Smartphones: PC Killer?

[mon_diesle]

I'm quickly running out of reasons to even keep a PC around anymore. At the rate these things are increasing capability, there will soon be very few things you cannot do (if the smartphone is your only computer). I think my favorite part is that they are putting open source OS's into the hands of tech noobs like my mom who are used to paying for everything. She couldn't believe Google Docs was free.
We have become used to an operating system monopoly and with the advent of these powerful smartphones, suddenly people see what it's like to have a choice.

-music/video: Check.
-web browsing/e-Mail/Social networking: Check.
-network speed: 3G's faster and cheaper than my DSL.
-documents processing: I can do Google Docs on Android. (Maybe they need to make wifi printers?)
-gaming: not a whole lot of people have discrete gpus anyway (mostly done on consoles nowadays)

Maybe it would be interesting to see a list of things smartphones cannot replicate...

 

[mon_diesle]

*Edit* responded to misplaced post.

 

[Maziar]

Sorry I posted in a wrong thread 😀
Anyways well i think SmartPhones have still quite a long way to be considered as a replacement for desktops because currently desktops are way faster,but for tasks like listening to music,yes smartphones can handle them well.
Also there are a lot of PC gamers too also there are some tasks like PhotoShop,After effects,3D MAX etc which smartphones can not handle it well for now

 

[mon_diesle]

What are 3D Max, and After Effects?

*Edit* Holy Christ, 3d modeling software? Creating motion graphics? I didn't mean they will replace CAD workstations! A personal computer is worlds apart from a workstation.

 

[Maziar]

Yes i mean them,they are one of the tasks that smart phones can do yet,but who knows maybe we will see smartphones powerful enough to do it in future (not soon though)

 

[tupix]

A smartphone is far, far far away to replace an desktop, they are completely different devices for different people.

If laptop isn't closer to catch up the number of computers... a smartphone!?

The ITG is accepting unpriced preorders for the XPphone, the first smartphone with Windows XP!
http/www.xpphone.com/en/index.html

 

[mon_diesle]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875502012
This one runs vista (and has been out for a while)! See what I mean? What I was looking for was for someone to point out a particular functionality that is missing from a smartphone (vs. a PC). I can't dream up any except maybe the workstation type stuff. It's testament to my belief that the personal computing market has become filled with bloatware (inefficiently coded, and with an excessively high footprint). It's just ridiculous to me that my PC is 10x as fast as my 15 year old one and the way they (Microsoft) code the OS, it's not actually any faster.

It's exciting to me that all of these new portable OS's are getting into the hands of the masses and we're seeing what can be accomplished with open source. We're even starting to see Android on laptops. I feel the tectonic plates of the monopoly starting to shift!

 

[frozenlead]

Smartphones lack keyboards that I wouldn't mind typing on for longer than ~1 minute.

Nor would I want to listen to music or watch videos on my phone. I mean, I do when I don't feel like doing anything else...but the screen is tiny, the resolution is small - it makes videos look ruddy. Completely destroyed by my 17" 1200p display. The interface for music is too cumbersome...I can't do searches (though droid can, I hear) and the player is nowhere near as dynamic and feature-full as desktop software solutions.


Give it...15 years. Then maybe people will start to go without dedicated computers all together. Smartphones will get bigger, though. They're too small to be practical for the same work that desktops and notebooks do.