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Interesting that the author concludes his otherwise interesting observations by discussing the advanced processing power of the iPhone. I don’t dispute the numb

Interesting that the author concludes his otherwise interesting observations by discussing the advanced processing power of the iPhone. I don’t dispute the numbers or the results, but when I want to do actual work, I choose my aged Linux laptop every time. The iPhone feels more like a thin client to someone else’s power.

dijit 5y ago
This is a limitation of the OS though. The CPUs are the fastest JavaScript rendering CPUs that exist at any power consumption point. I think that’s why people are so amped about the M1 (and getting Linux into it)
- Underphil 5y ago
  Yeah, agreed. Plus using the iPhone as a metric plays into the 'all that power is in your pocket now!' narrative.
- mr_toad 5y ago
  > This is a limitation of the OS though. And the form factor. It’s hard to do any serious work on a phone.
  - jeroenhd 5y ago
    That's true, but there have been several experiments with expanding the phone to a full desktop when you plug it into a monitor with the necessary USB ports. Apple won't ever support it, but several Android phones, Windows phones and Ubuntu phones do. The problem is usually software, either because of third party software not running or clunky first party support for adding a screen. With the power of a modern phone, all you really need is a monitor with a USB hub to turn it into a fully fledged PC. Sure, you won't be doing too much in the way of debugging code or editing video, but for most people it should be enough. It's not like the 4K screen on your phone has that fewer pixels than the 4K monitor you hook it up to. From what I can tell, you can run a usable desktop environment if you plug in a modern high-end Android device to a suitable monitor. Good enough for browsing the web, editing basic spreadsheets and doing homework, anyway. IMO this could be the ultimate tool for companies with loads of employees that don't do too complex work and get fancy company phones already. Even if you don't use the power of the phone directly, you could use a thin client app to save costs there. I think eventually someone will be able to make a business case out of it, but so far all attempts have failed. Sadly, my phone doesn't do DisplayPort out, so when I tested a standard laptop dock all it did was add a mouse cursor and a notification about the physical keyboard to my phone. I bought a midrange phone, though so that's kind of to be expected.

dijit 5y ago

This is a limitation of the OS though. The CPUs are the fastest JavaScript rendering CPUs that exist at any power consumption point. I think that’s why people are so amped about the M1 (and getting Linux into it)

Underphil 5y ago
Yeah, agreed. Plus using the iPhone as a metric plays into the 'all that power is in your pocket now!' narrative.
mr_toad 5y ago
> This is a limitation of the OS though. And the form factor. It’s hard to do any serious work on a phone.
- jeroenhd 5y ago
  That's true, but there have been several experiments with expanding the phone to a full desktop when you plug it into a monitor with the necessary USB ports. Apple won't ever support it, but several Android phones, Windows phones and Ubuntu phones do. The problem is usually software, either because of third party software not running or clunky first party support for adding a screen. With the power of a modern phone, all you really need is a monitor with a USB hub to turn it into a fully fledged PC. Sure, you won't be doing too much in the way of debugging code or editing video, but for most people it should be enough. It's not like the 4K screen on your phone has that fewer pixels than the 4K monitor you hook it up to. From what I can tell, you can run a usable desktop environment if you plug in a modern high-end Android device to a suitable monitor. Good enough for browsing the web, editing basic spreadsheets and doing homework, anyway. IMO this could be the ultimate tool for companies with loads of employees that don't do too complex work and get fancy company phones already. Even if you don't use the power of the phone directly, you could use a thin client app to save costs there. I think eventually someone will be able to make a business case out of it, but so far all attempts have failed. Sadly, my phone doesn't do DisplayPort out, so when I tested a standard laptop dock all it did was add a mouse cursor and a notification about the physical keyboard to my phone. I bought a midrange phone, though so that's kind of to be expected.