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> The use case isn’t that clear to me. Perhaps a photographer, for a phone with a couple of TB of SSD. IMO, eventually, phones will replace low end desktop/lap

> The use case isn’t that clear to me. Perhaps a photographer, for a phone with a couple of TB of SSD. IMO, eventually, phones will replace low end desktop/laptop computers. Someone (probably Apple, since their CPUs are head and shoulders above the competition) will have to do the work of designing a mode switching UI, but once that's done, they'll really be able to cut into desktop volume. I'm sure the early devices will be... awkward to use - mostly limited to the browser[1]. But after a few iterations, I'm sure it'll mature into something that can stand on its own. No idea when it'll happen, but I do think that economics will push it into being sooner or later. --- 1. Presumably people would also be able to use other phone apps, but a lot of those look weird when scaled up. And transiting from touch to mouse/trackpad is not straightforward.

gumby 3y ago
I disagree … or maybe I don’t. The trivial way I disagree is that I believe people don’t want this: they want to be able to use their phone while “computing”. Perhaps AirPods are enough for that (use Siri to make a call while otherwise mousing) and thus I’m wrong. The big way I disagree is that the phone is already many people’s only internet terminal and and for most has taken over almost all uses of a “computer”. Even I use my bank’s phone app when sitting in front of my computer because it has features the web interface doesn’t.
matwood 3y ago
There's a bit of this version of the future in the iPad. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and plug into a 5k monitor. It shouldn't be hard to open it up on the phone (along with the basic window management). It's also not really new, and has been tried many times in the past. I do think we finally have all the requisite technology in place though. BT peripherals mostly work, phones CPUs are powerful, phone apps are plentiful, etc...
- nordsieck 3y ago
  > It's also not really new, and has been tried many times in the past. The trouble with the future is that, even if you know that it's inevitable, you may be too early for that to matter. There are a huge number of dot com busts that later became successes (different company, though) because we have the needed technology today.
detourdog 3y ago
Before everyone went cloud crazy I thought everyone would have a "data furnace" in their basement with little interactive tablets. I still think that is true and will eventually be building my own on a Mac Pro. I will be combine various sources into a single context that will represent the building. VisionOS has changed a lot of my thinking. I would like to be able to access the hand-tracking separate from goggles.

gumby 3y ago

I disagree … or maybe I don’t. The trivial way I disagree is that I believe people don’t want this: they want to be able to use their phone while “computing”. Perhaps AirPods are enough for that (use Siri to make a call while otherwise mousing) and thus I’m wrong. The big way I disagree is that the phone is already many people’s only internet terminal and and for most has taken over almost all uses of a “computer”. Even I use my bank’s phone app when sitting in front of my computer because it has features the web interface doesn’t.

matwood 3y ago

There's a bit of this version of the future in the iPad. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and plug into a 5k monitor. It shouldn't be hard to open it up on the phone (along with the basic window management). It's also not really new, and has been tried many times in the past. I do think we finally have all the requisite technology in place though. BT peripherals mostly work, phones CPUs are powerful, phone apps are plentiful, etc...

nordsieck 3y ago
> It's also not really new, and has been tried many times in the past. The trouble with the future is that, even if you know that it's inevitable, you may be too early for that to matter. There are a huge number of dot com busts that later became successes (different company, though) because we have the needed technology today.

detourdog 3y ago

Before everyone went cloud crazy I thought everyone would have a "data furnace" in their basement with little interactive tablets. I still think that is true and will eventually be building my own on a Mac Pro. I will be combine various sources into a single context that will represent the building. VisionOS has changed a lot of my thinking. I would like to be able to access the hand-tracking separate from goggles.