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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

#401

FWIW two things have been a game changer for me in terms of mobile UX recently: - ZMK powered super portable wireless Bluetooth split keyboards - portable headset-based displays like the Viture XR pro I am now comfortable leaving my laptop at home with zero anxiety, because I know I can fairly comfortably dive back into anything I need to from anywhere with my split 36 keys, termux, obsidian and earbuds. Yes most of…

> Portable headset-based displays like the Viture XR pro I'm really not familiar with the physics of this. But when using your glass, the image is put in a parallax between left and right eye to 'appear' at a distance. But does this mean that your eyes are focusing on a very nearby plane irrespective of where the image is perceived to be by your brain? As in would this strain your eyesight more?

So there are two different things to think about - there's the focus, which is what you think it is, and there's the 'vergence,' which I think is the fancy name for what you're calling parallax. Because the headset isn't trying to project a 3D image (unless you're in 3D mode), there's no parallax - all it's doing is projecting two flat screens at your eyeballs through a focusing lens.

However, because the spacing between the screens is not adjustable, your eyes will always do some level of 'vergence' adjustment to point themselves at the screen, effectively going a little cross-eyed or a little in the other direction. In the beginning I felt like my eyes were a bit too far apart to use the headset comfortably, but a recent software update allowed you to adjust this by trimming a few pixels from the edge of the screen to adjust the position of the image. While it's not perfect, I think it's helped a lot. I've tested this by looking through the glasses with a mouse pointer on the screen while trying to notice at which distance I see just the one pointer, and it's roughly around 3m in front of me, which aligns perfectly with the focus distance of the projected screens.

On the question of actual focus - screen focus itself is actually adjustable on the Viture XR Pro to accommodate for glasses prescriptions, down to a -5.0 diopter. You can adjust focus individually for each of your eyes, and I think it's this that actually makes the biggest difference in how relaxed you can be when you use it. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to adjust it for long-sightedness, but I'm a +1.0 and find there's still room in the opposite direction if I wanted to adjust it more on the dials.

Hope that helps.

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

#402

FWIW two things have been a game changer for me in terms of mobile UX recently: - ZMK powered super portable wireless Bluetooth split keyboards - portable headset-based displays like the Viture XR pro I am now comfortable leaving my laptop at home with zero anxiety, because I know I can fairly comfortably dive back into anything I need to from anywhere with my split 36 keys, termux, obsidian and earbuds. Yes most of…

Aren't these headset displays too blurry for desktop work? What most people seem to use them for is for gaming and watching videos.

In my experience the trick seems to be light mode, as it gives your eyes a bit more to stay focused on; they take a little getting used to but they're usable. I wouldn't recommend them for programming, but they're great for focused writing (obsidian zen mode) and for drawing / editing work.

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

#403

FWIW two things have been a game changer for me in terms of mobile UX recently: - ZMK powered super portable wireless Bluetooth split keyboards - portable headset-based displays like the Viture XR pro I am now comfortable leaving my laptop at home with zero anxiety, because I know I can fairly comfortably dive back into anything I need to from anywhere with my split 36 keys, termux, obsidian and earbuds. Yes most of…

> Viture XR pro What is the experience like? Could you spend time programming in the terminal? Would it be comfortable for several hours?

See my other comment, but yeah - usable if you tone the contrast down, otherwise the glare from individual characters can be a lot unless they're perfectly clean. Better in light mode. I've never used them for more than a couple of hours at a time though.

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

#404
The idea of "performance" is debatable.

For example, "phones" use eMMC or UFS which are not the choice of those who want "performance" from their personal computer. They prefer SSDs.

Chromebooks also use eMMC. To illustrate, search for the term "eMMC" on Amazon and the results are mostly Chromebooks. Also routers and development boards are still using eMMC.

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

#405
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You're right about phones also being provided. With that in mind, I'd say: if your company and other places of business you tend to visit all go for this concept, I think it could work. But as long as the boss expects you to work on a laptop, this'll remain a niche application.

Honestly, I'd love to be surprised and see everyone switching to docking setups everywhere. But I just think the positives over current working modes are too small to gain the needed traction. And that's before considering downsides other than investment costs/overcoming network effects.

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

#406
post #199
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Can confirm, S22 ultra when plugged into Dell docking box (or whatever its called, not a typical docking station, it just connects with laptop via thick USB-C cable) works out of box, with mouse and keyboard. Firefox with ublock origin works very well for example. The only thing is it doesn't adjust automatically to native screen resolution (1600p in my case). But its still just an Android, even with full filesystem…

My dream was to be able to use VR glasses and something like Samsung dex for an ultra portable coding workstation.

I bought a pair of Viture Pro glasses, but they were pretty unusable for coding for me. Maybe for watching videos would have been OK but not typing / needing to read all areas of the screen.

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

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the ones that compete with the aforementioned Razr, unfortunately.

The latest Z Fold6 can do DeX but its a bit hidden, not official.

The Fold4 switches to dex as soon as you connect a monitor. I wonder why they made it harder to use?

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

#409
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm, S22 ultra when plugged into Dell docking box (or whatever its called, not a typical docking station, it just connects with laptop via thick USB-C cable) works out of box, with mouse and keyboard. Firefox with ublock origin works very well for example. The only thing is it doesn't adjust automatically to native screen resolution (1600p in my case). But its still just an Android, even with full filesystem…

Yeah Firefox on DeX also lacks pc style tabs which Chrome does have. It's the only case where I really use chrome a lot.

Chrome even switches to tabs when you unfold the Fold phones, which is really nice.

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

#410
post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What is a Roland p-1? All I could find was this https://proav.roland.com/global/products/p-1/
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