Neptune Suite offers more "dumb terminals" for Neptune Hub

The Neptune Duo has barely taken off the ground and already the Canada-based startup has already bigger, better, and more ambitious plans ahead. It has just launched at Indiegogo what it calls the Neptune Suite. As the name implies, it is an almost complete set of accessories that mirror a smart device's display. But, being Neptune, they all evolve not around a smartphone but a smartwatch, which Neptune has named, quite appropriately, the Neptune Hub. The idea may sound strange at first, but on further thought, it is actually quite interesting.

At the very heart of the Suite is the Neptune Hub. Practically a smartphone wrapped around your wrist, the Hub is the evolution of the Neptune Pine, with almost the same promise of a complete smart device but now promised to be more stylish but still quite bulky. In terms of hardware, it is pretty much a mid-tier smartphone, with a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor and 64 GB of storage. The 2.4-inch display has an unknown resolution but, at least based on the mockups and renders, really curves around your wrist. Since it takes the place of the smartphone, it's not surprising to see Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and even a nano SIM card for voice and data. It also has a bunch of sensors, including heart rate, and uses WiGig wireless protocol to communicate with other devices. In theory, it can do everything a smartphone can, but Neptune now admits you might not want to all the time, which is where the rest of the Neptune family comes in.

You might already be familiar with the Neptune Pocket Screen. It isn't a smartphone but more of a 5-inch 1280x720 HD touchscreen that happens to have speakers, a mic, an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 2 megapixel front camera, and a 2,800 mAh battery. Sounds pretty much like a smartphone, just without the phone. It's purpose, of course, is to give a smarpthone interface to the Neptune Hub for those activities that are better performed on a smartphone, which is like 80 percent of what you'd do on a smart device. That said, Neptune is confident that you can actually leave even the Pocket Screen at home most of the time.

But for those times you need an even bigger screen, the Neptune Tab Screen comes to the rescue with its 10.1-inch 1920x1080 Full HD screen. It also has loudspeakers and a microphone but, unlike the Pocket Screen, it only has one 720p front camera for video chats. The battery, however, is a larger 7,000 mAh. With the Neptune Hub's 1,000 mAh battery, the three make a total of almost 10,000 mAh. Sadly, that practically means nothing as one cannot siphon battery power from the others.

Neptune isn't stopping there. It has some other accessories to complement the set as well. The Neptune Keys, for example, is a wireless keyboard. While it looks like the keyboard half of ASUS' Transformer lines, it serves a dual purpose. Yes, it can pair with the Neptune Tab Screen to form a notebook-like setup ala an ASUS Transformer, but it can also be used on its own with its wireless dongle.

Neptune is also jumping into Chromecast territory with the Neptune Dongle. As you would expect, the HDMI stick turns any TV or monitor into a big screen for the Neptune Hub. Together with Neptune Keys, you could practically have a near-desktop Android experience, with everything being driven by the watch on your wrist.

Last but definitely not the least is the Neptune Headset. While it performs the function of wireless earbuds, don't be too quick to dismiss it. The buds, for example, magnetically snap together to turn the earphones into a geeky looking pendant. But more than that, they also attach to the Neptune Hub, Pocket, or Tab because it also functions as a charging cable.

It does sound like a fascinating idea, with all those bits and pieces of your computing life powered by something you always have on you anyway. Of course, they say ideas are cheap and implementation is where it will count. Aside from concerns like battery life and perhaps burning off your wrist, the Neptune Suite is also still at a crowdfunding stage, with shipping expected to happen February 2016. And it's not going to be cheap either. The whole set goes for $599, and that's the limited Indiegogo price. It seems, however, that the idea resounds well, as it has reached $780,000 with 29 days to go, when Neptune was only asking for $100,000.

VIA: Indiegogo