If a cable has to be used, i'd prefer it to be a single USB-C, which also charges the phone while plugged in and being a desktop. Possibly to a dock with a keyboard/mouse/monitor and other ports.
ARM processors have made some insane progress over the recent years, maybe in another 4-6 from now they will actually be quick enough to really make this a solid experience.
There should be a dock that lets the phone use a faster processor and GPU etc. Data would be stored on the phone and accessible but for desktop performance and full os it would need to be docked.
This is nice and all, but what I am waiting for is the phone to power my desktop setup. I walk up, drop the phone into a dock, and my three 27" monitors all wake up with the desktop exactly as I left it.
To get there I think the GPU will have to be embedded in the monitors, and some interesting operating system hoops will have to be jumped through. Do cords have enough bandwidth now to support this? I honestly don't know the answer to this question. I feel like the answer is yes.
The other idea is just to mount the phone to a head mount display and go VR or AR. But I feel like that is going to require way more advancement in resolution on the phone screens to get right.
We can get there. We are super close. The iPad with an M1 chip probably already has the power to do it. Maybe one or two more years and this is not only feasible but purchasable. I'm a buyer.
I thought this as well. I'd love to plug my phone into a laptop-looking-thingy...and instantly have a keyboard, screen, and maybe a battery (to keep the phone charged up).
Everybody already carries a computer that powerful around with them continuously -- their phone. And that phone is powerful enough to run office applications, web browsers and video games.
Soon every monitor will be a docking station for both phones and laptops. A USB 3.1 type C connector will carry power, displayport and legacy USB.
The only remaining problem is software: iOS and Android aren't well suited for a keyboard+mouse+big screen interface. I bet that both Apple & Google are working on that.
I certainly hope that Ubuntu is ready with software that provides a phone interface on a phone and a desktop interface when plugged into a monitor.
Because unlike a year and a half ago when they tried the Edge, hardware is (almost) ready for it.
The next generation of monitors, PC's, phones and tablets will all have USB 3.1 Type C ports. These are true docking ports, able to supply 100W of power, and transmit DisplayPort, PCIExpress and USB simultaneously.
You'll only have a single cable connected between your laptop and your monitor, with power, keyboard, mouse, network, printer, et cetera plugged into the monitor.
We've been able to do that before, but it's always been expensive and/or proprietary.
But what's really new is that this same cable will also be able to plug into your phone, letting you replace the laptop with a phone.
On the hand, I agree. But on the other hand, I love the innovation here, because it could lead us to a day where your phone is your computer. Plug it into a keyboard and monitor and get to work.
It's a neat idea, but I think it's an idea ahead of it's time still. There have been docking laptops forever and even that doesn't seem to have taken the world by storm.
My PC is configured with terabytes of slow storage, gigabytes of fast storage, a fast CPU, a fast GPU, and applications that need lots of storage and a fast video card and big screens. I'm unconstrained on size and power consumption and optimized for performance and my efficiency.
Meanwhile, my phone makes all kinds of compromises in order to be small and run all day on a single charge.
If being able to dock a phone is a good idea, why not go one step further? Make a watch that's your PC. When you sit down at a keyboard and monitor at Starbucks, it pairs with your watch and you get to work. Make the phone be nothing but a remote speaker, microphone, and display for your wrist computer. Your desktop is just a remote keyboard, mouse and display.
I think there is hope for this whole mobile and tablet future if, and only if, it will be possible to plug your phone/tablet into something that has a keyboard, mouse and two large monitors on your desk to work on that (and then take it elsewhere and do the same there). On top of that, optionally the device needs allow you to install and run any software you want without restrictions, and basically have unix shells and desktop UI when plugged in the stuff mentioned above. Of course, also, the CPUs and RAM need to be on-par with current desktops, but it's kind of realistic that this can happen, and the actual desktop box could be reserved for things that require some extra computing power.
I'm sure this will eventually apply to phones. I know it's been tried a couple of times (Motorola Atrix, various Kickstarter laptop/desktop phone docks), but one day it will happen. Why should a home user need a whole separate laptop or desktop if they could just have peripherals on their desk and just dock their phone to drive them all?
All we really need is a port that can drive all the peripherals at once (we have that on most phones via OTG), the power to run a 1080p display (we have that too, phone displays are usually even higher res than that), and the ability to run common home-use desktop apps (we're getting there, as MS/Google/Apple continue unifying their mobile and desktop OSes).
The next step would be to have all that be wireless, which I'm guessing isn't too far away on the Bluetooth roadmap, or even wifi streaming like Chromecast/Nvidia/Steam.
I'm sure professional use will lag behind, but even that will catch up eventually, especially with the possibility of docks adding hardware to an existing device (like the better video card in the Surface Book's keyboard module).
I think it's still too early from a hardware performance/connectivity point of view. Once your average $200 smartphone is powerful enough to power a normal desktop when plugged into a trivial, cheap and ubiquitos connector (USB C?), this kind of thing will take off.
I have no idea how the software will look though. Maybe it will be just a fancy and reall easy to use remote connection, in the end?
I agree with this. There have been numerous products and fantasies of a phone that could dock to use as a laptop. And now for the first time we have a single platform for all devices.
If they are sensible about it, unification would be fantastic.
This has been a dream of mine for several years now, and I believe Ubuntu (with Touch coming around) is currently the OS best suited for this task. However I do have some concerns which still go unanswered. Until then, I'm holding back my pledge.
1: I realize this is their first attempt at this, but if this phone doesn't support 2+ monitors, then this simply won't work as a desktop replacement. HDMI-output is nothing new. Who still uses a single monitor on their desktop?
2: I didn't find any mention of docks. I'd be interested to see if there would be any future plans to create different types of docks. I.e. tablet dock with extended battery life (like the Asus PadFone), desktop dock with 2+ 1080p+ monitor output. Preferably with the docks allowing USB connections, so that we are not stuck with buying new gear all around. Maybe even a laptop style dock?
3: Context awareness. Not sure if this is already addressed, but it'd be nice if when I docked it at work, I'd have the option of continuing where I left off yesterday. Achievable through profiles combined with some NFC cleverness? Personally, I can think of a few contexts I'd set up myself: desktop@work, desktop@home, laptop, tablet, HTPC, nightstand, car... and of course, phone.
4: Waterproof. If I'm going to walk around with my personal computer in my pocket, it'd be nice if a splash of water didn't kill it.
I think this may be the future of computing, but not yet. A high-end phone may have the computing power to replace simple desktop systems, but connectors to the peripherals haven't been standardized yet.
I would be happy to run two different OSes (and maybe 2 different CPUs), the mobile one getting access to the phone screen and the desktop one with access to the monitor, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (or the phone as touchpad). One or more shared directores for file sync (pictures, videos, downloads, etc)
The problem is that there is no phone with an i7, 32 GB RAM and 1TB SSD now. That's my laptop. My phone is a sub 5" Xperia X Compact. 3GB, 32 GB storage, a Snapdragon 600 something. Fast but not suited for the job I'm doing on the laptop.
Then the battery. It would drain as fast as the one of those old laptops that need to have theirs replaced.
We're still not there and I not sure there is a market for that. Maybe we'll get there by inertia once batteries and cycles per Watt will allow it. The direction we are headed now for this use case is the phone CPU driving a smart terminal to a powerful remote computer, with attached monitor and input peripheral.
Funnily enough, you can kinda already do this with a USB-C dock. I have one for my MacBook Pro, and when I plugged my phone in it launched a desktop interface that ran on my phone. It could only use one screen, though.
I bought an Android phone that transforms into a desktop computer when you plug in a USB-C monitor, and the entire experience is mind blowing. You can even connect a bluetooth keyboard and use the phone screen as a touchpad. Unfortunately I don't think Apple is going to go in that direction anytime soon.
This is what I want, but with an iPhone (with an iPad would be cool, too). Sell me some insanely expensive dock with a USB-C display port output for a monitor (and a few more for peripherals) and when the phone is plugged in, it becomes macOS.
I really hope all phone OSs go this direction. I love my laptop(s) and they're great for doing serious work, but sometime when I'm, say, composing an email on my phone and it starts getting long, I'd love to be able to plug in to a monitor and keyboard and keep going.
If a cable has to be used, i'd prefer it to be a single USB-C, which also charges the phone while plugged in and being a desktop. Possibly to a dock with a keyboard/mouse/monitor and other ports.
ARM processors have made some insane progress over the recent years, maybe in another 4-6 from now they will actually be quick enough to really make this a solid experience.
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