The Superbook is a shell that turns your Android smartphone into a complete laptop. Get the freedom of using just one computer.
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7,157
backers
$1,159,055
pledged of $50,000 goal
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The Superbook is a shell that turns your Android smartphone into a complete laptop. Get the freedom of using just one computer.
About this project
UPDATE 7/28: We passed 1M - 1080p screen unlocked + new stretch goals!
Stretch goals activated:
- 150K: Major International Language Keyboard Decals
- 300K: Extra USB Port - Full Size Type A
- 500K: Bigger Battery - 8hr+ to 10hr+
- 1M: 1080p Option ($30 added cost upgrade)
- 1.5M: Customized Superbook Sleeves w/ Pockets for Smartphone, free to all backers!
- 2M: Backlit Keyboard Option ($25 added cost upgrade)
Your smartphone is an incredibly powerful computer.
You already do a lot on your smartphone: it's convenient, portable, and holds all of your apps, files, and contacts.
In fact, you could accomplish a lot more with it, but are often held back by its small screen size and limited mobile interface.
That's why we created the Superbook - to remove those restrictions and give you the freedom of using just one computer.
What is the Superbook?
At its core, the Superbook is a smart laptop shell that provides a large screen, keyboard and multi-touch trackpad, 8+ hours of battery, and phone charging capabilities.
When plugged into your Android smartphone, it launches our app to deliver the full laptop experience.
Think of it as the ultimate accessory for your smartphone.
Whether you're a creative, a student, a road warrior, a frequent flyer, or all of the above, the Superbook gives you the freedom to do more with the one computer that has everything—take off without your laptop, land anywhere and get to work without ever needing to sync your files or applications again.
With the Superbook, you can do everything you can do on a laptop—and more. With desktop-class browsing, access to office applications, games, and even programming, the opportunities are limitless.
Here's a small sample of the things you can do on the Superbook:
Browse the internet and answer emails
Edit documents and create presentations
The complete Office suite is compatible with Andromium. Create and edit documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and more—right from your Superbook.
Play video games
Are you all work and no play? We can fix that! The Superbook is compatible with thousands of Android games, downloadable directly from the Google Play store.
Write code
Whether you're a beginner learning to code, or a seasoned developer trying to build software on-the-go, the Superbook is the perfect tool to help you program away. Any IDE built for Android can be accessed by your Superbook.
You upgrade your smartphone every 1-2 years, but how often do you upgrade your laptop or tablet?
Say no more to the hassle of maintaining outdated devices and the costs associated with unnecessary upgrades. With the Superbook, whenever you get a new Android phone, it's just like getting a new laptop every time—with updated processing power!
All features and capabilities of your new Android phone will be still be compatible with your Superbook.
Compatibility: The Superbook is compatible with all modern Android devices, including Samsung Galaxy / Note, LG, Nexus, HTC, Sony Xperia, Blu, Huawei, and many other smartphones. As long as your phone supports USB-OTG (which it most likely does), the Superbook will work for you.
11.6" HD Display - Great for productivity
8+ Hours of Battery - Charges your phone simultaneously
Multi-Touch Trackpad & Keyboard - With Android Navigation Keys
Access all the files and applications on your smartphone
Always connected via your phone's data, Wifi, and Bluetooth
Press or media inquiry? Contact us at hello@andromiumos.com.
Superbook Basic ($99 Tier, $85 Early Bird)
Be one of the first to get our Superbook in gold. Comes with one connector cord—and, of course, our undying love.
The Superbook Special ($159 Tier, $145 Early Bird)
An exclusive offer for Kickstarter backers, the Superbook Special comes with your choice of the Superbook in Blue or Gold, the connector cord, our full accessories bundle, and we'll even throw in a gorgeous universal side mount - perfect for mounting your smartphone to your Superbook.
In addition, you'll be added our Beta Access Club, a community of Andromium users that get exclusive access to new and experimental features for our Andromium app.
Other rewards include:
- THANK YOU ($5 Tier) - Your name will forever be in the Andromium app source code
- THE BETA ACCESS CLUB ($25 Tier) - Join a community of Andromium users that get exclusive access to new and experimental features in Andromium.
- THE COMMUTER SPECIAL ($299 Tier) - Want one at work and one at home so you never have to carry around a laptop again? Get 2x THE SUPERBOOK SPECIAL for less.
- THE FAMILY SPECIAL ($599 Tier) - Want one at work and one at home so you never have to carry around a laptop again? Get 4x THE SUPERBOOK SPECIAL for less.
- THE DISTRIBUTOR SPECIAL ($9,900 Tier) - In response to multiple requests, we're adding in the option for distributors in various regions to test out interest in the Superbook with a small batch of 100x SUPERBOOK BASIC.
The Stretch Goals (JUST UPDATED)
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$150K - International Keyboard Decals
- $300K - Extra USB Port for Storage
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$500K - Battery upgrade from 8hr+ to 10hr+ for all backers
- $1M - Option to upgrade to 1080p HD screen ($30 added cost)
- $1.5M - [TBD]
- $2M - [TBD]
The #Freedom2learn Campaign
One of our core beliefs as a team and company is that every individual should have fair access to powerful—and affordable—technology that enables them to learn and connect with the world.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that Andromium is partnering with the Nelson Mandela Long Walk To Freedom Education Project in their #Freedom2learn campaign.
Together, our vision is to promote access to education and learning in under-resourced communities in Africa.
How it works
Freedom Mobile phones and accompanying Superbooks will be distributed to communities where libraries have been established. The phones will be loaded with educational applications and tools, and the Superbooks will help enable the users to take their ability to learn and be productive to a whole new level.
Backers have the option to donate a Superbook directly to the campaign—Andromium will provide additional accessories, support, and cover all shipping costs to the campaign.
How to contribute
If you would like to make a contribution, there are two ways you can help out:
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#FREEDOM2LEARN SUPERBOOK ($99)
If you don’t own an Android phone, but still want to support our cause, this is the perfect option for you—your contribution will go towards funding a Superbook for a community in need.
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#FREEDOM2LEARN BUY ONE DONATE ONE ($198)
This tier is a win all around—with this package, you will receive your own Superbook, and you’ll also donate a Superbook to a community in need.
Bulk donations - If you would like to organize a larger bulk donation, please contact us at hello@andromiumos.com.
Help us achieve our goal of donating 1,000 Superbooks - together, we can work towards building a more equitable future.
Hi, we're Andromium!
Back in December 2014, we launched the Andromium Dock. Beloved by many, the dock was our first attempt at turning your smartphone into a laptop. However, the Andromium dock had two major limitations:
1. It only worked with a handful of smartphones - Our major display technology at the time was MHL, which was only supported by a few phones.
2. The dock required you to bring your own peripherals - You had to hook up your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse, making it a mess of cords. It was also very difficult to be mobile.
Real talk: yup, we missed our funding goal. But what we gained in the process was an amazing community of loyal and involved users—people like you—who have given us amazing feedback, made their own videos (and videos and videos).
You've helped guide us in the right direction, and in response to overwhelming feedback, we created the Superbook. We wouldn't be here today without you.
We've come a long way
How it works
So how exactly does the Superbook run? With your smartphone's processing power and our Android app!
All it takes is these two steps:
1. Download the Andromium app from the Google Play store
2. Plug in your smartphone into theSuperbook
That's all it takes. Check out the video below!
Specs and Features
Detailed Specs
- 11.6" LCD display at 768p
- 7.6" x 11.3" x 0.7" (19.3 cm x 28.7 cm x 1.8cm)
- 2.0lb / 0.9kg
- Custom Charging Port w/ Standard US Charger
- USB Type-C port
- Supports Type-C and Micro-B smartphones
- 8+ hour battery life
- Simultaneously charges smartphone
- QWERTY keyboard (Android OS layout)
- Android-specific navigation keys (Home, Back, Menu, Recent)
- Multi-touch trackpad
Smartphone Minimum Requirements
- Android 5.0+
- Dual Core Processor and above
- 1.5GB RAM or higher
- Type-C or Micro-B phone port
- 25mb of free storage (100mb+ recommended)
Timeline
A quick word on shipping
We want people all over the world to enjoy the Superbook, and we've done our best to pre-negotiate shipping rates to each major country. Due to the variability of prices, it's difficult to be exactly sure what the end rate will be.
However, we've gotten individual shipping quotes by country, which will be reflected in your backing total.
Questions? Comments? Feedback of any kind?
Send us a message at hello@andromiumos.com!
In partnership with
Risks and challenges
Hardware inherently has a number of both internal and external risks. We've drastically reduced our production and fulfillment risks by partnering with Dragon Innovation to manage our costs, manufacturer oversight, and production process. We wanted to have an established partner, who has brought to market incredible products such as Pebble, MakerBot, and LIFX.
We've already had our product reviewed, with projected timeline for production and delivery by a few of our manufacturing partners. We've lined up shipping, 3PL, and repair partners. However, there are always risks that are out of our control, including:
- Certification delays: Various parts of our product must be tested and approved by various independent agencies.
- Unforeseen production delays: We've seen and heard horror stories about production delays when manufacturing abroad. We're partnering with experienced manufacturing experts, including Dragon Innovation. We expect this to be a low risk as well.
We are confident in our ability to deliver this product on time, which great quality. We will keep all of our backers updated along the way, and we available for your questions at: hello@andromiumos.com
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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We've got a lot of awesome feedback from our community here, but while we'd like to add a ton of the most-requested features to the Superbook, we're trying to keep our Kickstarter model as affordable as possible.
Contrary to what it seems, adding features actually requires a lot more of us than just asking our backers to slap on an extra fee on top of their pledge (like we can the 1080p screen). This is because some features just aren't economically feasible for us in terms of manufacturing costs. While we're completely blown away with the response of Kickstarter (thank you all!) a manufacturing order of 5k-10k units doesn't automatically translate into a discount in production costs, unlike the 100k+ orders placed by much larger companies.
Here's a list of features that have been requested of us that we WON'T be considering for our Kickstarter model (but maybe in the future):
- Audio speakers (trust us, the ones on your phone are much better than any speaker we could source affordably)
- Touch screen
- "Full size" keyboard, w/ full numberpad
- Keyboards in different languages (we'll have the decals, though!)What we ARE considering:
-Backlit keys
Thank you all for your understanding! We love hearing your feedback, so keep on sending it in :)
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Your smartphone must be running Android 5.0 or above with at least 1.5GB of RAM and USB-OTG support.
If you are not sure about your phone’s specifications, please check out http://www.gsmarena.com.
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Yes! You can use the camera to take photos and take video calls!
Check out The Superbook Special, which is our premium package--it includes a mount for your smartphone, so that you can position it in a convenient location (to aim your phone’s camera at yourself for video chats, for example).
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We'd love to do this for iOS and we've even had conversations with the folks at Apple, but Apple is really strict about keeping their software ecosystem tight for security/branding reasons. They're also not a fan of reducing the number of devices that you need - which is the core of our mission. If people stopped going for the $2000 + $700 MacBook/iPhone combo and instead went for just the iPhone combined with a laptop shell for $150-300, then they'd lose a lot!
We hope they'll change their mind in the future but for now, we're Android only :)
If you'd like to back our campaign even as an iOS user, you could donate a Superbook for the Nelson Mandela #freedom2learn campaign. :)
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Yes, it does, with the same minimum requirements as smartphone.
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Yep, it does!
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Absolutely!
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When in use, the Superbook will charge all newer smartphones using/supporting USB Type-C ports.
However, not every micro-USB device will be able to charge their smartphone when in use--only higher-end devices from Samsung, HTC, and LG support this functionality as only these devices were manufactured with this capability.
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Nope. The Superbook doesn’t use MHL technology--instead, it uses Displaylink technology
Check out http://displaylink.com/downloads/android for more info!
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Yes!
Note: currently, we do not support a small number of the latest Android N features. However, integration for these is planned in the upcoming releases--keep an eye out for an announcement from us!
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The Superbook is based on Displaylink technlogy http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/android.
We have been working closely together with Displaylink to bring the Superbook to the market.
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The Superbook model that we will be shipping out with the Kickstarter campaign will have the traditional English/QWERTY keyboard.
The Android software/operating system does support different-language keyboards, and if users want, they can remap the keyboard to their own language. This way, the keyboard on the laptop shell will output in the language that they want. (The keyboard on the outer shell will still be the QWERTY keyboard, though.)
EDIT: We hit our 150k stretch goal, so we're shipping out international keyboard decals to everyone! At this point, we're not sure which languages we'll be sending out but there'll be at least 5
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The Chromebook is an independent laptop, unlike the Superbook, which is a smartphone accessory. Many of us have very powerful smartphones that contain processing power greater than that of most Chromebooks on the market today. When you choose the Superbook, you leverage the processing abilities of the smartphone, resulting in a far more powerful and superior experience.
Additionally, the Superbook enables on-the-go productivity . Since everything already reside in your smartphone, by using your smartphone and superbook combo, you don’t have to worry about syncing information back and forth between devices.
The final advantage that the Superbook gives its users is that the next time you upgrade your Smartphone, you are also upgrading the processing power of your Superbook - which isn’t true for the Chromebook.
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We’re aiming for February 2017 - see our rewards/timeline section for more details!
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We've only prepared US chargers right now, but we've already reached out to our manufacturing provider and are doing our best to work with them in providing European backers with the proper charger on ship day.
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Simply add $30 per Superbook to your pledge! After the campaign, you'll also have the option to get the upgrade and indicate which Superbook (if you ordered more than one) you'd like to apply it to.
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With the regular battery, the Superbook weighs around 0.9kg. Since we met our 500k stretch goal, the upgraded battery will make it weigh a little more (but not significantly).
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The Superbook is made of hard rigid plastic with a soft touch paint coating - it's designed to be in line with most popular laptops!
(What we're saying is, don't worry - it's not flimsy at all.)
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We're not completely sure on the retail price of the Superbook just yet, but it'll be between $130-150.
As for retailing, we don't plan on distributing until after every one of our Kickstarter backers receive their Superbook(s). At earliest it'll be in March 2017.
So back us now if you'd like to be among the first users! ;)