The desktop smartphone
Ever since the first PDAs arrived and throughout the evolution into the newest smartphones, these devices have always been somewhat disconnected from desktop computers. They run their own operating systems, have their own software and only have tenuous links to desktops for PIM data and synchronised files. As these smartphone have become more connected, they have become much less reliant on desktop computers and so the gap has widened to the point that many of us do the majority of out computing on a mobile device.
There have been attempts to make PDAs and phones which act as pure extensions of desktop computers, but none have worked as well as hoped for. The main reason for this is that the gap between desktops and mobile devices has been wide, but times change and that gap is closing all of the time.
It is an irony that in a world of connected super phones, they may well become the perfect extension for a desktop computer. Simply docking your phone could seamlessly transfer the majority of your data (files, apps, PIM etc.) and keep it organised each day and this could effectively leave you with just one set of information on both units. There are countless hurdles to jump and many technicalities to work on, but one day the smartphone may indeed be capable of doing most of what your desktop does on the road.
Desktop computers need to be a certain size to be comfortable to use and this size will stay the same. As components become smaller the super phones of the future will conceivably have as much power as any desktop and manage the same tasks with ease.
People have always wanted PDA’s to replace laptops. Me especially.
I still can’t see the CPU of your home computer being your phone. It’d be nice but unlikely. You’ll always be able to get more power/speed etc in a larger unit and people will still buy the powerful unit for home. I think we’ll just continue to see a growth in sync’ing programs and enhanced sync.
If you have bluetooth in your car, as soon as you get it, your phone connects and there you go. Why can’t the same happen with sync software. As soon as I’m in range of my home wifi then the PC and phone communicate and sync files/docs etc based upon my profiles and preferences. Not 23 diff sync programs to run but one master sync software. Kind of like Microsoft’s synctoy. This could even be done via 3G/Edge etc perhaps if there was enough bandwith. Masses of storage space on the phone so that I have everything with me – all my music, all my movies, all my word/excel docs. If the phone even runs the same OS as the PC then you can run the exact same programs.
So you have the most powerful and larger unit at home, the exact same abilities (albeit slower) when mobile, everything sync’ed and of course everything is backed up on another unit in case you damage or lose one.
Cloud computing is a move towards this but I still want to run the exact same programs on my phone as I do on my PC and to have faith in my sync software.
Sid
@ sidthebad
I’ve been wanting that since forever. Or a central unit I carry around, and then dock to a keyboard, large screen etc. when I move from one place to another. So there’s no need to sync… maybe just to back-up!
[...] few days ago I wrote The desktop smartphone and guess what? There is one. The xpPhone looks great on paper, but can it perform in the real [...]
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