5 ms·

I'm counting the days until I can just plug my smartphone into a KVM dock and have it be as useful as a full-blown desktop.

alain94040 8y ago
Yes, except the future is wireless. So no dock required (let's say, 5 years from now).
frankydp 8y ago
Something like Dex? https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/ https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  Note that Samsung was neither the first nor the best to tackle this problem. Motorola did it arguably "first" with the Atrix and the BIONIC on Android back in 2011. Once Android 4.x hit, they were able to remove the trashy custom Linux it ran and show the Android tablet interface when plugged in that way. Microsoft, more recently, did a proper PC-on-a-phone implementation with Continuum on Windows 10. Pop a Lumia 950 or an Elite x3 into the dock and you have a Windows PC. But minus legacy apps, of course. This was the "best" implementation I've seen. The commonality with both of these, is the hardware arrived ahead of the software being able to carry them. Android wasn't ready to support the Atrix at the time as it didn't even have a tablet UI at the time, and UWP apps weren't developed enough to equate to a "PC" either.
  - Aloha 8y ago
    I'm really hoping for a version of macOS that could support a complete embedded iOS in it, electrically, there is no reason why I cant fit the processing power I need in my computer, in a phone or tablet - but as you correctly point out, the software still has no arrived. (I speak to macOS, because I'm an Apple Ecosystem guy - the same approach could be taken by microsoft)
    - mattkevan 8y ago
      I’m hoping that the new stuff in Mojave and beyond that brings iOS apps to MacOS will eventually do that. One app with both iOS and macOS interfaces. iOS interface by default, but connect your phone to a screen and hook up a keyboard & mouse and it switches to desktop mode. Mojave’s dock even works the same as the iPad dock (or vice versa).
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      I do feel like the first company to nail real convergence in this space is going to own the next decade. Apple's definitely been playing with integrating MacOS and iOS better as well. Google's been pushing Android apps into Chrome. While Microsoft's mobile OS is on hiatus, they've been pushing Windows integration with Android.
  - frankydp 8y ago
    Did VMWare bring something to market early also? Couldn't find a press release. Maybe it was just a partnership with Atrix or Continuum.
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      If I recall, VMware was primarily working with Samsung on Knox and DeX: https://www.vmware.com/partners/strategic-technology-partners/samsung.html https://www.vmware.com/partners/strategic-technology-partner...
sevensor 8y ago
That was the whole idea with the Ubuntu phone -- convergence. I don't know that it will ever come to pass. No matter how powerful the thing in your pocket is, I have a box next to my desk that can hold 50 of them. And we're always going to find ways to use more power.
- 394549 8y ago
  > No matter how powerful the thing in your pocket is, I have a box next to my desk that can hold 50 of them. And we're always going to find ways to use more power. Yeah, but convergence could mean transferring a memory image to the dock's larger RAM, transferring control to a beefier processor in the dock, and then halting the phone's CPU. In a docked state, the only phone hardware in active use would be it's storage. Convergence should be more about seamlessly transferring state from one device to another than using one device with different peripherals for all things.
  - jjeaff 8y ago
    I think the idea that Kurzweil and others have put forth is that your device state will be stored in the cloud and the devices themselves will be so unimportant as to just be laying around or available wherever you go. You could just walk up to any terminal or grab a phone from a bin at the grocery store and your biometrics would instantly identify you and you would pick up where you left off.
woolvalley 8y ago
My guess the first to actually accomplish it will be something like making your android phone go into chromeos mode, since it already has a desktop userbase and would be the least amount of work to transform phones into supporting.
- josteink 8y ago
  Microsoft already did what OP asked several years ago with the Lumia phones. It was a total flop. Turns out cloud documents, storage and sync is good enough for people so they don’t feel the need to do all their computing on the same device. What OP wants is the ultimate portable computing-solution envisioned in a pre-cloud world. In a post-cloud world nobody is going to bother building it. Not even MS, with all their money could make it fly. Google has direct opposite interest in this. Apple wants you to buy more HW from them, not less. So who is going to deliver?
  - toast0 8y ago
    Microsoft continuum was a flop for lots of reasons. Windows Mobile 10 was a flop; a niche feature on a niche os isn't going to sell phones, unless it was fabulous. The 'desktop' experience wasn't a real desktop, it was UWP, and if I recall correctly (??) didn't offer real multitasking with overlapping Windows and stuff. The amount of applications available for UWP is not very large, and the number that supported continuum features was a small fraction of that. If a desktop environment doesn't have applications, at least it should have a good browser. This had Edge, which might have a great rendering engine, but has a very slugish frontends and is awful to use. The clearly obvious next gen hardware for this (Intel x86 phone) was cancelled around the time of the release. None of that has anything to do with if the core concept is good or not. That there haven't been a lot of other attempts may be more damning. I think the opportunity is really that more and more people only have a phone, not a laptop or desktop; from time to time, they could use a larger computing environment -- is there a way to provide that, hook up to a tv/monitor and a keyboard + mouse and provide something useful.
gwbas1c 8y ago
I kind of want the same thing with a smart watch. I want my watch to be the entire phone, and then I want to be able to link a handheld phone-like display that I can keep in my pocket.

alain94040 8y ago

Yes, except the future is wireless. So no dock required (let's say, 5 years from now).

frankydp 8y ago

Something like Dex? https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/ https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
Note that Samsung was neither the first nor the best to tackle this problem. Motorola did it arguably "first" with the Atrix and the BIONIC on Android back in 2011. Once Android 4.x hit, they were able to remove the trashy custom Linux it ran and show the Android tablet interface when plugged in that way. Microsoft, more recently, did a proper PC-on-a-phone implementation with Continuum on Windows 10. Pop a Lumia 950 or an Elite x3 into the dock and you have a Windows PC. But minus legacy apps, of course. This was the "best" implementation I've seen. The commonality with both of these, is the hardware arrived ahead of the software being able to carry them. Android wasn't ready to support the Atrix at the time as it didn't even have a tablet UI at the time, and UWP apps weren't developed enough to equate to a "PC" either.
- Aloha 8y ago
  I'm really hoping for a version of macOS that could support a complete embedded iOS in it, electrically, there is no reason why I cant fit the processing power I need in my computer, in a phone or tablet - but as you correctly point out, the software still has no arrived. (I speak to macOS, because I'm an Apple Ecosystem guy - the same approach could be taken by microsoft)
  - mattkevan 8y ago
    I’m hoping that the new stuff in Mojave and beyond that brings iOS apps to MacOS will eventually do that. One app with both iOS and macOS interfaces. iOS interface by default, but connect your phone to a screen and hook up a keyboard & mouse and it switches to desktop mode. Mojave’s dock even works the same as the iPad dock (or vice versa).
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    I do feel like the first company to nail real convergence in this space is going to own the next decade. Apple's definitely been playing with integrating MacOS and iOS better as well. Google's been pushing Android apps into Chrome. While Microsoft's mobile OS is on hiatus, they've been pushing Windows integration with Android.
- frankydp 8y ago
  Did VMWare bring something to market early also? Couldn't find a press release. Maybe it was just a partnership with Atrix or Continuum.
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    If I recall, VMware was primarily working with Samsung on Knox and DeX: https://www.vmware.com/partners/strategic-technology-partners/samsung.html https://www.vmware.com/partners/strategic-technology-partner...

sevensor 8y ago

That was the whole idea with the Ubuntu phone -- convergence. I don't know that it will ever come to pass. No matter how powerful the thing in your pocket is, I have a box next to my desk that can hold 50 of them. And we're always going to find ways to use more power.

394549 8y ago
> No matter how powerful the thing in your pocket is, I have a box next to my desk that can hold 50 of them. And we're always going to find ways to use more power. Yeah, but convergence could mean transferring a memory image to the dock's larger RAM, transferring control to a beefier processor in the dock, and then halting the phone's CPU. In a docked state, the only phone hardware in active use would be it's storage. Convergence should be more about seamlessly transferring state from one device to another than using one device with different peripherals for all things.
- jjeaff 8y ago
  I think the idea that Kurzweil and others have put forth is that your device state will be stored in the cloud and the devices themselves will be so unimportant as to just be laying around or available wherever you go. You could just walk up to any terminal or grab a phone from a bin at the grocery store and your biometrics would instantly identify you and you would pick up where you left off.

woolvalley 8y ago

My guess the first to actually accomplish it will be something like making your android phone go into chromeos mode, since it already has a desktop userbase and would be the least amount of work to transform phones into supporting.

josteink 8y ago
Microsoft already did what OP asked several years ago with the Lumia phones. It was a total flop. Turns out cloud documents, storage and sync is good enough for people so they don’t feel the need to do all their computing on the same device. What OP wants is the ultimate portable computing-solution envisioned in a pre-cloud world. In a post-cloud world nobody is going to bother building it. Not even MS, with all their money could make it fly. Google has direct opposite interest in this. Apple wants you to buy more HW from them, not less. So who is going to deliver?
- toast0 8y ago
  Microsoft continuum was a flop for lots of reasons. Windows Mobile 10 was a flop; a niche feature on a niche os isn't going to sell phones, unless it was fabulous. The 'desktop' experience wasn't a real desktop, it was UWP, and if I recall correctly (??) didn't offer real multitasking with overlapping Windows and stuff. The amount of applications available for UWP is not very large, and the number that supported continuum features was a small fraction of that. If a desktop environment doesn't have applications, at least it should have a good browser. This had Edge, which might have a great rendering engine, but has a very slugish frontends and is awful to use. The clearly obvious next gen hardware for this (Intel x86 phone) was cancelled around the time of the release. None of that has anything to do with if the core concept is good or not. That there haven't been a lot of other attempts may be more damning. I think the opportunity is really that more and more people only have a phone, not a laptop or desktop; from time to time, they could use a larger computing environment -- is there a way to provide that, hook up to a tv/monitor and a keyboard + mouse and provide something useful.

gwbas1c 8y ago

I kind of want the same thing with a smart watch. I want my watch to be the entire phone, and then I want to be able to link a handheld phone-like display that I can keep in my pocket.