JD88 :
This is also true. In fact, this is what Ubuntu is already doing. When plugged into a dock attached to a large monitor the phone outputs a full desktop OS.
Performance is already there to do it. Your Surface RT is a good example and the Tegra 3 chip in it is already nearly doubled in performance by the chips in the current flagship phones. Ubuntu and Chrome OS would have even better performance because of their light weight nature.
I'm interested to see how it works though with mobile devices though. Will tablets and notebooks just have a slot where your phone goes like the ASUS Padphone? Eventually it will probably work wirelessly.
High end phones will have this option, but I also think we are going to start seeing smartphone price drops as many people wouldn't care about this feature.
Not just Ubuntu is anticipating this, I think. Though we don't necessarily agree on the preferable approach, Windows 8 is an obvious attempt to create an operating system that can operate in both capacities - on a tiny touch screen or outputting to a big screen. And yeah, this is exactly what I do with my Surface/Iconia W700 - it is used in its portable capacity on the go, and plugs in and runs very well on a 55 inch TV at home, and with little to no hassle by enthusiast standards.
Ever since I heard about a graphics card that could output a picture wirelessly though, I've been thinking that this is something that could get a lot of people interested in it - and the recent small but noticeable push for local streaming of video through a network reinforces my thoughts that this is going to be a big thing. Right now and in the near future, you're right - it isn't something that many people are interested in outside of enthusiasts. Part of the problem is that it (usually) requires a micro-HDMI cable which is not a standard item in many households, and that you then need to access often hard to access ports in the back if a free cable isn't loose, and then you probably have to fiddle with graphics settings to get it working optimally. These types of little hitches turn off more casual users in a big way unlike the enthusiast who is used to crawling around the mess of wires behind a PC/TV like some monkey trying to get to a banana. What will it take for this to be a big thing? One, absolute ease of use - true plug and play with video signals, no messing around. Two, wireless streaming or input/output, where one can detect video inputs and outputs like we now detect wifi signals.
I liken it to the uptake on USB devices. These days, my mom is switches mice and keyboards on the fly like it was nothing. Go back, oh, ten years or more though, and plugging in a device to a USB 1.0 port or a PCI port and you had to be installing software and changing settings and sometimes downloading drivers - my mom thought this was well beyond her. These are all things people could do without *too* much difficulty, but fiddling with a computer like that is well beyond the comfort level of most people. Make it like USB now though, or like connecting to wifi, and even the casual user will happily walk into a household and say "Oh, what's your video network? What's the password? Ok, let me just sync my phone to your TV and let's play a game/view some pictures/whatever."
The technology for this type of thing is, in my eyes, where USB type technology was ten years ago - on the cusp of becoming really easy. Once it becomes really easy, then those little devices become useable to the casual user in a whole new way that I think they might find they want.
ram1009 :
How can any of you be so naïve as to believe a tiny device like this could ever possibly replace a desktop computer? It just will never happen.
Really? Believe it or not, you can already do it for all but *extremely* CPU/GPU intensive tasks with tablets you can get for under $400 or less. The tablets of today won't be as powerful as the phones of two years from now. Do you *really* think that a lot of users couldn't get away with using a tablet as a primary computer today, let alone a few years ago? And what makes you think this won't be true of phones - basically small form factor tablets - in a year or two as well?
Now, that being said, desktops aren't going anywhere any time soon. The thing is, a lot of places where people used to think "oh, you need a desktop PC" are now the domain of tablets, and this is becoming more and more prevalent. I know more than a few people in business who now go to work and use their Surface Pro instead of their desktop PC, and that same Surface is both their home and entertainment device - and Android and iOS are quickly coming into that realm of functionality.
No, your statement is short sighted. Desktop PC's won't be eclipsed for heavy graphics/CPU usage devices for a while, but for many, many other things, they are already no longer necessary.
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