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I suspect the Universal Windows Platform will have a significant impact. Especially the ability to dock your phone with an external display/keyboard/mouse. For

I suspect the Universal Windows Platform will have a significant impact. Especially the ability to dock your phone with an external display/keyboard/mouse. For a large portion of the market it displaces the need for a second computing device. Microsoft is much further along on this front than both Android and iOS.

kybernetikos 11y ago
I've been able to (and have done so) plug my android phone into a usb hub with mouse and keyboard and into a 1080p screen for quite a few years now. Of course, there's relatively little that truly takes advantage of that set up, and making the user experience more pleasant would make a huge difference, but android understands mouse and keyboard input just fine. Microsoft may be somewhat further along on this front, but I don't think it's as much as you think - the apps that can run in this way are not full windows applications, and there are relatively few of them at present.
- MawNicker 11y ago
  It's not just the raw capabilities that are important. This is something Apple has understood for a long time. Microsoft is figuring it out.
- nivla 11y ago
  >Microsoft may be somewhat further along on this front, but I don't think it's as much as you think - the apps that can run in this way are not full windows applications. But that is going to soon change as MS is working with Intel to launch Intel powered phones (x86). [1] Regardless of whether Windows phone succeeds or not, I believe the path they are taking will eventually be where all the OSes will end up. The saying "The best camera is the one that is with you" may hold true for computers in the future. Imagine hotels & coffee shops offering a dock for rooms/tables and the only thing you need is your phone. Plug it in and voila!, your personalized desktop with all its settings and data. This might even be secure, cost effective and more efficient method for portable desktop. [1] http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-launching-intel-powered-windows-phones-in-early-2016-report-487011.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-launching-intel-pow...
  - nitrogen 11y ago
    I like the docking concept, but you really can't trust input devices you don't own.
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      Same applies to FxOS, not the whole stack was open. Plus people keep forgetting that there aren't any open options for the radio OS.
- MarkyC4 11y ago
  The Motorola Atrix had an optional attachment that turned it into a "webtop" (basically a laptop case that used your phone as the CPU): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G
dragonwriter 11y ago
> Especially the ability to dock your phone with an external display/keyboard/mouse. For a large portion of the market it displaces the need for a second computing device. Microsoft is much further along on this front than both Android and iOS. From a software perspective, Android has supported this forever. From a hardware perspective, there've been Android devices where accompanying docking solutions was heavily marketed, though none in the last few years, because its something users keep not really wanting in practice, even if they conceptually like the idea in the abstract. Plus, a substantial fraction of the price and size of a "second computing device" that's larger than your phone is going to be the display, so docking doesn't really solve much of anything (especially when the devices are all cloud connected.) There's zero friction moving between by Android phone and my 12" tablet -- with BT keyboard and, if I felt like using one, BT mouse. And I could use the BT keyboard and mouse with the phone itself, if I wanted to. Either device could connect to an external monitor via HDMI with an inexpensive adaptor (and either can cast its display via Google Cast.) What, in practical terms, does docking solve?
- MawNicker 11y ago
  Monitors aren't obsoleted nearly as quickly as computer hardware and most consumers have a TV. You can take peripherals you already own and make a 1-plug docking station without significant cost. The lynchpin is user-experience and Microsoft is chasing it directly. Android is just trying to be everything for everyone. The docking stations were pimped by the OEMs without support from the ecosystem. I suspect Microsoft is more aggressively preparing for the death of the laptop/desktop. If only to save themselves from the Innovator's dilemma.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > Monitors aren't obsoleted nearly as quickly as computer hardware and most consumers have a TV. And most people don't want to dock their computing device to their TV as a monitor; there are uses for TV-as-output device, and they're well-covered by things like Google Cast and similar technologies. > You can take peripherals you already own and make a 1-plug docking station without significant cost. Only if I already own peripherals; i.e., if I already have a desktop or a laptop that I use with external peripherals instead of just the built-in interface. And, I only need a "docking station" if those peripherals are wired, rather than, say, Bluetooth. Which might be the case for the monitor, sure, but you can already do that. HDMI dongles or cables -- the only one-plug docking station you need in a world with Bluetooth mice and keyboards -- are readily available and not expensive for existing, non-Windows mobile devices.
benlower 11y ago
Microsoft continues to shoot itself in the foot here. Nearly two years ago at BUILD they announced universal apps for Xbox One. A year later the new term, Universal Windows Platform (UWP), was being used and another promise of opening up Xbox to app developers. Xbox has yet to really open up for app devs. The second leg of UWP's 'write a single app and have it go everywhere' was mobile. We've all seen how that's been going. The final (and biggest/main) leg is traditional Windows. They whiffed badly with the Windows RT devices. Now all the tablets are running the full-blown OS. That means they all run Win32 apps. Win32 is good enough so why would a developer port their app to UWP when the first two legs are either unavailable or have a very small install base of customers?
- pjmlp 11y ago
  > Win32 is good enough so why would a developer port their app to UWP when the first two legs are either unavailable or have a very small install base of customers? All the new APIs since Windows 8 are only available in WinRT. For example, the upgrade path to MFC is XAML, which is only available for WinRT applications.

kybernetikos 11y ago

I've been able to (and have done so) plug my android phone into a usb hub with mouse and keyboard and into a 1080p screen for quite a few years now. Of course, there's relatively little that truly takes advantage of that set up, and making the user experience more pleasant would make a huge difference, but android understands mouse and keyboard input just fine. Microsoft may be somewhat further along on this front, but I don't think it's as much as you think - the apps that can run in this way are not full windows applications, and there are relatively few of them at present.

MawNicker 11y ago
It's not just the raw capabilities that are important. This is something Apple has understood for a long time. Microsoft is figuring it out.
nivla 11y ago
>Microsoft may be somewhat further along on this front, but I don't think it's as much as you think - the apps that can run in this way are not full windows applications. But that is going to soon change as MS is working with Intel to launch Intel powered phones (x86). [1] Regardless of whether Windows phone succeeds or not, I believe the path they are taking will eventually be where all the OSes will end up. The saying "The best camera is the one that is with you" may hold true for computers in the future. Imagine hotels & coffee shops offering a dock for rooms/tables and the only thing you need is your phone. Plug it in and voila!, your personalized desktop with all its settings and data. This might even be secure, cost effective and more efficient method for portable desktop. [1] http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-launching-intel-powered-windows-phones-in-early-2016-report-487011.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-launching-intel-pow...
- nitrogen 11y ago
  I like the docking concept, but you really can't trust input devices you don't own.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    Same applies to FxOS, not the whole stack was open. Plus people keep forgetting that there aren't any open options for the radio OS.
MarkyC4 11y ago
The Motorola Atrix had an optional attachment that turned it into a "webtop" (basically a laptop case that used your phone as the CPU): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Atrix_4G

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Especially the ability to dock your phone with an external display/keyboard/mouse. For a large portion of the market it displaces the need for a second computing device. Microsoft is much further along on this front than both Android and iOS. From a software perspective, Android has supported this forever. From a hardware perspective, there've been Android devices where accompanying docking solutions was heavily marketed, though none in the last few years, because its something users keep not really wanting in practice, even if they conceptually like the idea in the abstract. Plus, a substantial fraction of the price and size of a "second computing device" that's larger than your phone is going to be the display, so docking doesn't really solve much of anything (especially when the devices are all cloud connected.) There's zero friction moving between by Android phone and my 12" tablet -- with BT keyboard and, if I felt like using one, BT mouse. And I could use the BT keyboard and mouse with the phone itself, if I wanted to. Either device could connect to an external monitor via HDMI with an inexpensive adaptor (and either can cast its display via Google Cast.) What, in practical terms, does docking solve?

MawNicker 11y ago
Monitors aren't obsoleted nearly as quickly as computer hardware and most consumers have a TV. You can take peripherals you already own and make a 1-plug docking station without significant cost. The lynchpin is user-experience and Microsoft is chasing it directly. Android is just trying to be everything for everyone. The docking stations were pimped by the OEMs without support from the ecosystem. I suspect Microsoft is more aggressively preparing for the death of the laptop/desktop. If only to save themselves from the Innovator's dilemma.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > Monitors aren't obsoleted nearly as quickly as computer hardware and most consumers have a TV. And most people don't want to dock their computing device to their TV as a monitor; there are uses for TV-as-output device, and they're well-covered by things like Google Cast and similar technologies. > You can take peripherals you already own and make a 1-plug docking station without significant cost. Only if I already own peripherals; i.e., if I already have a desktop or a laptop that I use with external peripherals instead of just the built-in interface. And, I only need a "docking station" if those peripherals are wired, rather than, say, Bluetooth. Which might be the case for the monitor, sure, but you can already do that. HDMI dongles or cables -- the only one-plug docking station you need in a world with Bluetooth mice and keyboards -- are readily available and not expensive for existing, non-Windows mobile devices.

benlower 11y ago

Microsoft continues to shoot itself in the foot here. Nearly two years ago at BUILD they announced universal apps for Xbox One. A year later the new term, Universal Windows Platform (UWP), was being used and another promise of opening up Xbox to app developers. Xbox has yet to really open up for app devs. The second leg of UWP's 'write a single app and have it go everywhere' was mobile. We've all seen how that's been going. The final (and biggest/main) leg is traditional Windows. They whiffed badly with the Windows RT devices. Now all the tablets are running the full-blown OS. That means they all run Win32 apps. Win32 is good enough so why would a developer port their app to UWP when the first two legs are either unavailable or have a very small install base of customers?

pjmlp 11y ago
> Win32 is good enough so why would a developer port their app to UWP when the first two legs are either unavailable or have a very small install base of customers? All the new APIs since Windows 8 are only available in WinRT. For example, the upgrade path to MFC is XAML, which is only available for WinRT applications.