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

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

#271

Post by gitaarik » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:50 AM UTC

atoav wrote: post #171

What astounds most ist that we have now ~16 years of Android and there is still no all around decent keyboard for power users. It seems like everybody has accepted to use Android just as a consumer OS. When I started using Unexpected Keyboard the realization that I can just shift + arrow select text and ctrl + x cut it hit me like a bag of bricks. This is such a simple thing, but the existing story for marking and ed…

Wow! Unexpected Keyboard is awesome! Just trying it out now and typing this message on it. It feels like I finally have some of the flexibility from the desktop keyboard back. It also just really feels like a nice keyboard from first use. And to have a control button and be able to select text by holding the shift button and moving the cursor is a game changer. Even Ctrl+Z works!

Yeah it's too bad it doesn't have auto-complete. But suspect that with the better controls, the need for auto-complete becomes a lot less. Well, I'll try it out for some time and see how it goes. In any case it's nice for dev work on Android anyway (what it was designed for). Not that I like to do that all too much on Android, but it's nice to be able to do it when your laptop is not available.

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

#272

Post by k__ » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:52 AM UTC

I was looking at XR glasses the other day, and it seems that phones are ready to be PCs soon.

For $400 you can get some virtual displays you can carry around everywhere.

The next gen comes with 6DoF, and when they half or quarter in price, things could get interesting.

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

#273

Post by david-gpu » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:56 AM UTC

hilbert42 wrote: post #236

f6v wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And I know of others, and I know I'm not alone. Children who play Fortnite on the go are a much bigger market and will always be. Smartphones are content consumption devices.

"Smartphones are content consumption devices." The point I put forward is what I and a small select section of the market wants as features—NOT what's on offer from manufacturers now. The argument people are putting here is that manufacturers would not serve that market. These are two separate issues. Isn't that clear? When someone makes what I want then I'll buy it. BTW, I've not suggested anything that cannot be ma…

The tiny minority of people who want this do not form a market large enough to bear the amortized engineering and manufacturing cost of adding those niche features.

Imagine somebody asking for phones that have a built-in Swiss army knife because there is a (tiny) segment of the market who would benefit from it.

Before it makes sense to integrate these features to the phone, you would expect to see a thriving ecosystem of third-party external dongles providing the same, for example.

The market is not more diverse because there is no money to be made by making it more diverse. You underestimate the cost just as much as you overestimate the size of the market segment that wants those features.

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

#274

Post by lores » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:56 AM UTC

orf wrote: post #209

ksp-atlas wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't any percentage below 50% round to zero?

No, obviously not.

It does, to -2 decimal places :)

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

#275

Post by mihaaly » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:57 AM UTC

gregjor wrote: post #134

I think you haven’t considered the luxury goods aspect of higher-end phones. The majority of people buying new phones every year or two don’t carefully study specs, and don’t need to use a PC or laptop at all, or only need a “real” computer for work or specific tasks. Already smartphones serve as the primary internet access device for a majority of internet users. Sales of new phone models have a lot more to do with…

Imagine you only can buy Ferrari SUV from now on (coming with built in dishwasher as standard extra). Whatever your usecase is. Be it a family car for shopping, small utility vechicle for delivering goods to a construction site, want to go camping in Siberia with friends, or need something to plough your fields. With small compromises it could substitute an electric bike or a scooter as well!! Luxury cars for everyone!!

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

#276

Post by astrange » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:58 AM UTC

wruza wrote: post #249

mckirk wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Provided you limit the charge level to something like 80% (ideally even 60%). Keeping these batteries at 100% constantly also leads to degradation, even if you don't really 'use' them.

Keeping them at 100% is prone to explosion, actually. When we built a farm at the company I worked at, the more experienced guys advised on specific models that survive all-time on cable.

They're usually designed to handle that, presumably by not actually staying at 100%.

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

#277

Post by hannofcart » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:58 AM UTC

david-gpu wrote: post #264

hannofcart wrote: post #258

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 v…

There is also security updates, as well as the wear and tear on a physical device that is constantly exposed to scratches, dust, and whatnot. I would like to use them for four or five years with a battery replacement at the midpoint.

I immediately put a transparent case around my device as soon as I get it and put a screen guard on it as well. My wife mocks me saying that it totally kills the device's looks but considering how integral having a functioning phone at all times is to... well, existing (and accessing any Govt. service in my country), I take the hit in aesthetics for extra durability.

As a result, all my phones end up looking pristine several years into them being used.

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

#278

Post by retskrad » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 10:58 AM UTC

Observe a young person using their phone. They constantly multitask, rapidly switching between apps like Safari, camera, TikTok and YouTube. Unlike older generations who associate "heavy" apps with desktop software like Photoshop, today's mobile users experience app heaviness through frequent transitions between different apps, most of which are optimised poorly. While an iPhone 16 might be microseconds faster than the 15 at opening an app, processing a picture from the camera or loading a page, these small increments significantly accumulate throughout daily use.

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

#279

Post by hilbert42 » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 11:00 AM UTC

Kirby64 wrote: post #117

hilbert42 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Because the population of people that would actually use that functionality rounds to approximately 0." How can you say that, where are your figures/stats/evidence? For starters I'm 1 person, so the market is not O. And I know of others, and I know I'm not alone. Clearly you don't work in test and measurement. Moreover, this article alone has raised the matter of additional features. Anyway, it's only a matter of ti…

> For starters I'm 1 person, so the market is not O. And I know of others, and I know I'm not alone. Clearly you don't work in test and measurement. I said approximately 0, when compared to smartphone sales… which it is. I don’t need a survey to know that, since the vast vast vast majority of people using phones don’t even know what an oscilloscope, a DAC, or an ADC is. If you think that’s untrue, I’d suggest widenin…

"Also, I’d think that you don’t work in test and measurement"

I've worked in one of the prototype laboratories of one of the biggest electronics companies in the world where we actually developed communication equipment.

Using bench type instrumentation has nothing whatsoever to do with what I'm talking about. At no time did I ever say that my portable device was a substitute for professional test equipment. The idea is preposterous.

Given your comment, one has to ask what you do and at what level.

Conflating ideas and 'reading' stuff that isn't actually there is the single biggest problem with the internet. .

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

#280

Post by mihaaly » Mon, Dec 09, 2024, 11:04 AM UTC

eigenspace wrote: post #28

abraxas wrote: post #2

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.

You can't. It will loose OS support in seconds! Then next update of your essential app will stop working as it needs the newer OS. Also the battery is fused to the screen or what and cannot keep up with the AI assisted emojis needs coming in with a random software update.