Does Anyone Actually Want to Use a Phone as a Desktop?

Megalith

Megalith

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It was revealed that the Galaxy S8 would be capable of providing a desktop experience with the company’s DeX dock accessory yesterday, which seems like a cool feature that is being explored by other companies (e.g., Microsoft and Continuum) and doesn’t take away anything from the basic experience of the phone. Imagine my surprise when someone decided to crap on the idea within an hour of its announcement. I think this is a glimpse at the future of computing, really, as smaller devices get more and more powerful.

There's certainly something to the idea of finding new ways to use our phones. But given that the entire computing market is moving toward laptops and other portable devices, the prospect of developing a new spin on desktops seems inexplicably backward. I'm far more intrigued by the idea of sliding my phone into an ultraportable laptop case, as we've seen with the Maxiss Mirabook. Even Apple is considering ways to power laptops with iPhones and iPads, according to a recent patent filing. And if your work demands a bigger screen, it wouldn't be difficult to plug a laptop dock into a monitor or TV.
 
This is exactly what Microsoft wanted. This is why they made windows 8 & 10, to unify their mobile and desktop system. Their phones just didn't take off like they wanted.

To answer the question though, No, no I would not use a phone as a desktop...
 
seems like a viable replacement for notebooks. i bet mobile games look cool too.

also 2 thumbs up for a mouse keyboard and arrow keys!
 
If they can give me a god's honest desktop experience instead of Android shoehorned onto a bigger screen, I'm game. That said, it's a form factor that wasn't asked for and frankly, isn't needed. In terms of portability we already have a pretty nice ramp up from Phone > Laptop > Desktop. If and when I can pair my phone to a monitor, keyboard and mouse without a docking station, I can see this taking off.
 
There are already many who use their phone as their main computing device, even without a dock. It's not something I would want to do, but clearly it's good enough for many out there.
 
The Motorola Atrix was a neat attempt at this, but it doesn't look like something the market was asking for at the time. Can't say for sure if there will ever come a time where it makes market sense, but if my phone was powerful enough to do everything my desktop can do, I'd be game to try the dock concept.
 
If I can take a copy of my desktop (in relatively safety) on my phone and it would auto sync any changes between either environment then I would be interested in the concept for sure.
 
The s8 probably has more power than the average web surfer laptop or chrome book. So yea, I can see it being a thing.
 
I just don't see the point with the prevalence of cloud. I can store my docs in OneDrive, DropBox, iCloud, Google Drive ... tons of choices. My phone can access any of these - so can my desktop/laptop. If we get to the point where the phone is powerful enough to deliver a desktop experience, maybe this could take off.
 
I want this 100% for business settings. I want to remove the need to have a tablet, laptop, desktop, etc for sales drones. I want to give them one device and tell them to plug their shit in and they get the same apps and performance as they would with all the other gadgets.

If apple did this I'd toss out dozens of latops, ipads, desktops immediately and roll this out. I can control every device remotely and every IOS device has office to be installed. I'd cut down on Windows licensing as well.

No one builds apps (or hardware) for Microsoft phones and , in my company, our custom IOS apps need to run.
 
scojer said:
This is exactly what Microsoft wanted. This is why they made windows 8 & 10, to unify their mobile and desktop system. Their phones just didn't take off like they wanted.

To answer the question though, No, no I would not use a phone as a desktop...
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Exactly, however my answer differs from yours. I say, "not yet"... Down the road I can totally see phones / then AR glasses or some combination of the two completely replacing existing formats..

I'm excited to see what the next Surface Phone will have to offer, with full on x64 compatibility on ARM.
 
This is exactly the direction we're going already. The migration to web apps, including games, is the main sign of it, but also the move to cloud infrastructure and storage. In 5 years, the only thing that a desktop computer would have to do is surf the web. The only ones holding onto local computing resources would be the hard core gamers and privacy 'nuts', of which I am one. In ten years, the whole local computing market will fall through and most people won't be ABLE to keep their games or data local. It will ALL be through phones, plugged into tablets or workstation docks for bigger screens when needed.
 
Lots of people use their phones/tablets as their primary computer. I don't see them using a dock ether. I know a bunch of people that just use their phone for everything even tho they have a capable computer. I can understand why Apple pushes thin and light. It is actually the only thing people care about asking as it can get them to YouTube and social media.
 
Absolutely, once they are powerful enough. Now, I wouldn't use it as my MAIN computer, but I have "computers" all over the house, the kitchen, the office, both living rooms, the bedroom. Be more than happy to have one main computer with a sixteen core AMD chip beast mode, and just use docks with phones or tablets for the rest.
 
Great for traveling office workers or for people on vacation. Simple little phone, semi-powerful (enough) laptop/desktop device.

For a main PC? Nah.
 
I've been waiting for Ubuntu Phone to take off/become viable for close to 4 years... I originally tried it about 2 years ago on my then Nexus 4 and besides a few rough edges it was overall a good phone experience; transition to desktop mode was also quite nice and the full Ubuntu GUI/environment was quite well thought out.
The main reason I haven't used it since was due to some bluetooth issues (pairing with car/headphones was very intermittent) as well as no support for Google Fi.
I guess when Google decides it's time to junk Google Fi (as they seem to do with all their side projects) I might look into Ubuntu phone again.
 
dgingeri said:
This is exactly the direction we're going already. The migration to web apps, including games, is the main sign of it, but also the move to cloud infrastructure and storage. In 5 years, the only thing that a desktop computer would have to do is surf the web. The only ones holding onto local computing resources would be the hard core gamers and privacy 'nuts', of which I am one. In ten years, the whole local computing market will fall through and most people won't be ABLE to keep their games or data local. It will ALL be through phones, plugged into tablets or workstation docks for bigger screens when needed.
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Not going to happen.
No matter how much faster phones get, laptops and desktops will always be faster.

This may work for many casual home users, but I can't see giving up my desktops in my lifetime.
As for work, we run almost everything local. The cloud just doesn't work due to the large amount of data involved and the low cost for Windows servers.
Of course I might be biased since we are a Microsoft developer and Microsoft gives us a lot for free production licenses :D
 
nutzo said:
Not going to happen.
No matter how much faster phones get, laptops and desktops will always be faster.

This may work for many casual home users, but I can't see giving up my desktops in my lifetime.
As for work, we run almost everything local. The cloud just doesn't work due to the large amount of data involved and the low cost for Windows servers.
Of course I might be biased since we are a Microsoft developer and Microsoft gives us a lot for free production licenses :D
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To add to this, it really grinds my gears when journalists claim that the desktop market is dying. I would say far from it, given how we continually push the envelope in terms of the kind of processing power required to render certain games and crunch through particular workloads.
 
I just want my calls and texts to come through my desktop like a notification and be able to answer/reply. THANKS FOR FUCKING THAT UP GOOGLE!
 
Do not want data-scraped walled garden as desktop, you can keep it!
 
If one device can do the things that the majority of people need done, then sure, I'm all for it. We can still have actual full blown computers to do the serious work if necessary and then have these types of multiple role devices to work in a more mobile sense. I got no beef with such a concept aside from the fact that nobody seems to be able to get it right, this is no exception with Samsung and DeX either - it's still not going to be done as well as it should be done but it's a step in the right direction I suppose.

Someday someone will get it right, but that's a ways off.
 
nutzo said:
Not going to happen.
No matter how much faster phones get, laptops and desktops will always be faster.

This may work for many casual home users, but I can't see giving up my desktops in my lifetime.
As for work, we run almost everything local. The cloud just doesn't work due to the large amount of data involved and the low cost for Windows servers.
Of course I might be biased since we are a Microsoft developer and Microsoft gives us a lot for free production licenses :D
Click to expand...

It won't matter if the phone is slow. All the computing will be done at the server level. All the storage will be done at the server level. We're already seeing games hosted on servers through virtualization and run through a remote connection. How much longer for them to figure out how to do that through a web browser? How many users would love to just do away with their laptops or desktop, and still have everything as fast as they need with all the same user experience? With a mobile client for the interface and everything else done on server/cloud level, that's exactly what they get. Those of us who want things locally, under our control, will have to just go along, as the industry will just go where the masses want to go.
 
I used to think this was where things were going, but now I'm doubtful. We're rapidly approaching the physical limits of what we can do with known technology and the path forward is uncertain. Heat constraints will limit the performance of portable devices to essentially where they are now.

And yes, there's cloud computing, but I don't want my processing power in the cloud. I want it in a badass water cooled box by my desk.
 
dgingeri said:
It won't matter if the phone is slow. All the computing will be done at the server level. All the storage will be done at the server level. We're already seeing games hosted on servers through virtualization and run through a remote connection. How much longer for them to figure out how to do that through a web browser? How many users would love to just do away with their laptops or desktop, and still have everything as fast as they need with all the same user experience? With a mobile client for the interface and everything else done on server/cloud level, that's exactly what they get. Those of us who want things locally, under our control, will have to just go along, as the industry will just go where the masses want to go.
Click to expand...

What do you mean "will be"? We have had this technology available to the masses affordability for at least 3 years now.
 
Main computer... I stopped thinking that way some time ago. I have my preferred displays and locations where I like to do my computing, but I've found myself at my desk, in front of what you could call my "main" computer using one of my cellphones to watch a video or look up something. There isn't much that I can't do from an Android, Windows, or iPhone device in my house. Gaming is the only thing that requires use of a specific system in my house.
 
Sure, If it had the power of a gaming laptop I would use it as a mobile workstation.
 
Galvin said:
Unless nvidia can make a 1080ti the side of a thumbnail, don't see this happening for gamers
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Heard of the nVidia streaming service where they handle on the processing on their servers and stream it back to you?

Now before you say what I think you're gonna say... Think down the road into the future a little here..
 
For general web browsing type activities. sure but I'm not likely to go buy this because of it.

Security aside (not that it's not important).
This or something similar could be nice for the 'business stations' where they have a workstation. Instead, you could dock your phone which has everything you need/want on it and be on your way. And the owners of the stations would only need a standard monitor/keyboard/mouse, internet connection optional depending on your phone plan.
 
This is going to happen. This is why Windows 10 isn't all that important anymore.

As some have already stated many many people are already using their phones over desktops. I know plenty of people without desktops anymore or with 6+ year old desktops they bother turning on less and less. Android covers off the use cases for the vast majority of the masses... and companies like Samsung now expanding the Android UI is what needs to happen to kill off the idea of big desktop machines for average users.

After looking at some of the videos... it looks like Samsung has created a very lovely looking minimal Linux desktop. :) Linux is still going to win in the end folks.... its just not going to be as open as us Neck beard types would like. lmao ;)
 
I tried this using LG 4 as desktop use. Doesn't work well. Computers are here to stay for the unseen future. If you are gonna ask me to invest $650 in a mobile phone, I laugh in your face! :joyful:
 
I do this with my windows phone now to run it in desktop mode every now and then. Only difference is that I don't use a dock yet. I wouldn't want to use it for day to day work. However I do find it nice to be able to switch to desktop mode and watch videos or something on a larger screen, or bring up office files on a larger screen every now and then. If I only wanted something to be able to do basic web surfing, and some basic office work I found find it as an acceptable way to work.
 
Yea this could be big as phones and laptops merge, especially with thunderbolt and egpu stuff.
 
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I'm going to make an interesting statement here.

I have hated on the new flagship android phones for quite a few things; soldered batteries, ridiculous resolutions and general feature bloat all while the actual phone experience gets worse. This however is not one of the things I'm going to hate on it for. While I don't see a single scenario where this is useful to me, I see loads of scenarios where this is incredibly useful to people. Not certain that this particular iteration of it will be it, but I have generally liked the idea behind the phones that can be turned into essentially mini work stations. The only real drawback I see is that it is Samsung pushing it and they have a history of doing shit differently just befuckingcause. Unfortunately that is where my criticism of this phone has to kick in again because of all the crap on it that Samsung just had to make Samsungs instead of "android" and further fragment the market.
 
This will be it... Even today performance doesn't have to be an issue... Phones are small enough that you could pack in a bunch of extra chips that are inactive until next docked.. chips that would eat too much power on battery.
 
This would kill it in a university environment since students could buy a high end phone and dock it to take notes with during lectures or when studying. Then when on the go, put the dock away and use the phone which has all your data sitting there that you can reference anytime. Research labs could also use this as well as many businesses and even individuals who want an all in one experience.

Personally i think if Windows can get ARM right this time and let you use their apps on the desktop and MS phones they will finally have a compelling platform. It's unfortunate their Lumia phones didn't get more market because I had one and it was way nicer than my iPhone. Unfortunately because of my line of work and needs, it lacked essential applications so I had to switch back to Apple.
 
When I was incredulous at first at tablets being usable for ... anything ... in a professional environment I got a fantastic explanation: while programmers (like me) are mostly concerned with getting information out of their brain and into their computers, managers are mostly concerned with getting information out of the computer into their brain.

So I can totally see this as the logical extension of that. Have a large screen phone with all the info you need all times and if you need to write a report etc then dock it. Absolute killer.
 
Hey guys company announcement here, we'll be moving all our thin clients to Samsung phones docks, you provide the phone.
 
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