The phone as PC

Smart phones will never get anywhere close to Desktops...but hey wait a minute..I thought cameras on a phone were pretty dumb when they came out.

Never thought they would amount to anything..naaah! I still hold desktops dear and am not shaken....yet
 
Smartphones does have the ability to (and actually will) exceed the number of PC's as computing devices especially as we move more toward cloud computing.

The biggest limitation is actually not the hardware restrictions (Moore's Law is alive and well) but rather the HMI (Human Machine Interface) on these devices.

Humans are big, clunky creatures and we need big qwerty keyboards and screens to interact with our PC's. For example, I use 2 x 24" monitors on my desktop.

So, until we get reliable methods to do the HMI such as voice recognition and virtual displays, smartphone will still act as secondary devices for those with PC's and will provide limited capabilities for those without.
 
vodacom3g said:
Smartphones does have the ability to (and actually will) exceed the number of PC's as computing devices especially as we move more toward cloud computing.
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No argument from my side on that - was just picturing an iPhone with wires and a quad core hanging from its backside, swinging to and fro as someone walks and chats down the street...

The biggest limitation is actually not the hardware restrictions (Moore's Law is alive and well) but rather the HMI (Human Machine Interface) on these devices.
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Excellent insight as ever V3G

For example, I use 2 x 24" monitors on my desktop.
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:eek: Pig! I only have 2 x 19"'s - you just wait till I show my wife this....:p


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lol - my screen is so big I might as well could of had 4 x 22" screens
 
macPhallus said:
:eek: Pig! I only have 2 x 19"'s - you just wait till I show my wife this....:p
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Using 2 16x9 desktop monitors provides a substantial increase in productivity and should be standard on all desktops.

It's one of those things, once you've used it, you wonder how you worked without it in the past. I save a substantial amount of time (let alone frustration) having multiple documents in front of me vs. the old method of minimising and maximising everything all the time.

For mobile devices, proper VR goggle will give the same (or even better) effect but the problem will be the social angle on this.

We already sit at dinner and in meetings trying to type messages unseen on our mobiles. How is it going to look if you sit in a meeting with a set of goggles on? Not very subtle. :)
 
Rouxenator said:
How do I bring up the task manager on an iPhone to switch between all the applications I am running ?
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Let's not turn this into a tit-for-tat iPhone session again. The iPhone has many positives and many shortcomings (like any other device out there) including the lack of multi-tasking (there are pros and cons to this).

But the iPhone did sensitise us to a few new concepts. The most obvious one is the UI and another is (and I'm glad Duncan picked up on it) the number, cost and especially the EASE of loading of applications on the device.

Other vendors should take note. While there are many apps out there for Symbian and WM, it's not nearly as seamless as with iTunes to get them onto the mobile device.
 
Mmmnn in ten years time I can play Crysis full blast on my cellphone:)
 
vodacom3g said:
The iPhone has many positives and many shortcomings (like any other device out there) including the lack of multi-tasking.
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Ohnos - mmm - does not seem very PC like to me then ?

vodacom3g said:
...it's not nearly as seamless as with iTunes to get them onto the mobile device.
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Yeah, I have hear of this "iTunes" thing, if I am not mistaken it is the predecessor of http://www.mobile-review.com/mp3/articles/nokia-comes-with-music-en.shtml ?

Pretty cool, but phones (even smartphones) are not quite on the level of replacing PCs yet. Sure they have nice 3D processors and stuff like that but multitasking is very important. Very few smartphones does that. Also computers does this magic where it "duplicates" strings of text with the click of a few buttons. Amazing....
 
Rouxenator said:
Ohnos - mmm - does not seem very PC like to me then ?
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LOL nice one dude.

I read someone's comments about iPhone reviews / published "discussions", can't remember who was it in these forums...but they put it perfectly. Saying something like whenever their is anythign writen about the iPhone its more like a paid for press release than a review.

Cause if it was a review they'd mention the thing has more down sides than pro's. IMO, you can't call a phone a smart phone if you can't even copy and past text! Let alone have zip/rar support on your emails!!!
 
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I prefer to use my Mobile for phone calls, multimedia, email and occasional internet browsing which I can do it full 854 by 480 Japanese glory. However I don't need smartphone capabilities and happily avoid smartphones. Internet is much more fun on
this here Toughbook and video rendering goes better on a quad core Xeon and 30 inch
HDR monitor :). So yeah, interface is important. However the long boot times associated with Smartphones and poor internet connectivity in SA plus lousy interface (incl iPhone)
and low resolution displays in current Western smartphones make me avoid them.
Possibly the upcoming Sharp 933SH will be a smartphone with a 1 megapixel Aqos display and full keyboard :).
 
In December 1995 My PC was not powerful enough to play certain point and Click games... My current Phone is the bottom of the range HTC P3400 with a 1GB SD Card, I've loaded Dos emulators and a few others that play the games better then My PC did back then!... so in 13 years from now... WHAT do you think your phone might be capable off...?
 
I like my iPhone because of its ease of use...your granny could use it within half an hour of picking it up without outide help. I LOVE my Symbian phone (Nokia) because of its functionality...it can do EVERYTHNG! I can easily be away from my desktop or laptop for weeks on end and still do ALL my stuff. I can connect it to a TV with TV-out and to a bluetooth keyboard and it suddenly becomes very computer-like. Its not there yet, but its getting there.
 
doonit said:
... Its not there yet, but its getting there.
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I think it's going to get there in the next 5 years if not sooner!... the only reason everyone won't have one is because of the price their asking for such miracles of technology!.
 
IAMZAIN said:
I think it's going to get there in the next 5 years if not sooner!... the only reason everyone won't have one is because of the price their asking for such miracles of technology!.[/QUOTE

I think 5 years is way too long actually. Except for the fact that the small screen is a bit of a hindrance it really is there already. On a modern smartphone you can do a lot: VoIP, word, excel, book reading, games, full internet, etc. If your work is computer based then the little interface would probably drive you nuts but as a casual computer user its really enough, IMO
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