Phones > All?

oxygene

oxygene

oxygene

Soldato
Joined
20 Aug 2004
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Bournemouth
So I've been thinking, and that never ends well.
Currently mobiles screens are racing past desktop screens, processing power is exponentially increasing already beyond what most office / general internet users would need, the phones have more features then most people even know about. From this I had a very clear vision for the future.

Your desktop pc, assuming you dont do games and video processing, could soon be replaced. Imagine this, you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, drop your mobile in a dock nearby and it creates a standard desktop environment on the monitor, and you can use it like a normal pc that you take anywhere with you! I can see this future coming soon thanks to Windows 10, but even on android this would be highly enjoyable for people who dont want a big pc, but dont mind plugging in to a tv / monitor.
Ofcourse this would already work with streaming your displays which lots more offer now, but a dock would make it more universal.

Secondly, how about a car stereo? I'm shocked that people fork out for expensive stereos when they have a phone that does 10x more! Replace the stereo with a dock for your phone which connects it to the speakers and charges it, job done! (I've looked around and theres very few options for this currently)

These two things alone would make me a very happy person, but I'm sure theres lots of other use cases I havent even imagined yet. You can use your phone as a replacement for your bank cards, your house key, car key, camera, etc.

My main point is how close are we to a point when all we need is our phone?
 
oxygene said:
Your desktop pc, assuming you dont do games and video processing, could soon be replaced. Imagine this, you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, drop your mobile in a dock nearby and it creates a standard desktop environment on the monitor, and you can use it like a normal pc that you take anywhere with you! I can see this future coming soon thanks to Windows 10, but even on android this would be highly enjoyable for people who dont want a big pc, but dont mind plugging in to a tv / monitor.
Ofcourse this would already work with streaming your displays which lots more offer now, but a dock would make it more universal.
Click to expand...

As you mention this is coming to Windows 10 for Phones, but only on new devices that have the required new processors. There was also the Asus PadFone, but that only allowed Android on a larger screen rather than a full mobile/desktop interface change.
I can only see the switching being of niche use for a couple of years as even though mobile CPUs have rapidly increased in performance they are still a long way behind desktop CPUs. The occasional light web browsing or document writing would be possible, but thoughts of running Crysis will be a long way off.
There is also the difficulties of getting enough storage on a mobile device to store all of the mobile and desktop applications.

oxygene said:
Secondly, how about a car stereo? I'm shocked that people fork out for expensive stereos when they have a phone that does 10x more! Replace the stereo with a dock for your phone which connects it to the speakers and charges it, job done! (I've looked around and theres very few options for this currently)
Click to expand...

There are already some implementations available that do this functionality, like Renault's R&Go that is in the new Twingo. You can install apps on your Android/Apple device that allow you to control the radio, display navigation, etc.

On a slightly different tack you then have the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality that displays simplified content from the phone onto the in-vehicle display. Apple recently announced extensions to CarPlay that will allow car manufacturers to add apps that will allow control of the vehicle features (radio, air con, etc.) which means you won't have to switch between the CarPlay interface and the standard HU interface to access all of the functionality.

In terms of when this will be common place then that is a different matter. Mobile devices are on a fast update schedule, but the technology it connects to are in products on a much longer update schedule. Even though some implementations are available now I would expect it to be another 5 years until the majority of new cars provide this level of functionality.
 
Yeah see I'm not envisioning anything like a desktop gaming pc ofcourse, but for office work or web browsing we know the phones are powerful enough!
 
Minstadave said:
They're getting to the point where they're powerful enough to be used as a PC. The S6 for example has got 8 cores and 3GB of RAM, more than enough to do you general office PC role.
Click to expand...

On paper this is true, however the ARM cores are not even close to what you will find in even a bargain office PC.
 
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