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Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

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Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#251

Post by stavros »

lupusreal wrote: post #247
stavros wrote: post #226

But I do want performance :( Every phone I've owned becomes a dog after a few months, with apps taking tens of seconds to launch cold. I don't know if iOS does better in that regard, but it has other issues that make it painful to use as a daily driver.

It's got to be something relating to usage patterns. I've been buying the cheapest android phones my carrier supports and only upgrading them when my carrier forces me, and I never experience any slowdowns. On the other hand, I use almost no commercial apps, banking and finance being the exceptions. I use a few apps from F-Droid but the rest is just browser and basic phone functions. The phone I have now is a Nokia b…

Yeah, I'm sure it's background apps, because I have lots installed, but I'd expect to be able to close them, or prevent them from running in the background somehow, at least.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#252

Post by isoprophlex »

I hate buying shit for the sake of it, managed to hold out upgrading from an iphone 11 until last month.

I touch my phone 3-4 hours a day. As much as I detest the upgrade rat race (and using a phone so much, but that's an aside), the increased responsivity feels really nice. Definitely worth the money for me.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#254

Post by herbst »

austinjp wrote: post #194
CMDBob wrote: post #124

It's funny, as my phone (A 2022 Moto Razr) can work as PC, if I plug it into a monitor with it's USB-C port. I can plug it into a monitor, and plug a mouse and keyboard into the monitor's inbuilt USB-C hub, and it works just fine. Has a desktop mode and everything! If the monitor doesn't have a hub in it, I can use the phone as a mouse/touchpad! Plus, if the monitor supports it, it'll even keep it charged rather than…

Interesting, I wouldn't mind an Android phone that can do similar, but I'm not looking for a clamshell. For anyone else who, like me, is naive about such things, the key search terms seem to be: DisplayPort alternate mode over USB-C. Support seems patchy.

I hate USB-C for laptop charging ports, to fragile for regular use. However I build a few things recently and I love the simplicity.

- External Touch Screen - only needs one cable, usbc, for picture, sound, touch, power! ... (DP mode you mentioned required)

- As power source. My caravan computer (Dell wyse 5070) uses usbc as power source with a cheap DC slot adapter. My laptop charges in usb-c from 60w or more.

- We have 2 Rolands (p-1, s-1) both can use their usbc cable for direct audio in AND out which just works on Linux.

- For the Roland's I can use my phone as sound DAW or source, or both. I can also attach the touch screen, ...

All using the same (cheap and available) cable. Which is amazing and took my whole life to get to.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#255

Post by lupusreal »

codedokode wrote: post #172
lisp2240 wrote: post #169

A smartphone is an appliance like a washing machine or a blender. It should just work. I will gladly pay extra for appliances that perform well. I will gladly pay extra for appliances that require no maintenance and can’t be broken. If I want something unreliable I can program or hack, I will go to a real PC.

A smartphone is first of all a data collection and ad distribution device.

Data collection sure, but the ads are optional. I haven't seen an ad in years. Stock firmware BTW.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#256

Post by swiftcoder »

haltcatchfire wrote: post #164
Nursie wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a Huawei P20 Pro that did much the same back in 2018. I never really used it for much, a bit of light browsing and really just as a gimmick, buit yeah, there was a desktop of sorts and you could use all the apps, and the touchpad/mouse thing worked. You could attach a bluetooth keyboard too, IIRC. Kindof a shame my iphone doesn't do this (I assume, I haven't tried), but I'm not sure if I'd use it.

iPhone has good support for peripherals, hubs and external displays, but lacks a desktop mode.

Which is quite frankly weird, given that the iPad has fairly robust mouse/keyboard support at this point, and at least some nods towards window management

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#257

Post by loup-vaillant »

bhelkey wrote: post #111
loup-vaillant wrote: post #22

> When was the last time you felt your smartphone really couldn’t cope? 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 sl…

> Edit: I have a Xiaomi M1804C3CG. It looks like that model has 2GB of ram. I can certainly understand running into performance issues with those specs.

I don’t. 2GB ought to be enough for everyone. The only reason it may not is if apps are ludicrously memory hungry.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#258

Post by hannofcart »

The only thing forcing most of us to upgrade every 3 years is the fact that most phones now come with their batteries are either soldered on (in the lower end versions) or come with connectors (most often I think) but replacement requires prying open the case and specialized tools/knowledge.

Honestly, today's phones are an overkill for most mobile computing tasks except for a very small niche of users who might run very high end games. And even there it's not a given.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#259

Post by IanCal »

maccard wrote: post #183
tanewishly wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand upon that point: a new feature for smartphones that really takes off has to fall in one of two categories: 1. so incredibly convenient to always have with you, that everyone's willing to overlook shortcomings compared to dedicated equipment. Prime example: camera. 2. Offer a new type of use that is widely considered desirable. Example: mobile access to Internet. Most use cases either cater to too few people…

I agree with you except for one point: > Even replacing laptops probably won't catch on, simply because companies can easily provide a good laptop for half the price of a flagship phone You’re comparing top of the range phones to low end laptops. A low to mid range phone can be bought from a reputable manufacturer (Samsung) for about £200 and it has plenty of processing to do email, video calls, PowerPoint, and basic…

Phones are also often paid for too. If you had a keyboard + screen + battery and could just clip your phone in that would feel like a pretty nice setup.

Bonus there is that it's one place for all your data.

Alternatively, on the data side I've been shocked at how cheap storage is now. I bought a 256gb usb stick shipped for £10. I've got tiny 4tb external drives. You can get terabyte microsd cards! It'd be pretty nice to have a setup where the device is intended to be blank and you just pop your data card in. I know it's more complex but not that complex for what would to me feel like a fairly sci-fi thing.

Re: Unless my phone can be a PC, I don't want to keep paying for extra performance

#260

Post by amelius »

rjh29 wrote: post #187
CMDBob wrote: post #124

It's funny, as my phone (A 2022 Moto Razr) can work as PC, if I plug it into a monitor with it's USB-C port. I can plug it into a monitor, and plug a mouse and keyboard into the monitor's inbuilt USB-C hub, and it works just fine. Has a desktop mode and everything! If the monitor doesn't have a hub in it, I can use the phone as a mouse/touchpad! Plus, if the monitor supports it, it'll even keep it charged rather than…

All high end Samsung phones can do this as well (DEX).

How secure is it? Will Samsung or others be able to look over your shoulders?
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