Can the iPhone Replace Your Laptop? | Hacker News Reader

Can the iPhone Replace Your Laptop?

theiphoneblog.com

22 pointstheforay26 comments

can object x replace object y is dependent on what you do with object x. To replace a laptop with a phone is only possible if you do not have to do those things that a laptop is reasonably good at, displaying things on a larger screen and any amount of data entry.

If the answers are 'no' to both, in other words you only do stuff that you'd be happy to look at through a phones reduced display and do not do any significant data entry then the answer is 'possibly', but you'd still have to at least try it before you make the switch on a permanent basis.

Personally - as a software developer - I already find a laptop with its sub-size keyboard and screen a very limiting environment, I only use it for the most urgent stuff (using a 3G modem), anything else can wait until I'm behind a decent screen & keyboard.

Hey! Your comment is the same length as this "post"!

I'm pretty sure, "Can an iPhone replace your laptop?" is a question I am capable of asking and answering for myself. I really don't see the point in this.

I'm pretty sure the post was asking that question, not answering it, the goal being to find out how many people say yes and their reasons why.

Boiling it down to "10 reasons you can use an iphone instead of a laptop" would be stupid. But asking people what their 10 reasons are? I don't think so.

As to the point, I think the trend is interesting. As smart phones become more powerful/ubiquitous, less people will take laptops on short trips. Then more apps become optimized for phones, meaning there's less reason to take a laptop, meaning more phones, meaning more apps. I've found the iphone version of some websites easier to use and navigate than the desktop version.

Hey, you could theoretically use your iphone to replace a hammer or a paperweight too...

let's see:

- reading news ? probably yes

- reading mail ? probably yes

- writing mail ? yes, unless it is a longer email

- sysadmin tasks ? no, unless you have absolutely no other option (and it will probably take a lot longer than it would on a normal screen & keyboard)

  (though it seems to work to a poster below here)

- general browsing ? unless a website is made with mobiles in mind probably not, or a limited subset of sites

- software development ? no (at least, I can't see how you'd do that)

Any other tasks ?

I have entirely switched to my laptop, but when I'm at home, I hook it up to my larger monitor and keyboard. My prediction is that mobile devices will actually fill this niche, allowing you to consolidate to one computer, but effectively hook up to a more comfortable setup at home.

Desktops will still exist, if only because they will provide the latest and greatest technology, but for people who don't need the horsepower, a mobile device should work just fine. Laptops almost strike me as the worst of both worlds: crippled hardware due to form factor, but still too big to comfortably carry for most of the day.

That's your laptop. ;)

For example, an x200 or x200s can comfortably give you computing power with a decent dualcore processor while weighing under 3 lbs. Obviously, you can't carry it in your pocket, but it's just about as portable as a frisbee. "Too big to carry around for most of the day" no longer applies with a laptop like that.

Sorry, by "too big to carry around for most of the day", I basically meant in my pocket. My laptop is fine for carrying around if I know I will want my laptop, but my phone comes with me regardless. I can't imagine taking a laptop to a party or out to dinner, but I do this all the time with my phone. As such, I interact with it in a totally different way, and it allows me a huge amount of freedom.

There are certainly a lot of computers out there that are no hassle to carry for most of the day, but it's still a conscious choice. It seems to me that the final barrier is the decision to carry it everywhere, not just anywhere.

I fully expect an iphone version 8 which docks into a dumb terminal, and runs the same apps as when mobile, with the same data. So you have mobile-text editor, dock, and you get OSX (OS11?) with a full screen that we're used to for desktop text entry. Undock and your data is all still there as well, with an interface optimized for mobile reading & edits.

there's a cool idea!

Now let's hope some of the folks at apple read this.

No, it is a Swiss army knife. I love my first generation iPhone - it allows me to occupy myself for a finite, battery and/or attention-bounded amount of time when stuck in line, on the train, bored at a work event. But sometimes you need a real chef's knife for real tasks. Like coding

For the past few months I’ve been having trouble with my laptop, so I’ve had to fall back on my first-gen iPhone as my main computer.

While it’s capable of quite a lot, it is not a substitute for a real computer and I don’t think anything in its form factor ever could be—primarily due to the small screen inherent to mobile phones. The iPhone’s way of zooming in on text blocks is certainly helpful, and better than the ‘dumbphone‘ method of showing a few dozen characters per screen, but it’s a less than ideal way to read anything of length.

Let’s get to work on those holographic displays.

I've only had my iPhone since the 3GS launched (so barely two full weeks) but I've already stopped taking my laptop with me when I work out of town.

I used to lug my laptop around as more of a precautionary measure and not out of necessity. But with decent SSH, FTP and other "sys admin" apps available for the iPhone my laptop is now collecting dust in a closet.

Yes. I know this because my wife's cousin, who is 12, said he wanted an iPod touch for Christmas because it can do everything a laptop does: facebook, IM, etc. I was floored when I heard that and it hit it home for me how big iPhone devices will be in the future.

I can't type for shit on my iPhone touch because the keys are too tiny for my fingers. So no.

Yeah, if they make the keyboard and screen as big as my laptop's keyboard and screen. I can't see doing any type of serious development on an iPhone.

I think the iPhone could definitely replace a laptop for me, since I already use a desktop Mac for the heavy lifting stuff development and editing films.

For me the keyboard is the only missing piece.

I had a Palm Zire and a fold-up Targus keyboard and that satisfied my mobile needs for quite awhile (until some idiot stole it out of my car, probably thinking it was an iPod...).

The iphone can replace a laptop if it resolves/provides the following features:

- docking station to connect to larger screen/kb/hd

- enables flash

- integrates with more email providers

- provides 4G

- comes with tactile keyboard

- longer battery life

- works with multiple mobile carriers

All of the above seems feasible by the 3rd of 4th generation of iphone.

Yes. I have an Android phone, and have been running around, meetings/interviews, writing emails, browsing the web, maps, etc. non stop. And I never missed my laptop.

I have a desktop at home though, to do real work, but while on the go, the Android has been fantastic. You can do almost everything you can with a normal computer.

I hope so, at least for a few days, because the hard drive on my MacBook just went sour.

Until I can hook my iphone up to some sort of pocket projector, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I'll be lugging (ha, it's only 4lbs) my laptop around with me.

http://www.phonesuit.com/products/MiLi_Pro_iPhone_iPod_Video...

At least the projector is in the works.

an android might...

The hardware keyboard on the G1 goes some way toward this from where iPhones are, but it's still not really useful for typing on (actually, I got a G1 last year after trying to type on an EEE and finding that my fingers and/or hands were too big to do that, so I might as well get a phone in the same device).

There are a bunch of "ultra mobile pc" devices like the OQO that are probably a better fit, especially since some of them have 3G/EDGE, and you can use Skype to replace your cellphone with them.

I think he was hinting at the fact that Android powered netbooks are on the horizon. But I guess at that point it's still a laptop. Maybe someone will make an Android phone with a MiniDVI port so it can have a usable screen and bluetooth keyboard/mouse.

No.

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