CNET Gadgets Meet Runcible, a smartphone that looks like a pocket watch
Meet Runcible, a smartphone that looks like a pocket watch
At least one company says smartphones don't have to be rectangular slabs.
by Seth Rosenblatt
and Nick Statt
February 26, 2015 7:00 AM PST
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Could Runcible's circular, wood-backed device be the future of smartphones?
Monohm
To find the future of the smartphone, a startup is reaching 500 years into the past when the most advanced gadget told you only the time.
Monohm, based in Berkeley, Calif., plans next week to officially introduce a device dubbed Runcible. Named after a nonsense word by an English poet, Runcible was created by Apple and Sony alumni Aubrey Anderson, George Arriola and Jason Proctor.
Its standout feature is its shape. Runcible is circular, with a convex wooden back designed to nestle in your palm. It's got a screen on the front, a camera on the back and a heft that makes it feel substantial. By eschewing a conventional rectangular, slab-like design and app-centric software, the startup is hoping to draw attention as a funky alternative for people who don't live on their smartphones.
Despite such differences, Runcible can still do most things a standard smartphone can, including making calls, surfing the Web, sending texts and taking photos. It doesn't, however, run apps or have a home screen -- it's point of stasis is, as you'd expect, a watch face. After all, Runcible is designed to be a pocket watch for the iPhone age.
"The form factor has a long history -- magic stones in your hand, compasses, women's compacts," said Anderson, Monohm's CEO. Runcible is designed to return smartphones to the "social niceties of pocket watches."
RUNCIBLE 'WEARABLE' POCKET SMARTWATCH (P... SEE FULL GALLERY
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Runcible represents more than merely an interesting sideshow to the mobile device industry. For years, companies have launched radical, new designs. And just like those devices, Runcible could ultimately influence industry design, even if it may not succeed on its own.
Remember the Motorola Razr? When it was released more than a decade ago, it was billed as one of the thinnest phones on the market. Its striking profile and metal casing stood out, something you see in modern smartphones like the iPhone 6. The Razr was wildly popular, selling by the scores of millions. In contrast, there was the Palm Pre. Its most prominent feature was its software, which allowed you to juggle multiple applications as "cards" you could shuffle around -- a technique that eventually made its way to Google's Android software (along with some of Palm's brightest talent). Despite wide acclaim and initial interest, the Pre ultimately flopped.
aubreyanderson.jpg
Aubrey Anderson, Monohm's CEO, sold a previous startup, Particle, to Apple in 2012.
Monohm
The Runcible, however, isn't in the same league. Monohm -- which comes from the combination of the Japanese word "mono," which means "object," and "ohm," a unit for electrical resistance -- lacks the marketing reach or brand awareness of Motorola or even Palm, and its product could just as easily disappear like many other other forgotten smartphones.
Runcible is banking on its retro appeal and is serious about bringing pocket watch designs into the 21st century. The gadget can be attached to a chain and and can even support a third-party clasp cover to flick open when you want to check the time, just like your great-grandfather probably did.
The brainchild of longtime friends Anderson, Arriola and Proctor, it took them only nine months to design, source and build the Runcible and secure a mobile carrier contract. Runcible is slated to debut next week at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, where it will be announced as an exclusive launch partner for Japanese carrier KDDI. Monohm is in talks with other carriers.
Monohm will sell the device online for a little less than the typical full-priced smartphone when it is released later this year. Arriola said he expects it to have a battery life of four days.
Runcible is designed to put your head back out in the world and your mind in conversation.
Aubrey Anderson, Monohm CEO
Arriola and Anderson say they've designed the Runcible to last for years, if not decades. How? You'll just replace its innards when they need an upgrade. Its curved back can be swapped with one of Monohm's selection of high-end woods with fanciful-sounding names like swamp ash and maple burl -- or with 3D-printed alternatives. They're calling it an "heirloom" electronic device and are introducing it just weeks before Apple is set to debut a high-end smartwatch that has many wondering how long it will last before requiring a replacement.
Runcible faces tremendous hurdles. It's a strange-looking device with an anachronistic appearance. It's also built on the idea that consumers don't need to upgrade their smartphone every two years. Monohm's founders want it to be the anti-smartphone -- an outlier when every successful device to date closely mimics the original iPhone.
The Runcible's inability to run apps like Instagram or Snapchat is another way it distinguishes itself -- although many consumers would be turned off by such a deficiency. Instead, it relies on websites designed for mobile devices. However, Anderson and Arriola say that they plan on making photography a major feature of the device -- think of rotating Runcible to focus your shot. On the technical end, Runcible runs on Mozilla's Firefox mobile operating system, although Monohm is taking some liberties with aspects of the software like the Firefox browser to customize it for Runcible's circular face.
Monohm is calling Runcible an "heirloom" electronic device, meaning it's meant to be held onto for years and even passed down while the computer parts inside are replaced.
Monohm
Even the familiar things a smartphone does won't be the same on Runcible. For example, its map won't display a typical top-down grid of streets. Instead, the device displays a compass with a red arrow pointing toward your destination. When it's time to turn, the arrow blinks and adjusts its orientation, leaving you to figure out the rest. Anderson is even considering having the device divert you to interesting landmarks and notable points of interest along the way. "We're trying to facilitate adventure," he said.
Rather than the rings and buzzes your phone emits when you're called or receive a text, notifications appear on the screen as swelling bubbles instead of the familiar red numeric badges clamoring for your attention.
While Anderson said he loves his Apple iPhone 6 and uses it for work "all the time," he believes that smartphones have become too distracting. "I'm at max beeping right now," he said.
By 2016, more than 2 billion people -- or more than a quarter of the world's population -- will have a smartphone, according to eMarketer. And the worldwide market for wearable devices, including fitness bands and smartwatches, is expected to surge to $52.3 billion by 2019, up from about $4.5 billion last year, with shipments north of 110 million units, according to market tracker Juniper Research. The end result is a sea of screens that will provide an even easier, more seamless gateway to our digital lives -- and away from the real world.
Runcible, Anderson said, could help customers to reject the notification-laden devices of modern life.
"Right now, your smartphone provides great connectivity, but your work comes into your personal life all the time," Anderson said. "Runcible is designed to put your head back out in the world and your mind in conversation."
Tags: Mobile World Congress 2015 Gadgets Wearable Tech Firefox OS Mozilla
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What the FCC Net neutrality rules will mean for Internet users
There may soon be new rules on how the Internet should work and be regulated. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will likely pass new Net neutrality rules that would keep the Internet open and reclassify broadband as a public utility. CNET's Maggie Reardon and Sumi Das on what the rules will mean for consumers. WATCH VIDEO
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Senior writer Seth Rosenblatt covers Google and security for CNET News, with occasional forays into tech and pop culture. Formerly a CNET Reviews senior editor for software, he has written about nearly every category of software and app available. See full bio
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CNETInternetNet neutrality a reality: FCC votes to bring Internet under utility-style rules
Net neutrality a reality: FCC votes to bring Internet under utility-style rules
In a 3-2 vote, the agency decides to apply the same rules that govern telephone service to broadband, with the hope that it ensures the fair and equal treatment of all traffic on the Internet.
by Marguerite Reardon
@maggie_reardonFebruary 26, 2015 10:00 AM PST
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It's official. The Internet will now be regulated as a public utility.
After months of anticipation and weeks of frenzied last-minute lobbying on both sides of the political aisle, the Federal Communications Commission has adopted Net neutrality regulations based on a new definition of broadband that will let the government regulate Internet infrastructure as it could the old telephone network.
At the FCC's monthly meeting Thursday the agency reinstated open Internet rules in a 3-2 vote split along party lines. The new rules replace regulations that had been thrown out by a federal court last year.
The new rules prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing down traffic on wired and wireless networks. They also ban Internet service providers from offering paid priority services that could allow them to charge content companies, such as Netflix, fees to access Internet "fast lanes" to reach customers more quickly when networks are congested.
The crux of the new rules is the FCC's reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecommunications service under the 1934 Communications Act. Applying the Title II moniker to broadband has the potential to radically change how the Internet is governed, giving the FCC unprecedented authority. The provision originally gave the agency the power to set rates and enforce the "common carrier" principle, or the idea that every customer gets equal access to the network. Now this idea will be applied to broadband networks to prevent Internet service providers from favoring one bit of data over another.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the controversial move to reclassify broadband is necessary to ensure that the rules will stand up to future court challenges. The FCC has lost two previous legal challenges when defending its Net neutrality rules.
But the FCC's move to apply Title II to broadband has been viewed by cable operators, wireless providers and phone companies as a "nuclear option," with potentially devastating fallout from unintended consequences.
These companies argue that applying outdated regulation to the broadband industry will stifle innovation by hurting investment opportunities in networks. It could also allow the government to impose new taxes and tariffs, which would increase consumer bills. And they say it could even allow the government to force network operators to share their infrastructure with competitors.
Wheeler has said these fears are overblown. The agency is ignoring aspects of the Title II regulation that would apply most of the onerous requirements.
He said critics have painted his proposal as "a secret plan to regulate the Internet."
His response to that? "Nonsense. This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concept: openness." Reactions to the passage of the FCC's new rules and the reclassification of broadband came quick from the industry. Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman and head of the cable industry's lobbying organization, said the FCC has gone too far in its intent to secure an open Internet for all consumers and entrepreneurs by reclassifying broadband.
"The FCC has taken the overwhelming support for an open Internet and pried open the door to heavy-handed government regulation in a space celebrated for its free enterprise," he said in a statement. "The Commission has breathed new life into the decayed telephone regulatory model and applied it to the most dynamic, free-wheeling and innovative platform in history."
AT&T's top legislative executive, Jim Cicconi, echoed these sentiments in a blog post.
"At AT&T, we've supported open Internet principles since they were first enunciated, and we continue to abide by them strictly, and voluntarily, even today," he said. "What doesn't make sense, and has never made sense, is to take a regulatory framework developed for Ma Bell in the 1930s and make her great grandchildren, with technologies and options undreamed of 80 years ago, live under it."
Political lines drawn
Thursday's FCC vote was split along party lines with the three Democrats -- led by Wheeler, who was appointed by President Barack Obama -- on the five-person commission supporting the proposal and the two Republicans opposing it.
The debate over Net neutrality, and more specifically the fight to reclassify broadband as Title II service, has turned into another bitter partisan battle in Washington. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called the new regulation "Obamacare for the Internet."
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Republicans have also accused the White House of skewing the independence of the FCC, with some seeking an investigation into Obama's role in shaping the rules, since Wheeler's initial proposal, made public in May, did not include reclassifying broadband traffic.
After a public outcry, including a 13-minute rant by HBO comedian John Oliver who implored viewers to flood the FCC with comments, Wheeler said he changed his mind and became convinced the only way to protect the open Internet was to change the definition of broadband.
But Republicans say Wheeler was likely influenced by a statement issued by Obama in November that urged the FCC to reclassify broadband. Obama said in a nearly 1,100-word statement that there should be no toll takers between you and your Internet content, and he said Title II was the only way to ensure the Internet remained open to everyone.
Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai highlighted the change in position in his statement during the FCC's meeting Thursday, asking why Wheeler changed his mind.
"Is it because we now have evidence that the Internet is broken?" he said. " No. We are flip-flopping for one reason and one reason alone. President Obama told us to do so."
Republicans in Congress have also drafted legislation that would write the Net neutrality rules into law but strip the FCC of its authority. But even though the Republicans control both the House and the Senate, they don't have the votes to override an executive veto from Obama. As a result, the party's leadership conceded earlier this week that it could not pass a Net neutrality bill without support from Democrats.
The fight continues
The vote today ends the most recent chapter of the Net neutrality battle, but it's by no means the end of the story.
After the rules are published in the Federal Register, likely within the next few weeks, broadband providers are sure to file suit against the FCC. AT&T has already suggested it will sue. And it's likely that other broadband providers will join the company.
FCC officials have said they anticipated such challenges, and they're confident the rules will stand up to legal changes.
This story is part of a CNET special report looking at the challenges of Net neutrality, and what rules -- if any -- are needed to fuel innovation and protect US consumers.
Tags: Net FixInternetFCC
FEATURED VIDEO
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What the FCC Net neutrality rules will mean for Internet users
There may soon be new rules on how the Internet should work and be regulated. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will likely pass new Net neutrality rules that would keep the Internet open and reclassify broadband as a public utility. CNET's Maggie Reardon and Sumi Das on what the rules will mean for consumers. WATCH VIDEO
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Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie. See full bio
DISCUSS NET NEUTRALITY A REALITY: FCC VOTES TO BRING INTERNET UNDER UTILITY-STYLE RULES
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