We don't use the PC to browse the web, my wife and I have Galaxy S2 tablets for that. The only time I actually use the PC for browsing is either for work or to download a file for a game that is on the PC. My wife hasn't touched a PC in 2 years now. Chrome has the ability to view desktop websites so pages like this one looks exactly like the one I would see on the computer. I prefer to relax in the recliner and browse through the sites I visit rather than sit at a desk.
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Android Challenges Windows as World’s Most Popular Operating System in Terms of Internet Usage
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BulletDust
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The other day I had a client sick of the slow running, malware and virus related issues under Windows 10 (her words, not mine) and asked for an alternative. She browses the web, emails, reads . pdf files, performs online banking and types up the occasional word document. I set her up with a Samsung S2 9.7" Android based tablet with 64GB of storage and 3GB of memory and a Logitech K480 keyboard/stand. Installed Word, installed Adobe Reader, installed USB Media Explorer (awesome bit of software), configured Chrome and set up Gmail, connected her printer and was blown away at just how capable the device was as a desktop replacement. She can use the device at her desk in total comfort, lay back in bed and use the device with the virtual keyboard, it's capable of adequate multitasking and it cost about $1000.00 less than a Surface Pro and performance was outstanding.
And that OLED screen was amazing!
The masses used Windows in the past as it was forced onto them in the only practical package available - The PC. However popularity, even when forced, coupled with a lack of any real secure software repositories that aren't realistically speaking designed for profit as opposed to outright security make Windows a target for malware, spyware and viruses. People are beginning to realise this and now that there's alternatives available for the great number of individuals that don't have the need for a full desktop PC or any of it's offerings, they're dumping Windows and switching to simpler, more reliable, more portable products.
Windows is on the brink, and judging by their odd decisions as late I think Microsoft are aware of this and trying like hell to lock people into their new platform.
And that OLED screen was amazing!
The masses used Windows in the past as it was forced onto them in the only practical package available - The PC. However popularity, even when forced, coupled with a lack of any real secure software repositories that aren't realistically speaking designed for profit as opposed to outright security make Windows a target for malware, spyware and viruses. People are beginning to realise this and now that there's alternatives available for the great number of individuals that don't have the need for a full desktop PC or any of it's offerings, they're dumping Windows and switching to simpler, more reliable, more portable products.
Windows is on the brink, and judging by their odd decisions as late I think Microsoft are aware of this and trying like hell to lock people into their new platform.
Comixbooks
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I don't think they can do it.....Google Chrome is primitive at best Android is ok though
euskalzabe
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The irony is that said people would have been in heaven with Windows RT. No viral problems to speak of and all the productivity they could want via Office/Acrobat. And yet, ignoring the security they just gained, they didn't give it a chance because it didn't run old apps. Neither do Android nor iOS... but nobody seems to be complaining.
Nenu
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There were better options at the time of release from a user standpoint and still are.
You are trying to bypass the main point that you mentioned.
Android and iOS tablets are spin offs of successful phones.
MS didnt have that despite trying hard to force everyone onto their ecosystem.
Even being an OS giant didnt help get them leverage.
Heaven isnt a barren landscape with hardly anyone in it.
MS havent got a clue how to attract people to a platform.
Many things they do are the exact opposite of what people want and need.
heatlesssun
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I've installed Windows 10 on several older and slower Windows 7 machines for friends and family and it performed as well as 7, no one ever complained to me about performance. I have an Atom Bay Trail 2 GB/64 GB tablet I use quite a bit and 10 runs well on it. I've looked around for people running 7 on those kinds of devices to see how 7 would perform but never found mud or the subject. I doubt 7 would run any better on that kind of hardware.
Tengis
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I actually liked the Windows phones... I dont understand how it wasnt adopted anymore then it was. I really think part of the problem was the "Lol wut micro$oft" mentality of people coupled with insanity of people needing twenty one thousand flashlight apps to choose from. The main functionality was there and the app store would have grown... besides, the mobile version of websites was often better then any specific apps.
I feel a lot of it has to do with just choosing the wrong market. Apple has it's own cult, and will buy any Apple product regardless, which Microsoft lacks. Android went after the cheap market. I mean, it's been Google's/Alphabet's philosophy. Offer the coveted products for free/low cost, and make back money elsewhere. Microsoft was somewhere in between, which hasn't worked out for them in this new generation. And quite honestly, out of all of them, Google's approach scares me the most in the long run when it comes to screwing over the consumer.
Putting aside the fact Android is technically superior to Windows RT, actually has apps that people actually want, doesn't have an ugly tiled UI designed by Fischer Price, and is way less buggy, "nobody seems to be complaining" that Android or iOS don't run old Windows programs because guess why - they weren't stupid enough to call it Windows.
Microsoft actually believed that Windows branding on a non-Windows OS that didn't run Windows programs wouldn't create confusion. Genius.
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Zarathustra[H]
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That is odd. I have had the opposite experience, with Windows 10 using less RAM, less disk, and less CPU load than Windows 7 on any system.
There are some older systems that lack key features that Windows 10 needs to function properly, (Like older Athlons) but in that case it shouldn't boot at all.
Maybe the system you saw just suffered from driver problems? I could imagine some older hardware not getting good drivers for Windows 10.
I'm not defending the overall philosophy of Windows 10. I pretty much hate it, and its focus on a cloud ecosystem, but one of the good things about Windows 10 has been that it is lighter on hardware than Windows OS:es of the past. (Of course, Linux is even lighter, and doesn't have any of the forced ecosystem problems)
heatlesssun
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What desktop class applications are you running on Android?
kirbyrj
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I don't know why they don't make a Chromebook "dock" for android phones already.
heatlesssun
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There have been devices like this for Android, the Atrix from Motorola I think that docked the phone to a keyboard and screen? And there have been a number of 2 in 1 Android tablets like the Asus Transformer. None of those devices has done particularly well in the market place.
Like with Nintendo, they need to include a dock out of the box. External accessories never really make the mainstream if they're voluntary. I mean, the mouse has been available for how long with PCs? I remember using them since at least the mid 80s, yet I wouldn't say it was mainstream until sometime in the 1990s, at which point, it was already being included in PC Systems that were purchased.
I still think mobile developers are way behind the times in terms of usability. And docking, and turning your phone into a sort of mobile PC that can use a full screen monitor, keyboard & mouse, without much fuss is something that sooner or later is inevitable.
I still think mobile developers are way behind the times in terms of usability. And docking, and turning your phone into a sort of mobile PC that can use a full screen monitor, keyboard & mouse, without much fuss is something that sooner or later is inevitable.
kirbyrj
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The Atrix was from 5 or 6 years ago. Android has changed significantly since then.
I'm looking for 1 device to replace 2 devices, not a 2nd or 3rd device. There's no reason why my pixel can't replace a laptop for e-mail and web browsing.
A few OEMs putting out experimental devices ahead of Google officially expanding Android to the Desktop doesn't mean much, and certainly not something to base any assumption that people wouldn't run android and android apps on the desktop.
If and when an official Android expansion to the desktop begins - whether it be in the form previously teased as Andromeda, or something else - there won't be any mistaking it.
heatlesssun
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Windows has also changed a lot in that same timeframe with a lot of those changes specifically to support 2 in 1 devices, which gets a lot of negative feedback around here though Windows 2 in 1s are doing well market wise it seems. I get call a Windows lover/fan boy around here a lot but if there's any Microsoft I "love" these days it's my Surface devices. Windows 10 is a solid 2 in 1 platform, no one has come as close yet.
BulletDust
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Generally speaking, a great many people move to mobile platforms to get away from the issues surrounding Windows, not to get further engrossed in it.
I know your love for repeating the phrase "2 in 1", but I'm afraid Microsoft selling minor quantities of Surfacebook Pro's to people mostly using them as glorified laptops while ignoring the keyboardless mode and touch apps - is hardly an endorsement of the changes to Windows in this metro era of suck. If every Surfacebook Pro rebooted with Windows 7 installed tomorrow most owners wouldn't notice or care.
And the criticisms certainly aren't limited to around here, unless we suddenly gained tens of millions of new forum users that happened to be the people that upgraded from 10 to Windows 7 last month.
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heatlesssun
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Part of the appeal of 2 in 1 devices is flexibility. Windows 2 in 1 devices add complexity in the form of touch, pens and detachable screens and keyboards to be able to function as tablet, laptop or desktop when docked. That to me is the beauty of something like a Surface device. It can be effective at all three things. Writing code on multiple monitors to working on a Word document as a laptop to web surfing or watching Netflix as a tablet on the couch or on the train, bus or plane.
BulletDust
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We all know this, the fact remains that a majority of people shift to mobile platforms to rid themselves of the issues surrounding Windows. Touch interface or not, it's still Windows and therefore not desirable to most.
It's capable but not ready out of the box, however Asus had a few years back a laptop like Android "surface type" tablet\laptop that worked very well.
However my coding experience.
Tried to code a canbus based car ecu programmable application,
I had a odroid and wanted to test, and tried to make it fit the screen size and interfaces to decide "mode", computer, tablet or phone.
Sometimes you swear a bit when "delete" button isn't defined anywhere, but it's easy to change layout and behavior based on input methods and screen size in same app.
Performance of the platforms am I not qualified to talk about
Shotglass01
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By which statistic? Just asking cause one of them I was looking at showed MS portable devices approaching the levels of Linux desktop penetration. Maybe 1% or less. Aside from that, the goal, future goal, is going to be a phone that docks that turns on your monitor and enables a wireless keyboard/mouse. My prediction for 2 in 1's is a short life span. Most folks don't want a PC, tablet, and phone. They want a phone that will be flexible enough in the future to do it all.
heatlesssun
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There are tons more Windows 2 in 1 devices than the Surface line.
heatlesssun
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https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-sci-tech/60973/convertible-tablets-save-pc-industry
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-2-in-1-devices-lead-tablet-sales-increase-in-australia/
The sales news of Windows 2 in 1 devices has been very positive for about three years now. And people can discount whatever news or numbers they want, the glut of Windows 2 in 1 models on the market must mean someone buying them for now at least. Hell, Samsung even stopped making their large Android Galaxy tablet but have introduced new Windows models.
I don't think so, although I think it ultimately depends on your 4G coverage and network fees. In countries with complete 4G coverage, it is extremely rare to find a family that don't, at least, have 2 mobiles that are on unlimited data plans, which is strike one against PCs (one of the virtues of PC is guarenteed internet access if your mobile internet service isn't).
From what I can see, people are FAR more willing to buy the next best Smartphone when they are released than they are willing to buy a low end PC to replace their old PC when they are broken, even though high end phones might end up being more expensive than the PC in question.
Why? Because to them, there is really nothing their PC can do and Smartphones can't. You can't really carry your PC/Laptop or even tablet around with you as easily as a Smartphone. This is for leisure, for work, that's a totally different story.
It doesn't help it where some parts of the world have unlimited data plans (as in literally no throttling under any circumstances) on their mobile phones that are cheaper than landline based internet.
Once a country gets complete 4G signal coverage over the entire country, and unlimited data plans become cheap enough that even teenagers can afford it with their allowances, PC sales will literally drop off a cliff. I know this because there are already several prominent electronic shopping centres closing in recent years.
Tsumi
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Sales =/= usage. Smartphones are typically used to supplement and augment PCs, not replace them entirely. This article is about the makeup of devices accessing the internet, NOT what is currently selling in what volume.
Shotglass01
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I don't know if they count 2 in 1's as tablets, but doesn't look great from this chart-
Seems like there's still some work to be done here.
heatlesssun
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Windows x86 devices, tablet or otherwise, aren't going to show up in this graph because this tracker is looking at mobile browsers. The same would be true of desktop Linux.