Will the Smart Phone take the place of your desktop or laptop

[colin4unow]

Hi All. For my first post I ask the question. Will the smart phone ever take the place of the home computer as we know it ie desktop/laptop.

With most service providers now doing unlimited internet and our phones capable of anything ie email, text, facebook, twitter, sell and buy stuff on ebay, watching movies, TV the list goes on and on. Why do we need our home computers ?

I believe the home computer is on its way out, yes we will need the computer in industry, banks, stock control etc ie for business use but for the home market its doomed.

What do you think and why.

 

[SoFLO]

I don't see it replacing the home desktop but rather complimenting it. I'm getting my HTC EVO 4G and it's going to be great when I go back to college. I don't have to lug around my laptop anymore just to check email or get started on an essay by noting some main points that I want to make or taking notes at the library. However to finish an essay I still need a desktop or laptop. I also need a desktop/laptop to access my classes and do assignments online.

Many people in the home market don't just surf eBay. Picture editing in Photoshop, movie editing in Vegas, music editing in Soundbooth, etc. We all like to do different things that just simply can't be done on a phone with a small screen. I do think regular ISPs could be hurting in the future though with hotspot and tethering.

Also welcome to AF!

 

[sontaikle]

No but it can certainly supplement it.

I don't know if I'll be bringing my laptop to grad school since my classes are all back to back and I don't really care for typing my notes while in class (can't doodle). I'd really just be running home after class anyway. My Incredible can fill in for smaller important tasks like checking email, etc. which would save me the effort of bringing in my laptop, using my larger bag, things like that.

When I was in undergrad though, I don't think I would have been able to ONLY use my phone (didn't have a smartphone then anyway!) as I had some gaps between classes where I was able to get work done. It was great to NOT rely on the library computers because depending on the time of day they were all generally taken. I really NEEDED my laptop then, otherwise I'd be wasting that time waiting for a computer or just not utilizing it at all.

 

[mkeath]

No but it can certainly supplement it.

I don't know if I'll be bringing my laptop to grad school since my classes are all back to back and I don't really care for typing my notes while in class (can't doodle). I'd really just be running home after class anyway. My Incredible can fill in for smaller important tasks like checking email, etc. which would save me the effort of bringing in my laptop, using my larger bag, things like that.

When I was in undergrad though, I don't think I would have been able to ONLY use my phone (didn't have a smartphone then anyway!) as I had some gaps between classes where I was able to get work done. It was great to NOT rely on the library computers because depending on the time of day they were all generally taken. I really NEEDED my laptop then, otherwise I'd be wasting that time waiting for a computer or just not utilizing it at all.

If cell phones somehow replace standalone computers, I will renounce technology and live in the woods naked. Short answer is no.

 

[Zenze]

The main reason I don't see it happening is size. A bigger screen is needed for many many things, also a bigger keyboard is big advantage.

This an interesting perspective:


Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together: Part 5

 

[grainysand]

Simple answer: no.

Even apart from the day-to-day business use (no matter how fast you can type on a phone, it'll never be as fast as a real full-size keyboard), there's gaming. Can a phone, any phone, run Assassin's Creed 2? No? Well then. Watching movies? AMOLED is bright and vibrant but... ultimately, you're watching it on a screen no larger than 4 inches (assuming you've got a Samsung Galaxy S).

On the other hand, I desperately wish I had my N1 at university. The aforementioned note-taking, or even scanning a PDF of a page from a book (instead of joining the photocopying queue, ugh!), or keeping myself organized (oh, the missed tutorials) and so on. It'd have been a great help and done things my laptop simply couldn't do/was not sufficiently mobile to do.

 

[Isthmus]

ah, NO. It's simple you can pack a lot more, higher end hardware if you are not restricted by space and power requirements. While I suspect that tablet devices will grow in power and usability and ultimately give laptops some serious competition as practical devices to use while on the move, I don't see them affecting the main home computer. it will be a compliment to it, but not a replacement.

I think smartphones will also become compliments to both and should evolve to become considerably more powerful than they are now.

 

[dpatrickv]

I'm a gamer, so no. A cell phone will never take the place of my desktop.

 

[IOWA]

Way for SJ to throw in the "iPhone" comment.

MS needs to bring back Bill Gates. It's been all down hill since Balmer took the reins

 

[mrqs]

i'm surprised that i'm the first one to say yes, apart from (non-casual-) gaming, i see absolutely no reason why a smartphone couldn't replace your home computer

i see comments about how you need a bigger screen and a proper keyboard to do anything serious and i absolutely agree
but those are accessories; they do not define a desktop computer - that big grey box on your table is the computer
you can connect a bluetooth keyboard to a modern smartphone and you can use your bigass tv on it via hdmi

the phone's processing power is quickly growing towards what the average user would need for anything they do on their comp (save for gaming)

it's considered a convenience to sync your phone with your computer via the cloud, but i'd say it'd be much more convenient if they were one and the same

 

[Hangdog42]

I'm giving a qualified no. The qualification is that the form factor for phones prohibits a number of tasks. My Droid has replaced my netbook to a large extent. For email and light web work, a smartphone has the horsepower. Even for bigger tasks like word processing or light graphics work, smartphones are close to having the horsepower, but the form factor is all wrong.

What would kill netbooks and maybe even laptops? A small, highly portable, docking station for a smartphone that would provide a real keyboard and bigger screen. And potentially extra memory and disk space. Think of a netbook that you slide your smartphone into when needed. You could even scale that up to a non-portable size for home/office use. The phones probably have a bit farther to go in terms of CPU power, but not much.

 

[MuerteMan]

It will not replace it. My while I use my droid for text email etc, I don't use it because its better, I use it cause I'm not at a PC. A 3.x or 4.x inch screen will never be able to replace a 22 inch monitor in terms of ease of use. Also, I cannot ever image writing a paper or a powerpoint or anything similar to that on a small screen. Smart Phones and computers are going to synergize more and more with cloud services etc, but one will not beat out the other.

 

[Piiman]

Steve Jobs says the iPad is going to replace those devices so don't even think about it!

 

[sifi]

The laptop will be king for a long time to come.

Screen and keyboard are the major factors for me. Yes you can buy accessories and link to your tv, but then you can't watch your tv!

I will write a short email on my phone, but for anything more I will always fire up the pc.

The ipad will never replace the laptop either. The keyboard is the key factor and NO USB!!!!!

 

[jasperwill]

you can buy a small tv (monitor) for your smartphone computer. (you dont have to use the "bigass" one)

the thing is that i use my desktop for alot more than my phone.
i have my desktop setup as a file server, movie transcoder (send movies to ps3 over network),torrent server, and i play games on it.

these are all things that i want to do while i am able to use my phone for calling people (being the main point)
i guess eventually you could make the point that i could do all these things at once and massively multitask my one device. but i dont think i want one device doing everything for me. one of the major downfalls of a laptop or all in one desktop (some macs) is that if 1 thing fails then the whole computer must be sent in for repairs (or repaired by me) before i can use it anymore.

if my 1 device that did everything went down and i couldnt make phone calls because my hard drive stopped working it would be a disaster.

---------------------------
that being said i used to use a laptop for most of my work, now i use my phone for my email, small web browsing, games on the go, ect.
i only use my desktop for the processor/screen size intensive things now (mentioned above)

 

[zerocore]

I'm going to say yes and no. Yes because a lot of what you can and want to do on a computer like surf the web, email and other mundane computer tasks that don't require heavy computing power will be done on the phone (which is 75% of your computer time). I find myself never using my laptop at home except when I want to play video games or chat on IRC (yes I'm a real geek). So a lot of eyes will be taken away from the computer.

I say no in the end because typing on a phone is a real challenge considering I can type about 100 wpm. What takes me seconds to type on a real keyboard takes minutes on a phone, even with a physical keyboard. Plus with gaming and work, you can't do all that stuff on a phone.

I do think that the iPad and the coming tablets will take away from a lot of laptops but until they beef it up, that won't happen. I have an iPad and I love it, reading on the couch, outside with a flick of a thumb is the best. Once they have power and docks for keyboards laptops are done. Also, mark me down, all-in-one touch computer/monitors will be the next desktop. They are awesome!