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Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sad reality is that market forces don’t want this to happen, since it would cannibalize sales of those other devices. It’s much better for manufacturers to make sure a phone can only do “phone stuff” and a PC can only do “PC stuff”, because then you need to buy both devices.
Market forces have included it in every Samsung phone since the S8?
Every day since a couple years now.
> I struggle to recall the last time an app jerked and juddered into life.
I don’t. But here’s the thing: it wasn’t that way at first. It’s just that over time my phone just slowed down. Purging it of its data and unused software did nothing, I just had less and less available memory over time, and maps grew slower and slower, and it was becoming increasingly impossible to open several, sometimes just two applications at the same time.
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That being said, I do agree with the core point of the article: phones are plenty fast enough.
Heck, I’m pretty sure a snappy modern UI with all the bells and whistles except perhaps a voice assistant requires less than a tenth of the computing power of the average phone. We just need reasonably performing software. Not crazy optimised software, just something that makes decent use of the CPU and GPU, and doesn’t consume too much RAM.
But the market won’t even give us that. You know what, keep that up a few years and I’ll seriously think of switching back to a flip phone.
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Edit: I have a Xiaomi M1804C3CG.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't remember what the project was called, but many years ago I remember seeing a concept for a Linux phone that also doubled as your desktop when plugged into a hub.
All Samsung Galaxy phones have a built in desktop OS called Dex. I remember plugging my monitor usb-c cable to charge my phone and being blown away when a desktop UI appeared on the monitor
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sad reality is that market forces don’t want this to happen, since it would cannibalize sales of those other devices. It’s much better for manufacturers to make sure a phone can only do “phone stuff” and a PC can only do “PC stuff”, because then you need to buy both devices.
I think Google is well-positioned to do it. They have experience with ChromeOS already, and running Linux apps on Android should be at least somewhat plausibly deniable. Google doesn't sell laptops either, so they aren't especially worried about the cannibalization.
With USB-C, surely we are at the point where we can plug our phones into a hub with a couple of monitors attached and get a proper desktop environment?
Single monitor is probably doable by the majority of phones on the market, but multi-monitor is another story. I’m not sure that most phone SoCs have the hardware to support more than one, which would mean that additional monitors would need to be driven via software ala DisplayLink which might make the phone get hot and negatively impact battery health. The other issue is demand. I suspect that the number of people…
I would probably come down to separate devices however, in the interests of security and continuity. A phone is much more likely to be lost or stolen than a computer on a desk at home. I keep my really important stuff on my computer, and try to keep my phone as disposable as possible.
This and also I don't want a tumor on the back of my phone. Can we go back to flat bodies at the expense of camera quality? For some of us phone cameras are really not _that_ important.
This and also I don't want a tumor on the back of my phone. Can we go back to flat bodies at the expense of camera quality? For some of us phone cameras are really not _that_ important.
A better camera is the only reason to buy a new phone. If you don't want that, you can just buy a 5 year old or more phone and be just as happier.
With USB-C, surely we are at the point where we can plug our phones into a hub with a couple of monitors attached and get a proper desktop environment?
The sad reality is that market forces don’t want this to happen, since it would cannibalize sales of those other devices. It’s much better for manufacturers to make sure a phone can only do “phone stuff” and a PC can only do “PC stuff”, because then you need to buy both devices.
Any hybrid would be a compromise for me. I do have multiple systems--almost certainly more than I need.