.99, a significant savings from its usual asking price of $629.99.
The Chinese manufacturer has created a variety of docks over the years that effectively turn a connected smartphone, tablet or mini PC into a workstation that looks and behaves like a laptop. It’s a clever solution aimed at increasing productivity for professionals, though as you might expect, there are some compromises, latency issues being one.
Who moved my touchpad?
The X 15.6 Pro features a 15.6-inch FHD (1920×1080) IPS 10-point touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports wired, wireless and Bluetooth connections, allowing users to easily mirror a smartphone’s screen to the larger display, which is useful for tasks that benefit from a larger viewing area, such as editing documents. The display’s ability to fold 360 degrees allows for adjustable viewing angles, ensuring ergonomic comfort during prolonged use.
The Lapdock features wireless charging, allowing users to charge a smartphone by simply placing it on the charging area above the keyboard. The dock houses a 10800mAh battery, which provides enough power for up to 6 hours of high-quality video playback, or 4-5 hours of Samsung DeX usage.
While wireless charging seems like a great feature, it does mean that the touchpad has been moved from underneath the keyboard to the right of it. However, if you’re right-handed and used to using a mouse on that side, you’ll probably get used to it quickly enough.
The X 15.6 Pro includes an on-screen display (OSD) menu, allowing users to adjust settings like brightness and color on the fly. It comes with two USB Type-C ports (one full-function, one power only), one USB Type-A OTG for an external mouse and keyboard, mini HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card reader. There are also dual 2W speakers.
