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Comment by kev6168 | Hacker News Reader

Just the other day I was thinking it would be nice if a cell phone can fire up multiple normal OSs (i.e., desktop Linux/Windows/OSX), so at hotel/library/friend's home/etc., one can pull it out of pocket, connect to a display and hack away.

I wonder when we can have that level of power and convenience in our regular phones.

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Continuum as well by Microsoft

Reference: http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8560195/microsoft-continuum...

this year, bq + ubuntu will launch a phone that does just that http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/06/first-ubuntu-phone-with-c...

That's not so much a computing power limitation but a limitation imposed by the manufacturers on what you can run. The Nokia N900 had Linux running on it in 2010.

If you're one of the lucky few with an Ubuntu phone, you can do this as well.

> The Nokia N900 had Linux running on it in 2010

True, but it depends on what you want to do with it. I can run Linux on an Intel Edison board (did some Python and C++ programming on one last weekend), but I wouldn't dare to try to write code on anything heavier than vim.

I am not familiar with the specs of these phones. Does the Ubuntu phone (or its near future upgrades) has the capacity to _comfortably_ run, say, IntelliJ IDEA and make writing/compiling code a tolerable experience? That would be very nice.

Wouldn't you need a keyboard too? Might as well just bring an Air at that point

Different strokes/folks. You would need a keyboard, but if it had/has bluetooth support, you could just get one of those fold-able keyboards. It'd take less space and be extremely cheap in comparison to the Air, which might be a huge factor for some people.

When everyone's cell phone has that amount of power and can function as a PC, it's likely many places (hotels, airport, cafe, offices) will try to accommodate them by providing lots of display/keyboard sets.

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