Mobile devices have become our best buddies. We’re addicted to our iPhones, tablets, and laptops. Anything that can be with us, right by our side at all times, is ideal for our on-the-go lives. But in all honesty, why on earth would we need yet another little computer to lug around? The ones we have should be enough. Perhaps, if it were something as cute as the Solu, we could forget about our iPhones long enough to see what this cloud-based computing device has to offer.

Besides living in the smartphone era, we’re definitely living in the cloud-based era as well. Still, not everybody has hopped on this particular bandwagon just yet. Chromebook owners out there, you’re used to life of reckless abandon; saying goodbye to suped-up machines and hello to getting work done online. Solu is the perfect standalone device, an in between option when you don’t have your laptop but you’d rather work on something more “able” than your smartphone. The Finnish-made Solu, meaning “organic cell”, is made to replace the use of a computer with a laptop and keyboard, and to be used as either a standalone touchscreen device, or accompanied by a bigger display and used as a controller.

The square-shaped computer is designed with a wood finish, is about the size of a coaster, comes with a 2.3GHz processor, battery, and Wi-Fi. Solu claims part of the intention here was to have the device stand out as obviously different; it isn’t a smartphone, it isn’t a tablet, it’s someone’s special breed. Solu creators call it “The first new desktop paradigm in 30 years...It has been built around the core idea of collaboration. You can share applications and work co-cooperatively”. Since everything is stored in Solu’s very own cloud storage system, SoluOS (a heavily-modified version of Android) works openly with anyone who needs access to each other’s work in real-time. This function is meant to be Solu’s main selling point. (Geeky Gadgets).

The Solu interface is designed “to provoke better focus”, says the team at Solu, and the fact that you don’t have to buy the software (did I mention that?), makes this the perfect option for work relationships, including business and project planning. There is, however, a monthly fee (price is unknown) to use the Solu programs. Solu is currently on Kickstarter, and backers won’t receive their Solu device until May of 2016. For an added perk, SoluOS also works offline.

The device may or may not make it, mainly because its concept has many missing pieces. It’s hard to imagine individuals ditching their known software for one they have to pay for. However, I can imagine work environments taking advantage of the separate operating system as a manner of sharing and providing business documents; a brave company would have to be willing to take the plunge. Major developers would also have to hop on board and want to share their apps and software with Solu. Whether or not Solu is conventional is the question at hand. But there’s no doubt there will be a good handful of ready backers out there, there’s always something for everyone.