3 ms·

> the compute on a phone is now good enough to do most things most users do on desktop. Really, the compute on a phone has been good enough for at least a dec

> the compute on a phone is now good enough to do most things most users do on desktop. Really, the compute on a phone has been good enough for at least a decade now once we got USB C. We're still largely doing on our phones and laptops the same things we were doing in 2005. I'm surprised it took this long I'm happy this is becoming a real thing. I hope they'll also allow the phone's screen to be used like a trackpad. It wouldn't be ideal, but there's no reason the touchscreen can't be a fully featured input device. I'm fully agreed with you on the wasted processing power-- I think we'll eventually head toward a model of having one computing device with a number of thin clients which are locally connected.

bsimpson 1y ago
This concept has been floating around for a long time. I think Motorola was pitching it in 2012, and I'm sure confidential concepts in the same vein have been tried in the labs of most of the big players.
fc417fc802 1y ago
> I hope they'll also allow the phone's screen to be used like a trackpad. It wouldn't be ideal, but there's no reason the touchscreen can't be a fully featured input device. I might have misunderstood but do you mean as an input device attached to your desktop computer? Kdeconnect has made that available for quite some time out of the box. (Although it's been a long time since I used it and when I tested it just now apparently I've somehow managed to break the input processing half of the software on my desktop in the interim.)
- lynndotpy 1y ago
  Yes! I enjoy KDEConnect a lot for that :) With the phone being the computer, the latency can probably be made low enough that it just feels like a proper touchpad
627467 1y ago
Last time I used DeX you phone does become a TouchPad for the desktop when plugged to a monitor
- lynndotpy 1y ago
  :D I avoid Samsung products but I'm happy that at least exists. I hope it's not patented, and Google is both able to put the same thing into Android, and that it's available in AOSP
- wkat4242 1y ago
  Yes it can, it can also become a keyboard in fact. One thing I'm kinda missing is that it doesn't seem to be able to become both at the same time on a system that has the screen space for that. Like a tablet or Z Fold series.
eru 1y ago
> We're still largely doing on our phones and laptops the same things we were doing in 2005. I'm surprised it took this long Approximately no-one was watching 4k feature-length videos on their phones in 2005, or playing ray traced 3d games on their laptops. Sending plain text messages is pretty much the same as back then, yes. But these days I'm also taking high resolution photos and videos and share those with others via my phone. > I hope they'll also allow the phone's screen to be used like a trackpad. Samsung's DeX already does that. > I'm fully agreed with you on the wasted processing power-- I think we'll eventually head toward a model of having one computing device with a number of thin clients which are locally connected. Your own 'good enough' logic already suggests otherwise? Processors are still getting cheap and better, so why not just duplicate them? Instead of having a dumb large screen (and keyboard) that you plug your phone into, it's not much extra cost to add some processing power to that screen, and make it a full desktop pc. If we are getting to 'thin client' world, it'll be because of 'cloud', not because of connecting to our phones. Even today, most of what people do on their desktops can be done in the browser. So we likely see more of that.
- wkat4242 1y ago
  > Approximately no-one was watching 4k feature-length videos on their phones in 2005, or playing ray traced 3d games on their laptops. Do people really do this now? Watching a movie on my phone is so suboptimal I'd only consider it if I really have no other option. Holding it up for 2 hours, being stuck with that tiny screen, brrr. I can imagine doing it on a plane ride when I'm not really interested in the movie and am just doing it to waste some time. But when it's a movie I'm really looking forward to, I'd want to really experience it. A VR headset does help here but a mobile device doesn't.
  - kungito 1y ago
    you position it vertically against something in bed and keep it close enough (half a meter) so that its practically same size as tv which is 4-5 meters away and you enjoy the pixels. i love doing this few times a week when im going to sleep or just chilling

bsimpson 1y ago

This concept has been floating around for a long time. I think Motorola was pitching it in 2012, and I'm sure confidential concepts in the same vein have been tried in the labs of most of the big players.

fc417fc802 1y ago

> I hope they'll also allow the phone's screen to be used like a trackpad. It wouldn't be ideal, but there's no reason the touchscreen can't be a fully featured input device. I might have misunderstood but do you mean as an input device attached to your desktop computer? Kdeconnect has made that available for quite some time out of the box. (Although it's been a long time since I used it and when I tested it just now apparently I've somehow managed to break the input processing half of the software on my desktop in the interim.)

lynndotpy 1y ago
Yes! I enjoy KDEConnect a lot for that :) With the phone being the computer, the latency can probably be made low enough that it just feels like a proper touchpad

627467 1y ago

Last time I used DeX you phone does become a TouchPad for the desktop when plugged to a monitor

lynndotpy 1y ago
:D I avoid Samsung products but I'm happy that at least exists. I hope it's not patented, and Google is both able to put the same thing into Android, and that it's available in AOSP
wkat4242 1y ago
Yes it can, it can also become a keyboard in fact. One thing I'm kinda missing is that it doesn't seem to be able to become both at the same time on a system that has the screen space for that. Like a tablet or Z Fold series.

eru 1y ago

> We're still largely doing on our phones and laptops the same things we were doing in 2005. I'm surprised it took this long Approximately no-one was watching 4k feature-length videos on their phones in 2005, or playing ray traced 3d games on their laptops. Sending plain text messages is pretty much the same as back then, yes. But these days I'm also taking high resolution photos and videos and share those with others via my phone. > I hope they'll also allow the phone's screen to be used like a trackpad. Samsung's DeX already does that. > I'm fully agreed with you on the wasted processing power-- I think we'll eventually head toward a model of having one computing device with a number of thin clients which are locally connected. Your own 'good enough' logic already suggests otherwise? Processors are still getting cheap and better, so why not just duplicate them? Instead of having a dumb large screen (and keyboard) that you plug your phone into, it's not much extra cost to add some processing power to that screen, and make it a full desktop pc. If we are getting to 'thin client' world, it'll be because of 'cloud', not because of connecting to our phones. Even today, most of what people do on their desktops can be done in the browser. So we likely see more of that.

wkat4242 1y ago
> Approximately no-one was watching 4k feature-length videos on their phones in 2005, or playing ray traced 3d games on their laptops. Do people really do this now? Watching a movie on my phone is so suboptimal I'd only consider it if I really have no other option. Holding it up for 2 hours, being stuck with that tiny screen, brrr. I can imagine doing it on a plane ride when I'm not really interested in the movie and am just doing it to waste some time. But when it's a movie I'm really looking forward to, I'd want to really experience it. A VR headset does help here but a mobile device doesn't.
- kungito 1y ago
  you position it vertically against something in bed and keep it close enough (half a meter) so that its practically same size as tv which is 4-5 meters away and you enjoy the pixels. i love doing this few times a week when im going to sleep or just chilling