Via NanoBook
Modular tech has a rocky history (see Project Ara, the LG G5, and Blocks) but the idea of switching out some parts for others has given us some fascinating gadgets, including the Via NanoBook. At first glance, the NanoBook looks similar to the Asus Eee, the shrunken laptop or netbook that many of us owned at some point.
However, opening the lid revealed one of the strangest things ever integrated into a laptop: a phone. Now, remember, this is 2007, so we’re not talking about an ultra-slim smartphone. This was a wireless VoIP phone designed to unburden you from carrying your phone around all day (because who would do that?). The VoIP phone sat next to a 7-inch display (this was a laptop, not a tablet, I promise) in an interchangeable “MobilityPLUS Module” where you could potentially place a GPU unit, 3D/CDMA adapter, or world clock. (Here is an image of the NanoBook with the VoIP phone module.)
The Windows XP-equipped NanoBook arrived the same year as the iPhone, so its days were numbered; however, a few years later, a very similar device called the Elonex Websurfer arrived. If you want to learn about the Via NanoBook, we happened to cover its launch all those years ago.
