5 ms·

The sad thing about phones being he primary (and in many case the only) computing devices for most people is that they lose the possibility of separating the ta

by wrxd 3mo ago

The sad thing about phones being he primary (and in many case the only) computing devices for most people is that they lose the possibility of separating the tasks that the do on the phone vs the tasks that they do on a computer.

hnlmorg 3mo ago
That’s the entire point of why people use a smartphone as their primary device: they don’t want the hassle of having to use a computer. And for normal people (ie not the readership of HN), using a computer is a chore.
- Cthulhu_ 3mo ago
  I agree that it can be a chore, but more like, I'll use a real computer for serious tasks like doing my taxes, administration, planning vacations, etc.
  - aidanbeck 3mo ago
    This is still the case for non-techie Millennials and older. But for the younger generations who might have grown up with a smartphone as their only personal device, the distinction of task importance determining the platform has disappeared.
    - hnlmorg 3mo ago
      Is it just the younger generation? I’ve seen all generations favour their phone over a laptop for anything that needs to be done online. Which is basically everything.
      - mhurron 3mo ago
        Of course they do, it is one device that is convenient to use and does everything they need it to. Most people really do not need the dedicated device, whether it's a laptop or desktop, to use the Internet they way they want to.
        hnlmorg 3mo ago
        You’re just reiterating what I said
      - aidanbeck 3mo ago
        Everyone is gravitating to the phone, but habit is an enduring force. Some people will always use a computer for specific tasks as they learned for the rest of their life. I think most of us are in that camp.
        hnlmorg 3mo ago
        Yes, but most of us are not typical users of technology. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719107
  - hnlmorg 3mo ago
    But if you aren’t technical and everything is done online, then it’s easier for non-techies to do it on their phone.
- jjkaczor 3mo ago
  Yeah, normal people look at me funny when I am "out and about" and they want me to do something on a random website and my reply is: "naw, I will look at that when I am back at a real computer".... I have had every type of computing device, including pre-smart phone PDA's, and ultimately when I need to do something that isn't mediated by an "app", I will always gravitate towards doing it on an actual computer. Now - while I do prefer a laptop as my primary machine - it is essentially a desktop, as I typically use it 90% of the time attached to either a dock at home or the office, with external screens, keyboard and mouse. (Heck - my latest machine only gets about 75m of battery life... it is more a luggable than a "work-at-the-beach" kind of machine (i9, lots of ram, etc.) - and I am perfectly happy with that arrangement)
matheusmoreira 3mo ago
Smartphones are computers. There's no difference between what you can do in a "real" computer and what you can do on a smartphone. I wrote an entire programming language inside my Android phone with Termux. Perhaps the first language to be born inside a mobile phone. Any limitations on smartphones are either ergonomic or entirely artificial.
- echoangle 3mo ago
  Technically true but practically you know what people mean when they say that, right? Do you think there’s a 3D artist out there that models and renders something in blender on a smartphone?
  - egypturnash 3mo ago
    Blender started working on this about a year ago (https://code.blender.org/2025/07/beyond-mouse-keyboard/ https://code.blender.org/2025/07/beyond-mouse-keyboard/) but it appears to be on hold for now (https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/142346?__cf_chl_f_tk=c91EDF405VfJLshY1kvQvJ7rE5d1ZwM0lGmrKXNuz28-1782776205-1.0.1.1-MoRdFldKYNXskspadaQzJUAfZuD26CkWjEAgnl64q.0 https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/142346?_...).
    - echoangle 3mo ago
      That’s the point, technically you’ll be able to do it but it doesn’t really make sense
- topgrain2 3mo ago
  > There's no difference between what you can do in a "real" computer and what you can do on a smartphone. In fact, it kind of runs the other way: even my "portable" "real" computer is terrible as, say, a camera, or level. It's a bad GPS navigation device, both due to the form factor and it's entirely lacking the hardware for it (technically they can have this, but very few do). There are lots of things my phone can do that even my laptop, let alone my desktop, practically can't.
- 3mo ago
ButlerianJihad 3mo ago
There is a weird dichotomy developing between tasks that can be done on a particular device. If a given app or property is "cross-platform" then I can install the Android version, and the PWA version or visit a website and access it on Chromebook. But they do not have feature parity. Now in the past, it was because the "desktop version" was more featureful/powerful due to the constrained resources of the mobile platform. This still holds true; even though mobile computing resources aren't constrained, the UI and display can be, somewhat. But also the mobile app may exhibit some features unavailable on "desktop"! Because of the nature of the sensors and secure platform, you can have sophisticated features available on your smartphone that aren't possible to replicate on any other platform. Nearly every built-in Google app is like this and if you read the documentation, you can easily see the differences. And of course there's the mobile-only apps that malfunction or refuse to install on Chromebook, like a ride share or something that's actually designed to be used "out and about" in meatspace. So there are many times when I am lying in bed, for example, phone in hand, and I attempt some task and realize that the features I want are only available on "desktop" version, and then I got to make a mental note to address that when I'm on "desktop". Or vice versa, I'm puttering away on the Chromebook and it balks at something I'll need to use my phone for. Or the worst-case scenario is when I need to have 2-3 devices all directly at hand to do some dumb thing like printing out a page! AUGH!

by wrxd 3mo ago

hnlmorg 3mo ago

That’s the entire point of why people use a smartphone as their primary device: they don’t want the hassle of having to use a computer. And for normal people (ie not the readership of HN), using a computer is a chore.

Cthulhu_ 3mo ago
I agree that it can be a chore, but more like, I'll use a real computer for serious tasks like doing my taxes, administration, planning vacations, etc.
- aidanbeck 3mo ago
  This is still the case for non-techie Millennials and older. But for the younger generations who might have grown up with a smartphone as their only personal device, the distinction of task importance determining the platform has disappeared.
  - hnlmorg 3mo ago
    Is it just the younger generation? I’ve seen all generations favour their phone over a laptop for anything that needs to be done online. Which is basically everything.
    - mhurron 3mo ago
      Of course they do, it is one device that is convenient to use and does everything they need it to. Most people really do not need the dedicated device, whether it's a laptop or desktop, to use the Internet they way they want to.
      - hnlmorg 3mo ago
        You’re just reiterating what I said
    - aidanbeck 3mo ago
      Everyone is gravitating to the phone, but habit is an enduring force. Some people will always use a computer for specific tasks as they learned for the rest of their life. I think most of us are in that camp.
      - hnlmorg 3mo ago
        Yes, but most of us are not typical users of technology. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719107
- hnlmorg 3mo ago
  But if you aren’t technical and everything is done online, then it’s easier for non-techies to do it on their phone.
jjkaczor 3mo ago
Yeah, normal people look at me funny when I am "out and about" and they want me to do something on a random website and my reply is: "naw, I will look at that when I am back at a real computer".... I have had every type of computing device, including pre-smart phone PDA's, and ultimately when I need to do something that isn't mediated by an "app", I will always gravitate towards doing it on an actual computer. Now - while I do prefer a laptop as my primary machine - it is essentially a desktop, as I typically use it 90% of the time attached to either a dock at home or the office, with external screens, keyboard and mouse. (Heck - my latest machine only gets about 75m of battery life... it is more a luggable than a "work-at-the-beach" kind of machine (i9, lots of ram, etc.) - and I am perfectly happy with that arrangement)

matheusmoreira 3mo ago

Smartphones are computers. There's no difference between what you can do in a "real" computer and what you can do on a smartphone. I wrote an entire programming language inside my Android phone with Termux. Perhaps the first language to be born inside a mobile phone. Any limitations on smartphones are either ergonomic or entirely artificial.

echoangle 3mo ago
Technically true but practically you know what people mean when they say that, right? Do you think there’s a 3D artist out there that models and renders something in blender on a smartphone?
- egypturnash 3mo ago
  Blender started working on this about a year ago (https://code.blender.org/2025/07/beyond-mouse-keyboard/ https://code.blender.org/2025/07/beyond-mouse-keyboard/) but it appears to be on hold for now (https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/142346?__cf_chl_f_tk=c91EDF405VfJLshY1kvQvJ7rE5d1ZwM0lGmrKXNuz28-1782776205-1.0.1.1-MoRdFldKYNXskspadaQzJUAfZuD26CkWjEAgnl64q.0 https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/142346?_...).
  - echoangle 3mo ago
    That’s the point, technically you’ll be able to do it but it doesn’t really make sense
topgrain2 3mo ago
> There's no difference between what you can do in a "real" computer and what you can do on a smartphone. In fact, it kind of runs the other way: even my "portable" "real" computer is terrible as, say, a camera, or level. It's a bad GPS navigation device, both due to the form factor and it's entirely lacking the hardware for it (technically they can have this, but very few do). There are lots of things my phone can do that even my laptop, let alone my desktop, practically can't.
3mo ago

ButlerianJihad 3mo ago

There is a weird dichotomy developing between tasks that can be done on a particular device. If a given app or property is "cross-platform" then I can install the Android version, and the PWA version or visit a website and access it on Chromebook. But they do not have feature parity. Now in the past, it was because the "desktop version" was more featureful/powerful due to the constrained resources of the mobile platform. This still holds true; even though mobile computing resources aren't constrained, the UI and display can be, somewhat. But also the mobile app may exhibit some features unavailable on "desktop"! Because of the nature of the sensors and secure platform, you can have sophisticated features available on your smartphone that aren't possible to replicate on any other platform. Nearly every built-in Google app is like this and if you read the documentation, you can easily see the differences. And of course there's the mobile-only apps that malfunction or refuse to install on Chromebook, like a ride share or something that's actually designed to be used "out and about" in meatspace. So there are many times when I am lying in bed, for example, phone in hand, and I attempt some task and realize that the features I want are only available on "desktop" version, and then I got to make a mental note to address that when I'm on "desktop". Or vice versa, I'm puttering away on the Chromebook and it balks at something I'll need to use my phone for. Or the worst-case scenario is when I need to have 2-3 devices all directly at hand to do some dumb thing like printing out a page! AUGH!