For $138, Zmartframe Turns an Old Monitor into a Second PC

Crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo let inventors appeal directly to the public for funds. They’ve made a lot of entrepreneurial dreams come true.

If you’re inspired by the inventor’s pitch video, you send some money. It’s not an investment; you don’t get rich if the invention becomes a hit. But you do get some memento — a T-shirt or a discounted version of the invention once it’s manufactured — and the rosy glow of knowing that you helped bring a cool idea to life.

Until now, there’s been only one problem: You had no way to know if the invention was actually any good. You had to trust the inventor’s video.

That’s the beauty of our crowdsourcing reviews. We actually test the prototype, find out how much promise it has and help you decide if the thing is worth funding or buying.

Today’s invention: The Zmartframe, from a Hong Kong company called GowinTec.

The claim: This is a lightweight frame that you can put on any monitor — and turn it into a touchscreen.

It has two modes: One turns your existing PC into a touchscreen PC.

The other turns a monitor by itself (no computer needed) into a giant touchscreen Android tablet. It’s a great way, the inventors say, to turn some old monitor into a useful working second computer.

Price: $138 (for an 18- or 19-inch monitor); $168 (for a 20- to 22-inch monitor). $30 for shipping to the United States.

Goal: The inventors hope to raise $50,000. The campaign closes on Nov. 14.

Status: So far, the Zmartframe page has raised about $3,400 — about 7 percent of its goal. Why is such a cool idea getting such a cool reception?

I suspect that part of the problem is confusion: The Indiegogo page actually lists two products — the ZmartframeMax (a very different idea) and this one, the Zmartframe. You have to scroll wayyyyyyy down the page to find the Zmartframe itself — and when you’re up at the top, you’d have no idea that a second product is even waiting down there.

What I tested: I was astonished. The prototype the inventors sent me was a fully finished, fully operational, ready-to-use product. It came with cables, instructions — the works. I mean, this baby is ready to fly.

What I learned: When you think about it, it seems kind of odd that nobody’s come up with this before: a clear touch panel that you can affix to an existing screen, turning it into a touchscreen.

After all, with Windows 8, Microsoft bet the company on the notion that all PCs will soon have touchscreens. (In Windows 10, it’s been backing away from that assertion.) But sales of touchscreen computers have been lackluster; most people aren’t interested in buying a new computer just to gain touchscreen abilities. Well, here’s one very interesting alternative.

The Zmartframe is a glossy black plastic frame containing what looks like ordinary clear glass. You’re supposed to strap the thing onto your 19-inch or 22-inch monitor using Velcro straps.

That’s not the most high-tech solution, of course, but the straps hold the frame on precisely and securely — and you don’t see the straps when you’re working.

You connect the frame to your PC with a USB cable, and you run a little calibration app that asks you to touch the Zmartframe glass in four places. You’re teaching the PC where the screen is hanging relative to the original monitor.

And then — that’s it! You have yourself a touchscreen. You can operate the TileWorld mode of Windows 8 and all of its touch-enabled apps, or draw with your finger, or type using the Windows onscreen keyboard. The response time is excellent; the company says it’s 8 milliseconds, although my stopwatch doesn’t tick off time that small. It feels, well, exactly like you’re using a touchscreen-enabled Windows PC.

The Zmartframe has a switch at the top, though, that unlocks its crazy second feature — a mode that doubles its usefulness and its function.

When you flip that switch, the Zmartframe no longer needs a computer; it is a computer! Hidden inside are the guts of an Android tablet: a 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor, a gigabyte of memory, and 8 gigabytes of storage. In this mode, you’ve got yourself a gigantic Android 4.2 all-in-one PC.

Suddenly that old monitor gathering dust in your closet can have a new life as a kitchen computer, perfect for checking email, pulling up websites, playing Netflix videos, and so on. All those thousands of Android tablet apps work, too, although you may occasionally encounter some odd software layouts. Still — not bad for $138.

The one point of caution — in this Android configuration — is the cabling. The Zmartframe requires, first of all, an HDMI cable to connect to your old monitor. And that’s the thing — most old 19-inch monitors don’t have HDMI connectors. I spent a lot of time fiddling with HDMI adapters, trying to make my own old 19-incher work, without success.

HDMI jacks seem to be much more common on 22-inch monitors. Sure enough: When I tried the Zmartframe on a 22-incher, it worked perfectly.

The other note about Android mode: The Zmartframe requires power in this situation. So you’ll have power cords trailing out of both your old monitor and your Zmartframe overlay.

The bottom line: The Zmartframe, even in its prototype form, works like a fine, finished, commercial product. It’s a great idea, well designed, well priced. And useful: It’s easy to imagine thousands of people with old monitors who would pay $138 to turn them into useful second PCs — computers that appear to have no computer, no CPU. Just a monitor floating in space, with this frame strapped to it.

Only two tough facts stand in the Zmartframe’s way.

First, you can buy an actual touchscreen monitor for $200. Which is nicer looking, thinner, and less encumbered by cables. That’s only $32 more than the Zmartframe + shipping.

True, the Dell in the above link doesn’t double as a standalone Android computer, as the Zmartframe does. But if you want to turn your existing PC into a touchscreen machine, the Zmartframe’s benefit may be less about saving money and more about saving the environment from another tossed computer part.

The second obstacle: Who will ever find the Zmartframe? Who will ever know about it? The Zmartframe’s Indiegogo page is crowded, baffling, written in less-than standard English. And it appears on the same campaign page as the ZmartframeMax, which is a cool-looking product in its own right (turns any big surface into a touchscreen) but really isn’t the same thing as the regular Zmartframe.

In other words, what GowinTec has on its hands is a gem in the rough — a light hidden under a bushel. Its challenge now isn’t one of technology; it’s one of marketing. I wish it the best of luck.

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