You can do a lot of things on a smartphone — but sometimes a bigger screen comes in handy for watching videos, editing documents, or performing other tasks that you’d normally do on a laptop or desktop computer.

One solution is to buy a phone with a big screen — there are plenty of options these days. But rumor has it that at least two companies have another solution — portable monitors designed to connect to your phone.

According to a report from ET News, Samsung and LG are both working on “Cloud Tops” that are thin and light portable displays designed to give your phone more screen space on the go.

Samsung DeX

The idea’s not entirely original. Nearly a decade ago Motorola introduced a smartphone designed to work with a laptop docking station, and while it was a bit of a flop for the company, that hasn’t stopped several other startups from crowdfunding similar devices over the years.

What makes Cloud Tops different is that they’re screen-only. They don’t have keyboards, suggesting they’re designed to support touch input rather than mouse and keyboard.

Samsung’s model is expected to be called a Samsung Dexbook, which does at least give the impression that it will support the company’s DeX software which takes advantage of extra screen space by giving Android a desktop-like user interface.

ET News reports the Dexbook will have a 14.1 inch display, a 10,000 mAh battery, and weigh less than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds).

LG, meanwhile, is said to be working on its own 14.1 inch Web Top that weighs about 600 grams (1.3 pounds), measures about 9mm (0.35 inches) thick, and which has a 5,000 mAh battery.

Both are expected to be full HD displays and both are expected to launch in the third quarter of 2020, although that time frame could be delayed due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

via SamMobile

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11 replies on “LG and Samsung may be working on “Cloud Top” portable displays for smartphones”

  1. Kinda neat idea, I wonder if any of these would have proper pen support, though that might just bump up the price a tad too much

  2. There are already plenty of portable monitors available, so I don’t see the point. I expect Samsung and LG to embrace solutions like Nexdock 2 or Miraxess

  3. What are the odds the manufacturers will ensure that the carriers can detect when you’re using your cloudtop, so that they can limit the your data in the same way the do tethering?

    Pretty high if you ask me.

  4. It’s a Portable Monitor. If that’s all it does, that’s all it is. It’ll be a “cloudtop” when it’s mounted to a drone so it hovers in front of your face, thus sitting atop…clouds of…air. Yeah, no, it’s needlessly confusing name all around.
    And to add another layer to the bad name conundrum, why would they be calling something that has one section and no hinges a *-book?
    Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind more Portable Monitors, but please call them something reasonable.

    1. Came to say the same thing.
      Plus cloud is synonymous with “internet” which is rather more confusing. Like, are these going to be portable monitors and you stream the computer to it from the internet? Kinda like a GeForce Now/Remote Desktop.

      No?… then it’s wrong.
      The best thing I can think of is the Razer Phone 2, when it would dock onto a Razer Blade Stealth laptop. The phone would act as the trackpad and provide speakers in an ideal position. There was many ports and battery to charge the phone, the laptops monitor, and any peripherals (HDD, Mouse, etc).

      Too bad that concept didn’t really go anywhere, it was the best implementation I’ve seen, ever since we were treated to the Apple iPad 2 and the “Post-PC computing”.

      1. Phone to laptop docks and mobile monitors notwithstanding, I still like the idea of having a dedicated tablet computer.

          1. Are you talking about greedy US carriers? It’s not an issue in the rest of the world. Not to mention they sell more Wi-Fi only tablets worldwide than cellular capable ones. Many people don’t need the cellular connection in their tablets. Or you can always use your phone as a wireless hot spot.

            Deciding which is the ideal type of device to use (considering factors such as weight,screen size, ergonomics, personal needs, like do you want to consume more or enter a lot of text) based on a country’s strange carrier cartel seems a little backwards to me. But maybe it’s just me. 🙂

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