3 ms·

It is only a matter of time before someone sells a "docking station" for smartphones with HDMI outputs to a monitor and a keyboard/mouse setup as a replacement

It is only a matter of time before someone sells a "docking station" for smartphones with HDMI outputs to a monitor and a keyboard/mouse setup as a replacement for a desktop. (if it doesn't exist already)

colechristensen 12y ago
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Lapdock-500-Pro-Smartphones/dp/B006291NXG http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Lapdock-500-Pro-Smartphones/d... I give you, the recent past! I used one once, the experience was underwhelming. It could have been good (my phone had more than enough power to run a lightweight linux window manager and web browser pretty well, the android software just wasn't very polished) And it's untimely death http://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-confirms-death-of-webtop-laptop-accessories/ http://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-confirms-death-of-webtop-l... http://www.androidcentral.com/tag/webtop http://www.androidcentral.com/tag/webtop
- wernercd 12y ago
  The Motorola was doomed from the start, IMO. Take a phone - which to all extents is relatively locked down. Add a Linux operating system - in which people don't know. What you mean I can't use Office 2007? Further restrict the OS - even if you know how to get around, odds are you can't just install the stuff you want inside the Motorola garden. Then to put the nail in the coffin... Make all the accessories overpriced. What you mean, I just signed years of my life away, paid a few hundred and still have to pay $300 for a lapdock (That runs a gutted OS)? The idea is great... but beat to death by a corporation trying to lock down and monetize every piece. Just my opinion.
- magicalist 12y ago
  I wonder if it would be better now that mobile GPUs are pushing as many (or more) pixels as desktop screens have. I agree the software is the problem and still probably not there yet, and it's unlikely any company is going to put the development resources into it needed to get it right. The solution is (maybe) to go commodity for everything. Maybe a partition on your phone with ubuntu on it and just boot into a different OS when you dock? You'd need it to boot fast, and you'd probably want to share files between desktop-mode and phone-mode, which is going to be difficult. Hardware-wise, screw the laptop form factor and just go for the monitor/keyboard/mouse that many many people already have in their house. The only hardware you sell is a cord splitter that plugs into the phone and triggers a fast OS switch when you plug it in. ChromeOS might work ok, too, if you're ok with just a browser; it could be just a little Chromebox already built and ready.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    I think Windows 8 was a step in the right direction, where different user interfaces run on top of the same system. The various cloud sync services are also making small steps towards a future where you are using the same software system from a variety of devices (with the system making appropriate accommodations for the devices in use).
eloisant 12y ago
That's been done (Motorola, ASUS...), but people don't buy them. Unless you're on a really tight budget, there's no point in having a device with no less bulk than a small laptop but that becomes useless without your phone docked inside, and obviously not as good as a laptop (ARM, Android vs a desktop OS).
hyp0 12y ago
I do all my browsing and coding on a phone + bluetooth keyboard. It's inconvenient in some ways, but still more conveninent than my desktop. Phones may replace desktops more surreptiously, in the way that laptop HDD form-factors inflitrated desktops. We may get a "desktop", that looks like and behaves like a desktop (including software), but whose innards is technology borrowed from phones. ARM, cell network, etc. The keys: it's powerful enough and it's cheap.

colechristensen 12y ago

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Lapdock-500-Pro-Smartphones/dp/B006291NXG http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Lapdock-500-Pro-Smartphones/d... I give you, the recent past! I used one once, the experience was underwhelming. It could have been good (my phone had more than enough power to run a lightweight linux window manager and web browser pretty well, the android software just wasn't very polished) And it's untimely death http://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-confirms-death-of-webtop-laptop-accessories/ http://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-confirms-death-of-webtop-l... http://www.androidcentral.com/tag/webtop http://www.androidcentral.com/tag/webtop

wernercd 12y ago
The Motorola was doomed from the start, IMO. Take a phone - which to all extents is relatively locked down. Add a Linux operating system - in which people don't know. What you mean I can't use Office 2007? Further restrict the OS - even if you know how to get around, odds are you can't just install the stuff you want inside the Motorola garden. Then to put the nail in the coffin... Make all the accessories overpriced. What you mean, I just signed years of my life away, paid a few hundred and still have to pay $300 for a lapdock (That runs a gutted OS)? The idea is great... but beat to death by a corporation trying to lock down and monetize every piece. Just my opinion.
magicalist 12y ago
I wonder if it would be better now that mobile GPUs are pushing as many (or more) pixels as desktop screens have. I agree the software is the problem and still probably not there yet, and it's unlikely any company is going to put the development resources into it needed to get it right. The solution is (maybe) to go commodity for everything. Maybe a partition on your phone with ubuntu on it and just boot into a different OS when you dock? You'd need it to boot fast, and you'd probably want to share files between desktop-mode and phone-mode, which is going to be difficult. Hardware-wise, screw the laptop form factor and just go for the monitor/keyboard/mouse that many many people already have in their house. The only hardware you sell is a cord splitter that plugs into the phone and triggers a fast OS switch when you plug it in. ChromeOS might work ok, too, if you're ok with just a browser; it could be just a little Chromebox already built and ready.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  I think Windows 8 was a step in the right direction, where different user interfaces run on top of the same system. The various cloud sync services are also making small steps towards a future where you are using the same software system from a variety of devices (with the system making appropriate accommodations for the devices in use).

eloisant 12y ago

That's been done (Motorola, ASUS...), but people don't buy them. Unless you're on a really tight budget, there's no point in having a device with no less bulk than a small laptop but that becomes useless without your phone docked inside, and obviously not as good as a laptop (ARM, Android vs a desktop OS).

hyp0 12y ago

I do all my browsing and coding on a phone + bluetooth keyboard. It's inconvenient in some ways, but still more conveninent than my desktop. Phones may replace desktops more surreptiously, in the way that laptop HDD form-factors inflitrated desktops. We may get a "desktop", that looks like and behaves like a desktop (including software), but whose innards is technology borrowed from phones. ARM, cell network, etc. The keys: it's powerful enough and it's cheap.