[HN Gopher] Smart Phone, Dumb Terminal
___________________________________________________________________
Smart Phone, Dumb Terminal
Author : twillmas
Score : 121 points
Date : 2021-07-27 17:34 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.charlieharrington.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.charlieharrington.com)
| leephillips wrote:
| In 2013 Mark O'Connor wrote a series of articles about his
| experiments with nomadic computing using ipads, Linodes, and
| bluetooth keyboards. He was kind of a pioneer in this area:
|
| https://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year...
| underscore_ku wrote:
| get a PinePhone with Ubuntu Touch and throw the iphone to trash
| adkadskhj wrote:
| Man, a personal hosted VPN for all my junk is my dream. Can't
| wait to get something selfhosted, tail-scail-like setup.
| Something i can get into from anywhere and work from anything.
| I'm tempted to order a bluetooth keyboard like this post just to
| have it in the car and be able to work from my iPad/iPhone in a
| pinch (assuming internet).
|
| For someone wanting an easy, at home VPN for setups just like in
| the blog - is anything on the market competitive with Tailscale's
| UX? Ideally there would be no proxy, no VPN hosted on
| DigitalOcean that i fear being a weak point.. Instead, i'd like:
|
| 1. A redirect hosted on DigitalOcean, acting as a self hosted
| DynIP. No security issue here i'd think?
|
| 2. After hitting my real IP, connect to a VPN on a predetermined
| port.
|
| 3. Get access to bells and whistles now on the priveledged
| network. Bonus points if i could assign DNS entries like `ssh
| me@workmachine.fake` or `http(s?)://videostreaming.fake`
|
| Tailscale makes me a bit nervous, as cool as they are i'd prefer
| entirely self hosted. Though i may give them a try just to
| experience this UX.
|
| _edit_ : https://blog.tonari.no/introducing-innernet innernet
| might be what i'm looking for
| maccolgan wrote:
| Zerotier?
| c0nfused wrote:
| For the last decade or so I have been running cheap Asus
| routers on my home network. They support dyndns and OpenVPN out
| of the box. I assume that other manufacturers offer the same
| thing.
|
| I haven't poked around in the guts of their vpn setup. But it's
| generally password protected and I would assume in the clear.
| So I replace accounts frequently and only leave it running if I
| am out of town and have some project I may need access to.
|
| Basically you vpn to yourname.dyndnsprovider.com and you are
| done.
|
| The rest is DNS Setup which.is sort of up to you but you can
| easily configure to something like
| machinename.home.mydomain.net
| m4rtink wrote:
| Microtik routers can also run a VPN just fine. :)
| dTal wrote:
| I got a GPD Micro PC a couple months ago and I'm in love.
|
| It's a magical size - exactly small enough to slip into a back
| pocket like a chunky phone, and exactly large enough that it's
| actually practical to use desktop software on it. It's
| ergonomically first-rate - I've done CAD work on it. And it's
| durable too - I've dropped it several times already and it's
| barely even scratched.
|
| It's also unlocked a class of activity I didn't know was possible
| - long-form writing while out walking. I can get 50wpm with great
| tactile feedback on the tiny keyboard. It's all in on thumb
| typing, and having struggled with a Cosmo Communicator for a year
| I can absolutely say that that is the correct decision for a
| mobile device. The vast majority of the time there's no handy
| surface nearby.
|
| Now that I essentially have a laptop on me at all times, phones
| hold no appeal for me anymore. None. This is the class of device
| I've always wanted. All it really needs in order to replace a
| phone completely is a cell modem which can wake it from suspend,
| and ideally the standard "mobile" sensors such as GPS, cameras,
| and gyros. And waterproofing, I guess.
| aftergibson wrote:
| Quick question, what about the Cosmo didn't work that worked on
| the GPD Micro? Was the keyboard problematic on the Cosmo?
| dTal wrote:
| There were lots and lots of problems with the Cosmo as a
| phone, build quality first and foremost, but I'll focus on
| the screen/keyboard combo since that's the point of
| comparison with the GPD.
|
| First, the keyboard: The Cosmo keyboard is not designed for
| thumb typing. You can do it, but it's a bit awkward. The
| phone is not comfortable to hold in this configuration - it's
| thin, wide, top heavy, and the hinge has sharp edges. The
| generous key travel also works against you when thumb typing.
| It seems that you are basically always meant to put the phone
| on a flat surface and touch-type - but it's not very good at
| that either. It has no feet on the (slightly curved!) bottom
| surface, and while the rear hinge is meant to act as a kind
| of kickstand, the design means that force of typing transfers
| to the screen, causing it to wobble with every keystroke. The
| keys themselves are as nice as is possible in that size, but
| touch-typing at a table while on the go is a very narrow use
| case. The device feels delicate and fragile. Also - while
| this isn't a completely fair comparison as I've only had the
| GPD for two months - after a year the keyboard began missing
| keystrokes (and this was a replacement keyboard, since the
| one it came with did that from day 1).
|
| Next the screen - a super-high aspect ratio smartphone screen
| turned landscape is actually really annoying. You have almost
| no vertical real estate, whereas most phone apps assume that
| the vertical axis is where _all_ the real estate is and
| consequently put menu bars at the top and the bottom, eroding
| it further. There 's very little gap between the touchscreen
| and the keyboard, so accidental touches are common. Switching
| between touchscreen and keyboard interaction is even more
| annoying that switching between mouse and keyboard on a
| desktop, either because you have to transfer the weight of
| the device to one hand if you're holding it, or if it's on a
| table because you must gently prod at the screen without
| tipping the thing over, or brace the screen from behind. Also
| the screen only opens to one very wide angle (cheerfully
| described by Planet as "the optimum angle"). There's volume
| buttons, but they're awkwardly on the back of the screen,
| which would make sense if they worked when the device is
| closed, which they DON'T.
|
| Now, the GPD Micro PC: _no_ touchscreen, which is actually
| great because all interactions that change the state of the
| device require definite action and make a physical "click" -
| you don't have to worry about accidentally brushing it the
| wrong way. This actually takes a lot of cognitive load off.
| It's comfortable to hold in two hands for thumb typing (but
| also has rubber feet so you can set it down). The touchpad is
| accessible with a fractional movement of the thumb, so
| switching time is minimized. There's dedicated and easily
| accessible volume buttons. The screen has a comfortable
| aspect ratio and can be set to any angle, where it remains
| stiffly. And most importantly, it runs _desktop_ software.
| With these controls, it 's more ergonomic to use desktop
| software in miniature than it is to poke about at a
| touchscreen.
| aftergibson wrote:
| Amazing! Thanks for the detailed reply. That echoes a lot
| of my concerns looking at the product.
|
| I struggled to find honest reviews of the device so much
| appreciated.
| rambambram wrote:
| Thanks indeed for the review! I came across these devices
| once, and I always wondered if it was more gadget-like, or
| really useful. Have you tried running Ubuntu MATE on it?
| dTal wrote:
| On which, the Cosmo or the MicroPC?
|
| I was never brave enough to tinker with GNU/Linux on the
| Cosmo while it was my daily driver. I'm pretty sure that
| using the device that way comes with some pretty sever
| compromises.
|
| On the Micro PC, I run Void Linux with KDE Plasma. I
| didn't do anything special, everything's mainline, so I'm
| sure at a technical level Ubuntu MATE would work
| perfectly well. The only interface tweaks I've made are
| to set the task manager to "icons only" to save space and
| added thermal/RAM/CPU monitors in the taskbar.
|
| As for "toy gadget" vs "useful tool", I'd say that if
| you're the kind of person who likes to take your laptop
| _everywhere_ , it's definitely for you.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| Did you try other configurations? Like i3wm? I get over
| 15 hours with some tweaking with a modern Ubuntu and i3wm
| + optimizations.
| thrwaeasddsaf wrote:
| How's the battery life? Can you replace the battery if/when it
| gets old?
|
| That looks like something I could buy. I've really wanted a
| tiny console PC with RS232 and ethernet for a long time now. I
| thought about building one into a custom keyboard using
| something like a raspberry pi but I haven't had the time to
| follow through. This thing looks like it could make my diy
| project unnecessary.
|
| I also haven't found phones particularly appealing.. mine gets
| 5-6 days on a charge because it's mostly just an alarm clock.
| Any time I try to do anything with it, I get frustrated by how
| clumsy it is compared to an actual computer. I do like being
| able to look at maps or make a call in an emergency, and it's
| handy having a camera always in the pocket, but that's pretty
| much where the appeal ends.
| dTal wrote:
| Battery life is a solid 7 to 8 hours with real-world, screen-
| on usage, provided you're not compiling software or pushing
| the thing really hard. I've turned the TDP down on mine
| because I almost always prefer it to be cool rather than
| fast. You could probably drain the battery in a 2 or 3 hours
| if you really went for it.
|
| Battery replacement is a matter of unscrewing the case. It's
| glued to the interior, but I've seen teardown videos of
| people just peeling it off so it's not a big deal. In lieu of
| hot-swapping batteries, I sometimes carry a USB-C PD power
| bank - although the Micro PC is low power enough that it will
| actually charge off a regular phone charger.
| kilroy123 wrote:
| What model do you have?
|
| It seems pretty under powered to me. What exactly do you do on
| it?
| dTal wrote:
| N4120 model.
|
| Quad core and 8gb of RAM is underpowered? It's not the best
| gaming machine to be sure, and I have to be a little more
| careful with my browser tabs than on my 64GB workstation...
| but there's not really anything glaring it outright _can 't_
| do.
|
| Hard to answer what I do on it, since the answer is
| "everything". I run Plasma 5 on mine. Right now I have a lot
| of firefox windows open, Quassel (IRC), Qalculate, some file
| managers, some terminals, and some text editors. For heavy
| duty I sometimes remote into my workstation (graphically)
| which is fast enough on a LAN to use CAD and all the rest of
| it. I've even done ANSYS simulations this way.
| smoldesu wrote:
| This is neat, but both Android and iPhone are really poor choices
| if you're looking to travel with a computer. Particularly on the
| iPhone side of things, you're basically screwed if you lose your
| network connection, since you aren't going to be doing many
| interesting things with the local shell. Android is a _little_
| better, but you 'll still end up SSHing into another machine to
| get any valuable work done.
|
| Good, cheap x86 laptops are like $80 right now. That's about how
| much you'd pay for one of those fancy Logitech keyboards, but it
| comes with an entire computer, too.
| sixty4bit wrote:
| 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.
| reportgunner wrote:
| Why even plug a phone at all ?
|
| Scan your retina and have the screens broadcast your zero
| latency always on desktop running in the cloud that seamlessly
| updates, never has to stop or reboot and backs up every single
| interaction you have done in the past decade.
|
| The screens turn off and disconnect as you walk away and
| reconnect to your phone (now merely a pocket-screen) with all
| applications adapting to whatever size of the screen.
|
| Oh and of course your earbuds have been connected the whole
| time broadcasting any audio that might be playing in the
| desktop without interruption.
| shrimp_emoji wrote:
| >phone desktop
|
| >cloud desktop
|
| Please kill me. :)
| smoldesu wrote:
| Cloud desktops are going to be mainstream long before phone
| desktops will be a thing, at least at the rate Apple is
| moving.
| delusional wrote:
| Finally, I will be able to watch all these ads from anywhere.
| emilecantin wrote:
| 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.
| tristor wrote:
| The Steam Deck promises this, and it's a big reason why I
| reserved one. I think this could be integrated nicely into my
| daily web-centric workflow.
| beebeepka wrote:
| Steam Deck is nice and I want one even though I have no need
| for one, but it's not exactly a phone. It's got fans I think.
| Give it another 10 years
| stonemetal12 wrote:
| I am really hoping the steam deck gets close to that.
| beauzero wrote:
| I was hoping this would be the general direction of Windows
| Phone. I want my big monitors at home and at the office (split
| time 3/5 and 2/5) and just want to carry my phone...without
| having to login to Windows 365...or a VM in the cloud...to do
| small to medium .NET development. Looks like Apple/VSC may get
| me there quicker.
| chronogram wrote:
| I don't know why you'd want that. The place where I have my big
| monitor is where I also have the space for a computer that has
| enough room to be always fast and quiet for my tasks that I can
| leave running things, while my phone is something that I need
| for communication which can help with information/scheduling
| and that I would like to have with me at all times. Having all
| my work on my phone would make me leave that phone at home and
| get an extra phone, I just wouldn't trust myself with all that
| even if I have backups.
| fsflover wrote:
| > The place where I have my big monitor is where I also have
| the space for a computer
|
| If you have a single device for everything, you do not need
| syncing and backups are needed only for one device.
| zepto wrote:
| A single device for everything is a single point of failure
| _for everything_.
|
| One of the great things about having various synced devices
| is that if one fails or is misplaced, stolen etc., the
| others are instantly available.
|
| No single device solution can replicate this real world
| benefit.
| wjnc wrote:
| It's a 400W+ machine blazing under my desk, with relatively
| low performance per watt and per unit of cost and high
| depreciation per hour of usage. With 6 ms latency to my major
| IX and the stability and backup professionalism cloud
| providers can offer I'd be all in for online desktop. Perhaps
| I'd invest in a bit more beefy Synology as an internet-down
| local machine, but my phone or iPad could offer that
| functionality as well. Going from full machines to terminal-
| screens would also save my household of 5 many kgs of
| electronics. That times a few hundred million households sure
| adds up.
| tomjen3 wrote:
| If we can send 4k over a cable it also has the bandwidth to
| handle 3 screens at HD.
|
| I am not sure that there is a phone that can do that though. I
| can plug my Android into my USB-C dock and it can display a
| copy of the screen on the screen, but that is about it. Doesn't
| even seem to work with the USB keyboard I have plugged in.
| emteycz wrote:
| Your phone does not support USB 3.0 then (common with e.g.
| Xiaomi - these ports are USB-C but USB 2.0). The USB-C on my
| Samsung can do everything the USB-C on my PC does, including
| a 4K screen in dual display mode.
| com2kid wrote:
| > 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.
|
| This has been attempted multiple times. (Motorola's go at it
| and Windows Phone are two recent attempts that come to mind)
| Each time it has failed.
|
| Reasons:
|
| 1. The upgrade cycle on phones is much shorter than on
| laptops/desktops.
|
| 2. Phone manufacturers want you to use their own proprietary
| docks, which means investing in their ecosystem, which is a
| non-starter for most people, especially since history shows
| such products will be discontinued after one, maybe two,
| generations. The investment just isn't worth it. (chicken and
| egg problem here).
|
| 3. Corporations already have fine grained infrastructure in
| place to manage Mac/PCs, and employees are pretty used to it.
| Of course your work laptop has restrictions on what you can do,
| and corporate VPN software, etc etc. People generally expect
| their phones to belong to them, they tolerate PIN policies and
| remote wiping, but that is about it. Newer android versions do
| support a dual work/personal mode, but that still isn't on the
| level of what exists in the Mac/PC management space.
|
| 4. Thermal limits are a thing.
|
| 5. Related to #4, pushing a phone at its limits all day long
| will shorten its usable lifespan. LiON batteries don't enjoy
| living next a hot CPU that's running at full load for hours on
| end.
|
| As for cords, thunderbolt will take care of your bandwidth
| needs. Even USB 3.2 (I think that's the right version?) can
| handle dual screens, USB 4 can certainly handle it.
|
| Is it doable with todays tech? Of course. Is it even more
| doable with some sort of cloud compute dumb terminal setup?
| Naturally, could have done that a decade+ ago.
| crooked-v wrote:
| > To get there I think the GPU will have to be embedded in the
| monitors
|
| Rumors say Apple is working on a monitor with an A13 chip
| embedded in it for something like this kind of usage.
| deergomoo wrote:
| I just wish they'd make a monitor that doesn't cost $5000.
| It's basically impossible to find a 27"+ monitor that works
| optimally with a Mac because they're all 4K, and the way
| macOS handles scaling means you have to scale by a non-
| integer factor.
|
| Just give me the 5K iMac panel in a basic shell, that's all I
| need.
| andai wrote:
| Didn't Ubuntu make a phone ten years ago that did that? But
| they gave up on it. I also thought Samsung phones could do
| that, too.
| opan wrote:
| The PinePhone and Librem 5 can both be docked and used like
| computers.
| delusional wrote:
| Samsung phones can indeed do that. It's called DeX
| (https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/) and nobody cares.
| m4rtink wrote:
| I use DeX quite a bit - it's super handy for viewing
| photos/videos captured on the device (Galaxy Note 9) on a
| big screen with desktop like controls.
|
| Also I have the Wacom One LCD drawing tablet that I often
| connect to my Galaxy Tab S6 and draw on in in DeX mode with
| ClipStudio. It effectively turns this setup to a nice
| portable drawing studio, with the added flexibility of
| being able to work on your projects also on the go with
| just the Tab S6.
| fsflover wrote:
| > 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.
|
| Not three monitors, but: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5
| girvo wrote:
| I'm a big believer in this idea; so much so that I have a
| Bluetooth keyboard for my Boox Note 2 e-ink tablet. Very writing,
| reading books and note taking via the stylus focused, though
| e-ink refresh even on a device like this might be too slow for
| some (depending on what refresh setting you choose), it's
| entirely replaced the need for paper in my life -- and for
| travelling at least around Queensland it's been brilliant.
| blackoil wrote:
| How feasible is to split/use compute power of multiple devices?
|
| I would love to travel with a 15" ultraportble which is good for
| mail/browsing but will crawls while trying to play Flight
| Simulator. When I reach home, it seamlessly uses power of 599$
| XBox compute centre to run it on 60FPS. When I reach office it
| compiles millions line of code using power of a 500 core office
| server.
|
| Central server can be shared across devices so all devices of all
| members of family run at same speed/capability.
| tomjen3 wrote:
| You can buy an e-GPU, if your device has thunderbolt and isn't
| an M1. Compatibility isn't great and it is obviously more
| expensive, but it is more or less what you suggest, with the
| limit that you can only use it with one computer at a time.
| teekert wrote:
| I do this too! I have a Logitech MX Keys, and while trying to
| separate work and personal devices I put my phone on my laptop
| stand and with 1 button I can switch the MX Keys to the iPhone
| and Signal/Telegram/Whatsapp/Email/Termius away.
|
| It works for more than I would have thought but I still really
| miss things like alt-tab, or in general the ability to navigate
| the UI with a keyboard. I mean why would the win/super key not
| open the multitasking overview? Currently it does nothing...
| Also, in Termius backspace works, but not delete, and page-
| up/down produces a ~. Little annoyances like that are everywhere.
|
| I also bought an MX Anywhere 3 to go with it, but it didn't
| switch device with the MX Master switches, a missed opportunity
| imho. Moreover, at the time I was still on Android and for
| example in MineCraft the mouse pointer would still behave as a
| finger that drags stuff. (I eventually returned it because I also
| found it too flat for a mouse.)
|
| So there is still much be made better but the basis is there. I
| guess the demand is still very low. But I bet it is also a
| chicken/egg story waiting to be resolved. I mean, iMovie on the
| iPhone is super powerful but on this screen and with touch...
| ugh.
|
| Now just get me a monitor that also switches with my MX Master
| Keys switch keys to a larger view of my Phone and we've got
| ourselves a (partial because I love Linux, and yeah I was so
| looking forward to that Ubuntu Phone Convergence thing) laptop
| killer.
| axiolite wrote:
| It was around 2000, after buying a Cassiopeia E-100 that I
| realized a keyboard makes any computer massively more usable.
| With that I bought a Psion 5MX, used it great success, and never
| considered a device without a physical keyboard again. Switched
| off to Nokia Communicators, then several Android Sliders. All
| worked great. I was always the guy in the conference room who
| could login to servers and look-up info, despite everyone else
| having phones, too.
|
| A (pocket-sized) bluetooth keyboard sounds fine in theory, but
| it's a hassle to keep it charged and to carry around a bulky
| extra device you'll only use occasionally. So it'll get left at
| home, not there when you need it, and nearly worthless.
|
| It's only now, with every US carrier switching to VoLTE-only that
| I'll soon have to retire the old Android sliders and find a new
| option. Everything seems an unfortunate compromise. The keyboard
| on the Blackberry Keyone/Key2 isn't great, missing critically
| important keys like arrows and OK, and without being rootable,
| you can't remap them to make it usable. The form factor is...
| awkward as well.
|
| The Gemini PDA is likely to be my next stop. Unfortunately the
| form factor is kind of anti-phone, making it a poor choice to
| quickly look at your screen to check some info, or make phone
| calls, and only good when you really need to do a lot of typing.
| Wildgoose wrote:
| I have a Gemini PDA and also an AstroSlide on order which
| should be shipping soon. I think it is exactly what you are
| looking for: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-
| slide-5g-transforme...
| andrepd wrote:
| It's a shame and a contradiction how the smartphone market has
| ballooned for the past few years yet choice is smaller and
| smaller.
|
| How can it be that there are 100s of smartphone models out
| every year yet every single one has the same form factor? You
| cannot even get a phone smaller than the phablets of 6 or 7
| years ago, let alone a phone with physical keys...
| swiley wrote:
| NDAs, closed drivers, and other anti-competition tricks to
| keep innovation out.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| The technology is so complicated that costs in
| design/patents/royalties/manufacturing make it unfeasible to
| produce anything without economies of scale. Coupled with
| insufficient number of buyers willing to pay a lot, the
| potential profit margins are so low it simply is not worth
| the risk reward ratio.
| IggleSniggle wrote:
| I have an alternate solution to propose to you that I used for
| a couple of years quite happily:
|
| - Smart Watch for Voice/Text
|
| - _small_ Tablet with keyboard cover and LTE in your pocket for
| everything else
|
| These days I have a different situation where I prefer not to
| have anything if I'm away from computer and I just use the
| Watch. I have the Apple Watch / AirPods which works quite well,
| but I know not everybody wants to commit to the Apple
| ecosystem. When I was doing the tablet-in-pocket thing, I was a
| bit more cross platform and it still worked great with Google
| Voice as the central hub for everything.
| aftergibson wrote:
| Have you seen the Astro Slide? Name aside it does look pretty
| interesting. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-
| slide-5g-transforme...
| afandian wrote:
| Before buying anything from Planet, see how well they have
| done at maintaining older devices. Latest release for Gemini
| PDA is Android 8.1, three years ago.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| Is it not possible to put a newer Android on it yourself?
| Because you could run Linux on it as well?
| afandian wrote:
| I'm sure all things are possible. I just felt like it was
| indicitive of a feeling like they abandoned the device
| soon after launch to work on the next shiny thing.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| Yeah true, I had that with the gdp pocket which I used a
| lot. I can replace and update the software (Linux in my
| case), but hardware support was dropped very fast. Since
| then I am a bit more careful. I like real open projects
| like the Pandora or the Pyra as hardware support is there
| for so long (more than a decade for the Pandora) that it
| keeps going with small replacements. However, those
| devices are just not as high spec or practical. Open
| source hardware and software but with great specs and
| formfactor are far away it seems.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| Ah my previous planet device was stolen a few weeks after I
| received it. I hardly had a chance of using it.
|
| The Slide looks more like a usable phone indeed. I never
| tried Linux on the previous one (which was my plan); with
| Linux I guess the 5g doesn't work? Anyone knows if wifi works
| with Linux on the Gemini or what works and what doesn't? For
| me to have a usable device, it would need to run Linux for
| somme things; I'm fine with Android for all phone user, but
| Linux with Wifi would be needed to do anything useful besides
| that.
|
| If there would are (closed source) drivers for the 5g chip
| for Linux then this would be the 3rd new Linux phone on the
| market?
| phicoh wrote:
| My experience with some early Android sliders (HTC Dream and
| HTC Desire Z) is that the keyboards don't have all the keys I
| need. So in the end, typing the usual array of Unix and C
| graphics characters was a bit of a hassle.
|
| For years now, I have used the Android "Hacker's Keyboard" on
| lots of ssh sessions.
|
| Though I guess I would take a slider if it had a full (5 row)
| set of keys.
| desktopninja wrote:
| I tasted this with the Display Dock for Lumia phone. My initial
| setup was USB/Wifi KB + miracast + android phone. And it worked
| just as well. Overseas phones seem to have more capabilities than
| what we get stateside.
| Multicomp wrote:
| I've been looking around at old sharp zaurus organizers and psion
| mx5 devices for the use case of offline portable word processor
| that can save text files to eventually go to PC via CF / SD card.
| for this years nanowrimo.
|
| Most psions are 300 bucks, i can't justify that though i love the
| idea. And the 15 buck zaurus organizers either only have a 30
| character 'memo' function or are so old they only run DOS and
| have to sync via serial cable.
|
| Anyone have any suggestions on a palmtopish machine with qwerty
| keyboard that can write txt or rtf files to an sd card and can be
| had for 100 or less on ebay?
|
| I'm currently resisting trying to hack a Smart Response XE and
| instead trying to put a pi zero w and a 1.3" inch screen and
| battery into the front margin of a Unicomp Model M and just
| viming my way to victory whilst syncthing makes the file
| magically appear on my pc whenever the device is on home wifi,
| but an integrated device would be more pocketable. the model m
| word processor is more for taking over long writing sessions
| where i currently lug an actual wheelwriter around. this small
| device would be even more portable, sitting at the beach, in the
| car etc.
| [deleted]
| selfhoster11 wrote:
| If a "wireless keyboard" form factor suits you, look into
| Alphasmart devices.
| drvdevd wrote:
| The biggest problem with using your phone as a computer is not
| the screen size, or app availability or anything else you might
| commonly think of when considering arguing about this subject.
|
| In my opinion, today it is one and only one thing - the battery.
| I'm presently typing this comment on a desktop, because my phone
| is on the charger.
| diffeomorphism wrote:
| I don't see why this is an issue. If you connect by usb-c that
| also charges. If you want it wirelessly you can still lie it
| down on an inductive charging pad, right? Or would that
| interfere with the connection?
| keyme wrote:
| That's not consistent between phones. I have a low end Redmi 9T
| with a 6AH battery. It lasts 2 days of relatively heavy phone
| usage. I'm guessing it would last a whole day in a Termux
| shell.
|
| Edit: if anything the real issue is thermals. I also have a
| high end phone with a Snapdragon 888. This thing has a faster
| CPU & GPU than my Intel desktop. However, it's only fast for
| seconds, until it gets thermally throttled.
| TchoBeer wrote:
| The thermal issue is also something a lot of laptops run
| afoul of, to be fair
| timonoko wrote:
| There must be generation coming which has never used physical
| keyboard and do not ever want to. Even now, when my home
| automation needs some adjustment, it easier just to SSH to Emacs
| than to wake up, put some clothes on and go sitting by the
| screen. Especially with (global-set-key (kbd "a") 'hippie-expand)
| .
| teekert wrote:
| Wait until they pass 35 and find that getting up and moving
| about is not just an annoyance but vital to keeping your body
| away from a state of constant little nagging pains ;)
| timonoko wrote:
| Shutup son. I am 69. But I cannot type with my thumbs, like
| people under 30. I need always two hands to use the phone.
| tluyben2 wrote:
| I can type with my thumbs but it's far slower than using my
| left thumb and right index finger. I am almost 50.
|
| However, what does that have to do with 2 handed use?
| Thumbs typing is also 2 hands. Or you mean typing with 1
| thumb? I see people, especially Chinese, writing on their
| phones with 1 thumb and holding it with the same hand (so 1
| hand use); you have that too with swipe keyboards though
| for western languages. This us definitely not faster (or,
| for me, nicer) than just typing with 1 thumb and 1 finger.
|
| Curious what other people do... I am on a tetras on a busy
| street now and wasting what (very) young people do: I see
| them all typing with 2 hands, two thumbs.
| teekert wrote:
| I'm still wishing for T9 to come back... Every generation
| has its thing. Maybe it's time to try dictation and get
| past the feelings of silliness ;)
| tluyben2 wrote:
| Not sure how that works with a lot of noise and people
| (subway, busy streets, airplanes etc); it seems to type
| out complete crap random people around me are shouting.
| So in reality touchtyping is faster.
| canadianfella wrote:
| https://www.geckoandfly.com/8529/smart-keyboard-
| pro-t9-keybo...
| cjlm wrote:
| I picked up the delightful Jelly Comb [0] for exactly this
| reason.
|
| [0] https://www.jellycomb.com/products/b046-bluetooth-
| keyboard?v...
| wffurr wrote:
| That's the missing model from the Logitech lineup!
|
| They have compact keyboards, keyboards with easy bluetooth
| switching, and keyboards with a builtin stand, but no one
| keyboard that has all three.
| hexadec wrote:
| Have you tired the Logitech K480? It met all my needs for
| pairing to my phone and an Android tablet with a nifty rotary
| switch for changing inputs easily. They keycap shape was
| lackluster but overall it was a novel solution.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MUTWLW4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b.
| ..
| wffurr wrote:
| Aha they do have it! Thanks!
|
| Huh, they don't list that on the keyboard page! Here it is
| filtered to models with a phone stand:
| https://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards?filters=3964
|
| That one is only listed in the "iPad Keyboards" section for
| whatever mysterious reason.
| vbsteven wrote:
| The Remarkable 2 runs Android and has a USB-C port so it might
| support a wired keyboard.
|
| Although I'm not sure if the screen refresh and cpu are fast
| enough for comfortable typing. I already get frustrated using the
| onscreen keyboard for typing a 10 character notebook name.
| pjmlp wrote:
| It is a custom Linux distribution, not Android.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| It doesn't run Android. It runs Linux. There is already similar
| devices with front lit eInk screens and support keyboards out
| of the box too with Bluetooth or USB C. The Boox Note Air is an
| example. It's considerably more powerful than the Remarkable 2
| and in the A2 refresh mode typing with a keyboard is not too
| bad.
| joeman1000 wrote:
| Similar to what I've been doing lately. Bought an M1 iPad
| (different story...) and have been using MOSH and Blink Shell to
| access my computer at home running emacs. Has been a blast doing
| journaling, logging my time in org-mode, writing notes in org-
| roam for uni subjects. Has been a game-changer for me. I know
| it's just a 'dumb terminal' but the experience is so seamless
| it's incredible. MOSH makes sure the connection doesn't drop out
| when I lock the device and come back half a day later. I can be
| on the train home and fire up that buffer I had going this
| morning writing a paper in LaTeX, with proper syntax
| highlighting, completion, snippets... incredible.
| aikinai wrote:
| I also use Blink with Mosh, but what's your physical setup? You
| mentioned using it on the train, so are you using an attachable
| keyboard like the Magic Keyboard? At that point, isn't the iPad
| just bigger and heavier than a laptop?
|
| I don't ask to refute your experience; I'm honestly curious
| since I like the idea of just using the iPad, but the
| ergonomics just seem inherently inferior regardless of software
| concerns.
| kstrauser wrote:
| This is exactly my setup, and I love it. Seriously, gentle
| readers: if you haven't checked out MOSH yet, do so. It's game
| changing:
|
| * It doesn't care if my IP changes. For example, I can start a
| session at home connected to Wi-Fi, switch to tethering to my
| phone as I take a bus, switch to office Wi-Fi when I get to
| work, and the connection never drops.
|
| * It stays connected forever. Switch to a Blink tab with a
| connection I haven't used for a week, and I'm instantly looking
| at a live shell prompt.
|
| It's magical. I use MOSH everywhere I possibly can now.
| mathewsanders wrote:
| What is the UX for switching between apps or moving the screen
| like?
|
| Can you do this with keyboard shortcuts or do you find yourself
| switching between keyboard and touch screen for some
| interactions?
|
| I find this idea of using a keyboard super appealing but don't
| like the idea of switching between keyboard and screen all the
| time. At least a virtual keyboard is on the screen!
| throwaway413 wrote:
| Alt+tab works fine on iOS, and I'm pretty sure you can
| trigger the app switcher view with a shortcut, can't
| remember.
| aikinai wrote:
| I often use an external keyboard with my iPad (but not really
| on the go). Both multi-tasking and keyboard shortcut support
| have gotten a lot better recently (with an especially big
| push in iPadOS 15), but I find the biggest blocker that
| iPadOS still hasn't been decided with a keyboard in mind.
|
| For example, tons of apps--including Apple apps--don't
| highlight text fields by default as they would on a computer,
| so you have to tap (or click) the field before you can type.
| You can very rarely tab to switch focus between different
| buttons and menus. You can't type to jump to an item in a
| list, etc.
|
| MacOS has so many little productivity enhancers, especially
| in regards to keyboard shortcuts and keyboard control, and
| the people designing iOS/iPadOS have just never made it a
| priority so even with an external keyboard, I find myself
| having to use touch or the mouse so much more often.
| joeman1000 wrote:
| You can CMD-TAB to other apps as on macOS. There are many of
| the same keyboard shortcuts translated to iPadOS, even some
| emacs movement keys in all text boxes!
|
| There isn't enough room to have more than one thing open
| usually, so lots of CMD-TAB action.
|
| Normally I'm doing one or the other - typing or
| annotating/drawing with the pencil. If I need touch-
| interaction when typing I can use the trackpad.
|
| I can't say it's a perfect experience, or even a practical
| one, but I still enjoy it. Maybe it's just the novelty of the
| setup. It weighs more (with the keyboard-case) than my
| MacBook Air, but it does have a nicer screen and it is
| waterproof. It lends itself more to portability for sure. I
| tend to just chuck it in my bag more often than I did with my
| laptop.
| afandian wrote:
| I think a lot about PinePhone, PinePhone Keyboard, terminal and
| emacs org-mode. As a journal, to-do list, notes etc. I'm very
| tempted to buy them, when the keyboard is released.
|
| But I have a Gemini PDA which is basically the same thing but
| more integrated and I never use it.
| 3np wrote:
| What is it that makes your Gemini unused, you think?
| afandian wrote:
| I did write a blog post or two on it on the train using
| termux and nano. That was cool. And the occasional SSH
| session.
|
| But as a phone running Android it's not quite there. Features
| like the LED controller app are half-baked vanity apps, and
| I'd rather they'd spent the time getting the lower level
| stuff right. Low quality phone call audio, random glitches,
| and software updates were mostly forgotten about. If I did
| want it as my primary phone I would also want a camera. The
| only camera was front-facing and low quality, which ruled it
| out. So it became a novel supplementary device rather than a
| daily driver.
|
| To whit, the hinge mechanism isn't well designed. In theory
| the spine rotates back to form a stand, but it's incredibly
| wobbly. So it's not much use for typing on a table. And it
| can't be held in the hand, as there's no stiffness.
|
| Why do I think PinePhone will be any different? The
| prototypes I've seen look like the hinge is stiffer. I'm not
| a kernel-compiling Linux enthusiast, so I don't expect to use
| a PinePhone as a real phone. But I do hope an SSH terminal to
| be simple enough to just work. So that puts it into the realm
| of mostly offline with sync. And org-mode is both simple and
| exciting, in a weird kind of a way.
|
| And that appeals to nostaliga for Psions, Palm PDAs and
| Newtons.
| 3np wrote:
| Do you know how viable (if even possible) it is to run
| Linux on it? There are some notes for Kali[0] and
| Debian[[1]. I've come across comments that it's far from
| ideal due to Halium but I'm yet to understand what that
| means in practice.
|
| [0] https://www.kali.org/blog/kali-linux-for-the-gemini-
| pda/ [1] https://support.planetcom.co.uk/index.php?title=De
| bian_Notes
| afandian wrote:
| There are certainly options. At the time (due to other
| factors like hardware) I wasn't inclined to try it
| myself.
| wffurr wrote:
| Logitech has a few models with a builtin phone stand, too, so you
| can prop up the phone or tablet as you type. They all have number
| pads, though, instead of the compact layout.
|
| Update: If you click to the "Tablet Keyboards" section instead of
| the regular "Keyboards" section, there's the K480 which is a
| compact model with phone stand: https://www.logitech.com/en-
| us/mobile/keyboards Why that's not listed in the regular keyboard
| section remains a mystery...
|
| Do mouse cursors work on iPhones yet or just iPad OS? Because
| there's other models that have a trackpad on the side, which
| could be neat. Ah, there's an accessibility setting to enable it,
| but it's not the same as the iPad OS mouse support.
| a9h74j wrote:
| Agree that the freewrite looks a little massive compared to the
| OP's travel-oriented use-case here, and that getting a bluetooth
| keyboard paired to something is a great use of available items.
|
| There is alse a Logitech keyboard (Multidevice K380, under $50
| apparently) with a built-in notch in which to place a phone or
| tablet.[1]
|
| [1] https://www.logitech.com/en-
| us/products/keyboards/k480-multi...
| sgt wrote:
| I didn't know about Obsidian - great tip. Installed it on macOS
| now and put the vault on my iCloud drive.
| yasenn wrote:
| Android - Termux - git+vimwiki Logitech k480 as a keyboard
| Logitech MX Ergo as a mice
| avel wrote:
| Unfortunately Logitech k480, as good a concept it might be, has
| a very mediocre button feel and also feels very bulky . That
| was probably on purpose, so that it can support the weight of a
| tablet. On the bright side it can be found for pretty cheap
| now.
| ubermonkey wrote:
| For a really long time, I never left town without my laptop, even
| if it was a pleasure trip. I have lots of stuff there I might
| want on a personal level, plus for the last 14 years I've been in
| a broad role in a small software company that kind of requires
| it. (I mean, it doesn't, and I'm not griping, but it's easier for
| everyone else if I limit the amount of time I'm truly
| unreachable, so I pick and choose.)
|
| The incredible growth in on-device capabilities from my iPad + a
| keyboard went a long way towards making that unnecessary; adding
| a remote desktop client (for access to the back-end Windows
| server things I might want) closes the loop.
|
| Unless I'm dead sure I'll NEED a full computer on a trip, I don't
| take one now. The default has become "nope." Even -- especially!
| -- as a photo management platform, because my iPad has ample
| storage and I'm a Creative Cloud user. I used to have to carry
| the laptop to dump and process photos during the trip (to avoid
| dealing with 2,000 all at once when we got home). Now I can go
| day by day, sync to Adobe, cull and do some processing, and just
| take the final pass once I'm home.
|
| That's great.
|
| (Ironically, this same era has seen me become increasingly deep
| into Orgmode, which is annoying, because as great as it is on a
| desktop there's still no truly great way to work with it from
| mobile short of setting up sync to a Linux box and using
| mosh/ssh.)
| aikinai wrote:
| I'm curious why you prefer the iPad and keyboard over a laptop
| since adding the keyboard typically makes the iPad both bigger
| and more unwieldy than a laptop.
|
| I ask because I also like the vague idea of not taking a
| laptop, but I'm not going to do any serious typing on a screen
| keyboard and adding an external keyboard makes the iPad less
| portable than a laptop (plus you probably need a stand and
| mouse as well to reach the physical usability of a laptop).
| post_break wrote:
| I'm the same way. My iPad is smaller, lighter, has cellular
| so I can get in generally everywhere. The battery (before my
| M1 Macbook Pro) lasted much longer, and didn't put out heat.
| It also had my movies for the plane. So it was killing two
| birds with one stone.
| reportgunner wrote:
| > _I 'm typing this post on my iPhone in the Obsidian iOS app
| using a Logitech K380 Bluetooth keyboard and I feel like a 90s
| computer hacker._
|
| 90's computer hacker ? I don't know, this sounds nearly as
| consumer as it gets.
| andai wrote:
| Yeah, that would be more like, a half dozen used ThinkPads
| under each arm, each running a different OS :)
| danohuiginn wrote:
| For me, a folding bluetooth keyboard was what made the
| difference. It really tilts my default time-to-fill behavior from
| consuming towards producing. I'd also recommend having a ring on
| the back of your phone, so you can prop it at a good viewing
| angle.
|
| I've been writing with obsidian, coding via ssh. Jupyter
| notebooks and other browser-based environments are also good,
| though much smoother with a tablet-sized screen.
| paraknight wrote:
| I've been saying this for ages -- the future setup is going to be
| phones as a singular device. When you get home, you'll dock it to
| be able to use your peripherals or extra monitors. Phones will
| become even more powerful, but even then anything heavy can be
| done in the cloud or at the network edge (with minimal latency
| thanks to 5g, see cloud gaming). OSs will become more convergent
| (Windows tried it, Huawei's doing it, PureOS if you're into
| Linux) but that won't even matter as the browser will be the de
| facto OS if it isn't already. Responsive web apps (through PWAs)
| will get native-level capabilities with the browser as a
| compatibility layer, and traditional OSs will simply be browser-
| running machines.
| gjulianm wrote:
| I don't think it's going down that path. We're seeing people
| use phones more and more, and a lot of people don't seem to
| need a computer for most tasks. Why buy a dock plus keyboard
| plus mouse plus monitor when you can just use your phone?
|
| People that _do need_ a computer-like device probably won 't
| have enough with a phone, and will need something more powerful
| than browser-based applications. Not to mention that a lot
| applications would be far more expensive if moved to the cloud
| (imagine a video editor where you not only pay for the software
| but also for the storage + computing power to the provider).
| alpaca128 wrote:
| I'm not convinced. Not because it's technically unviable, but
| because I know that when companies like Google are involved
| it'd be far too restrictive for my taste. And as soon as you
| also want some local computing power (even if just for the
| situations it's offline) it's more expensive than hardware in a
| larger format like laptops - even more so when you need an
| upgrade, because phones can't be upgraded (or even repaired in
| some cases).
| andrepd wrote:
| > even then anything heavy can be done in the cloud or at the
| network edge (with minimal latency thanks to 5g, see cloud
| gaming).
|
| Hard doubt. And anyways, why 5G? I don't see any figures where
| 5G outperforms fiber in latency.
| FroshKiller wrote:
| Even if it did, that's only talking about latency pushing the
| image down. I wouldn't expect input latency to ever improve
| to the point that most gamers play exclusively via cloud.
| jhatemyjob wrote:
| Never gonna happen with phones. iOS / Android are too dominant
| in the "phone" space. It's gonna be a entirely different class
| of device.
| selfhoster11 wrote:
| Hell no. Real techie software is basically a third-class
| citizen on smartphones at this point, with the promise of being
| locked out even more. The cloud is not a solution to everyone's
| problems, thanks to what it can or cannot do (technical
| problems), and thanks to the fact that some just don't trust it
| or don't want a recurring subscription (socioeconomic factors).
| If you ever want to upgrade the hardware, you'll also need
| somewhere to install it, and dongles won't suffice.
|
| Some people may be happy with this future, much like people who
| create and process lightweight office documents on iPads. But
| there will always be demand for singular PCs or laptops.
| perryizgr8 wrote:
| Samsung Dex is pretty usable IMO. Unfortunately phone hardware
| seems to be just a bit lacking when you try to do desktop-like
| things. My galaxy S10 can keep up for a short time, but having
| lots of browser tabs open, a vs code instance, whatsapp open in
| the background can degrade performance after a few minutes when
| the phone starts getting hot.
|
| It seems to me the CPU/GPU can burst pretty well (maybe
| approaching ultrabook-style laptops) but sustained performance
| is just not there yet.
| bitwize wrote:
| Nope, not even.
|
| 1) This would be tolerable with some PinePhone successor, but
| proprietary solutions like Samsung DEX are conducive to lock-
| in, more difficult for developers to target, and tend to go
| unsupported after a few years.
|
| 2) Phones have to become more durable. I expect my primary
| computing device to last half a decade. My phone's USB-C port
| is flaky after just over 2 years of charging it and carrying it
| around. How is it going to last if I'm plugging and unplugging
| it to/from some desktop rig?
|
| 3) They have to become more repairable too. "If it's broken,
| throw it away and buy new" just isn't tenable for a primary PC.
|
| 4) Getting everybody on board with "live in the pod, eat the
| bugs, use the cloud-connected thin client" is not going to
| happen.
| diffeomorphism wrote:
| Concerning 2) magnetic usb-c connectors are nice and wireless
| is an option, e.g. see the Lenovo wigig dock for an
| implementation.
|
| Concerning 3) I think things are moving in the other
| direction. With immutable base OS and data seamlessy backed
| up (encrypted, of course) switching to a new device should be
| fairly frustration free.
|
| For 4) I think we will see more and more of a mixture. For
| instance better integration of cloud storage, things like
| game streaming, more video streaming etc. . So not thin
| client, but not fully featured offline either.
| indymike wrote:
| > the future setup is going to be phones as a singular device
|
| I had a four-day weekend where the only device I had was my
| Android phone. I needed to work on a release of our software,
| so I had to fix a few bugs, write a press release, get content
| ready for the website. On the way out, I grabbed the laptop
| bag, but forgot the laptop. On some of the higher-end android
| devices, if you plug them into a monitor you get desktop mode.
| So down to the hotel "business center" I went with my LG Wing
| and plugged in a monitor, keyboard and mouse using the usb-c
| dongle I usually use as a hub for my laptop. A lot of the apps
| played nice, so email (Fairemail is a fantastic piece of
| software), word processing (Google Docs App), editing
| screenshots (PicSayPro) and SSH(Connectbot) were all fantastic.
| Could Android desktop mode use a little polish? Sure. For any
| serious development, I'd prefer to edit and test on
| localhost... but honestly, the experience wasn't bad, and from
| time to time I'll go phone-only to the office if I know I'm not
| going to be coding all day.
| chewz wrote:
| I am using old Android Xperia 10 with Termux, Apple Bluetooth
| keyboard and Chromcast screen to 27 inch TV. With Termux I will
| ssh into my server (using mosh).
|
| Pretty decent and stable setup... And free as I have just
| gathered some old hardware pieces...
| arc-in-space wrote:
| > anything heavy can be done in the cloud or at the network
| edge (with minimal latency thanks to 5g, see cloud gaming)
|
| It's interesting that people often handwave latency like this
| as if it was a solved problem. As instructed, I have seen cloud
| gaming: it's an unmitigated disaster, held back by mere trifles
| such the limits of information travel speed imposed by our
| physical universe.
| eloisant wrote:
| No I don't think so.
|
| To be able to dock it you need a screen and keyboard (or a
| laptop-style "shell"). That means you need a device that takes
| just as much space as an independent device but can't be used
| unless you plug your phone to it. The only benefit is a slight
| lower cost - but then you need to make sure your phone is
| powerful enough so a cheap Android is out of the picture.
|
| You've been saying this for ages, and manufacturers have been
| trying it for ages (Motorola Atrix, Samsung Dex...) but it
| doesn't catch on. So maybe you should reconsider your
| prediction!
| Zababa wrote:
| > The only benefit is a slight lower cost
|
| Not only that, but having a single source of truth for your
| files, OS and things like that.
| lmm wrote:
| Now that I'm using a Surface Book 2 as my primary computer,
| with a Surface Dock set up on my desk at home with
| screen/keyboard/speakers/etc., I'm more confident than ever
| that this future is coming eventually - but also confident
| that it will take a long time. Having a single device makes a
| surprisingly big difference from having two separate devices
| (home PC and travel laptop), but is also not worth
| sacrificing power for. The technical users who will become
| early adopters want a first-class home PC, so just as laptops
| only started to actually displace desktops once they had
| enough RAM etc. to match them, it'll be the same for phones,
| and they'll probably need to be x86-based phones for the sake
| of being able to run old programs.
| vineyardmike wrote:
| > they'll probably need to be x86-based phones for the sake
| of being able to run old programs.
|
| Maybe its the other way around?
|
| Maybe we need to wait until the old way of doing things is
| so forgotten we can accept the phone-way as a valid way. As
| long has people have their x86 applications, they'll want
| to use them. Once people stop caring - well then there is
| an app for that.
| codetrotter wrote:
| Apple already made it possible on macOS to run x86_64
| software on their ARM computers, with Rosetta 2.
|
| Any company with enough resources could do the same if they
| felt so inclined.
|
| And if Apple wanted to, Apple could make Rosetta 2 run on
| iOS devices. For now they want to keep them mostly
| separate, and are more about running iPad apps on macOS
| than the other way around. But there is nothing stopping
| Apple from running desktop software, whether compiled for
| x86_64 or for ARM, on iOS devices if they wanted to. And if
| convergence turns out to be the future then I think we may
| see them do that eventually. But I am not convinced that it
| will.
| AussieWog93 wrote:
| >Apple could make Rosetta 2 run on iOS devices
|
| From what I understand, M1 Macs have specialised hardware
| that allows them to emulate x64 with good performance.
| It's not just software.
| codetrotter wrote:
| Was not aware of that. But either way in that case they
| can do something similar in the hardware for future iOS
| devices, if they wish to.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| Years ago I had a similar thought to parent, only without the
| dock. I figured phones would have micro projectors to throw a
| display on any convenient wall and a laser keyboard[0] to
| throw onto a table.
|
| These days I no longer think that'll happen largely because
| the kinds of things people want a desktop computer for are
| really much better served by an actual computer, while mobile
| users have adapted to not even wanting a desk.
|
| [0] https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0531/2285/9174/products
| /im...
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _you need a device that takes just as much space as an
| independent device but can 't be used unless you plug your
| phone to it_
|
| Flip side: it's a device that just works, doesn't need to be
| kept patched and updated and where syncing is never an issue.
| It's an external monitor for your phone plus a keyboard.
|
| The prediction has fallen on its face due to the mobile
| component not being central enough. If half my life is on my
| laptop and half on my phone, a desktop makes sense. (Though I
| go for external monitors to my laptop.) But if all my stuff
| is on my phone, losing the syncing tax becomes more
| meaningful.
| stonemetal12 wrote:
| We are already there with laptops and laptop docks. It could
| certainly be a cellphone dock in the future but the phones
| just aren't powerful enough now. Maybe an iPhone with an M2
| or M3?
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