Discussion on:

Utopian convergence of PC and mobile: How far away is it?

Get with the times! The new Motorola phone-computer is called the Photon:
http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Fact-Sheets/Motorola-PHOTON-4G-Fact-Sheet-36f3.aspx

It's an amazingly powerful phone but I am not impressed with the computer experience. It's WebTop which is the next evolution of SplashTop. If you've never heard of it that's because it was what Google ChromeBook wants to be back before that was cool. It's basically a Linux environment that is only capable of surfing the web. Sure, it's got better file management and media sharing experience than a ChromeBook but it's not really as powerful as I would like.

So if you were thinking about getting a ChromeBook or an Atrix you should really look at the Photon first because it is both. Plus better hardware and better software. The web browser is FF4, BTW.

ASUS PadFone has them all beat. http://event.asus.com/mobile/padfone/
A tablet you plug your smartphone into.
ASUS has already shown some of it off and looking like a 2012 arrival.
Add the ability to dock like the transformer, make it a quad core and you have a potentially great all in one device.

Think this is more likely the "next gen"

I think you're on the right track with this one. Thinking of how I'd use this, I would want a phone by day with apps and browser. In the evening at home maybe read a book on a bigger screen. Having the phone insert in the back of the bigger screen means I still have access to all my apps, email, contacts, etc. At work I need a good laptop to get real work done. Thumbs up!

I think that the player best suited for this type of converged device will be a little company founded by some guys named Sergey and Larry. The hard part for them will be to find a hardware supplier and manufacturer. A marriage of the Chromebook and the Android OS is my prediction....
Who agrees?

Myself, like a lot of my consulting peers tend to scale our device use;
Small quick - smartphone
Small to mid tasks, travel use - tablet or UL
Mid to big tasks, or you need real estate - notebook or desktop

I have a Cr Book and it mostly sits. It was great for instant on Internet and similar tasks but has been replaced by the tablet.

Now if it's a touchscreen and can undock from the keyboard...
But wait! I have one... ASUS Transformer

hi, you are right on the small guy part, but we are trying our utmost to grow and get our products to the market based on our technology.

we design & develop a small handheld full OS Windows 7 microcomputer, that has the capability to make & receive phone calls, and wake up from incoming calls based on our patented technology. include hdmi out to a larger screen for desktop use.

you can check it out at www.advancetc.com

sorry if this is blatant advertisement but extremely relevant to the whole article.

many thanks!

You do remember that in the end time, the Bible says that without the mark on your hand or forehead you won't be able to do business anywhere. This would be the Anti-Christ's global economy. The ultimate convergence.

Still reading that tired compendium from the Bronze Age I see.

The Apocalypse, of which rcarrube was thinking, was written in the Iron Age.

Much as I would hope to eventually be able to converge on a single device, I won't bite until and unless the TSA gets reigned in, and can no longer search/confiscate electronic devices at border crossings without a warrant - and I don't mean a FISA warrant. I mean a REAL warrant, obtained from a real (not secret) judge.

Might a Chromebook with no local storage be a partial solution to this? Log out before crossing border and, should TSA be interested, the most they can do without your login is confiscate the hardware!

You are assuming that people would not keep login info on their person or use the obvious. Last I read, 85%+ do one or the other or both.

Odds are they can crack any cloudbased source if they want.

Assuming NSA can get access to cloud based anything (an assumption I think is likely true), this has nothing to do with the confiscation/search problems at border crossings. NSA can do their thing anytime.

And regarding obvious login info/login info stored on person: I suspect this isn't the case for the people who participate in this forum. Broadening that knowledge is important - yes - but won't be accomplished here!

So for people on this forum (and others who keep non-trivial, non-stored login credentials), I suspect grodytothemax is on to something here - enough so that I'm going to take a much closer look at using a Chromebook when I travel.

people really anxious about information security may want to keep the files on physical media only.
So it gets hard to dodge both the cloud search and the body search.

Questions:
If you truly store everything in the cloud, what is the use of confiscating a chromebook?
Are you transporting data across the border or just a tool to access the cloud?
Couldn't you just get another chromebook after yours is confiscated and pick up where you left off?
How would they know every place you store stuff if it is all in the cloud?
Gee...
Are chromebooks good for criminals- or what?

JJFitz asked:
If you truly store everything in the cloud, what is the use of confiscating a chromebook?

To which I reply: The "use" of confiscating a chromebook would, in fact, be useless to the CBP and TSA people at the border, but I doubt that would necessarily stop them. The use to the OWNER is, should TSA/CBP confiscate, she has lost ONLY easily replaced hardware, and not lost the data.

Sure border crossing its a potential issue, and TSA's capability of confiscating your hardware is not to be taken lightly. But what concerns me the most are two simple facts: Cell phones,or should I say, cell phone-sized hardware gets lost all the time. or if somebody takes a fancy of your powerfull yet conveniently small Atrix-type device he/she can simply stole it from you.

As somebody that has to carry a full-size laptop, a slate PC, and several cell-phone sized devices nothing will make more happy than to have everything consolidated into a single ultra portable device. But once you are separated from your device you are rendered useless. That's when having redundant devices plays a significant role in staying productive.

Regardless of having your files on the cloud, the time it will take to secure a new device for temporal/permanent use becomes a key factor. can you afford a couple of hours or maybe even a couple of days off the grid?

when I no longer need to carry two phones (work & personal), a tablet and my laptop/tablet and my desk doesn't have a mess of wires underneath it. (sigh)

Many phones today take two separate SIMs.

The work phone needs to be secure, centrally managed & encrypted. - Blackberry
The personal phone is for personal communications and fun. - Android
but thank you for the information

I have a feature on my work line that will ring my mobile phone at the same time as my desk phone, and this is a great feature as I can turn it off when I am on vacation and I do not have to give out my mobile number. For my personal needs, I have a Windows Phone as it has Zune and xbox games. For work purposes I have Office on the phone and it connects to the exchange server. You can take this phone from me over your dead body.

To abuse an old cliche, one man's freedom is another man's chain. It would be interesting to see a valid poll (without a marketing spin) that measures people's actual needs and desires on this topic.

It's tough predicting future technology, but I think Jason is probably right on this one. I don't think we know yet what device(s) will develope in the next few years, but I agree it will be mobile and smaller. If you could squeeze the functions and applications in my laptop into a smaller mobile device (smartphone?) and still give me docking to a full size screen and keyboard, that would be a great combination. Would it be a social-, business-, or education-oriented device - or would it suit all three? What communications media would it support: email, texting, video conference, online TV and media, and medical data and testing? And ultimately, will it meet the security demands of the day? Will the wireless broadband infrastructure support all that? What else do you see in your crystal ball, Jason?

I'll have to disagree on this one. I think people use multiple devices by choice. I love my smart phone but i still prefer browsing the net on my PC (yes I still have one for photo and movie editing and it's easier on the eyes for browsing with the large monitor), but in a pinch I will use the smartphone to surf and I like that I can do it on my phone when the need arises. I also have a net book for editing documents and doing powerpoint presentations on the go; I have thought of doing a presentation from my smartphone but it is difficult to edit powerpoint for any last minute changes that I might need to do. Tablets are just too lacking in applications so I haven't taken to them yet. But I know people who love them as much as their smartphones and laptops and would not part with any of their gadgets. In the end keeping multiple devices is a choice we make and although convergence is a nice idea it isn't going to happen because the consumer prefers to keep his/her little toys.

I have in my kitchen a range, with two ovens in it, a microwave oven, a toaster and a toaster oven. There is some overlap of function, but replacing all with one device does not seem an imminent or even a widely desired option.

Many of those would be left out of a mobile kitchen, say in gut truck or RV, in favor of a single oven. Sometimes portability requires settling for a device that does many tasks to a lower standard.

Me, I don't see myself ever dropping a single-function camera.

http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/microwaves//SMK9175ST/XAA

a microwave would probably be it.

Great article.

I believe at some point we will come to a single device and many wireless docks - dock for tablet, dock for laptop, perhaps a doc for e-ink, etc. It will be nice to have one brain/device and many form factors.

We will all be using an overpriced smartphone on Monopolistic system paying overpriced rates to be limited on Bandwidth.
The True North American Way.
(Monopolistic in regards of 3 or 4 mega companies who do not really compete on price or services that all offer almost identical plans).
It is not my first choice.

Agree

Technically things can be made very small with a huge capability. However, we communicate with these devices using our fingers and get visual and/or audio feedback. There's a limit beyond which finger communication can't go. Everybody knows the hassles of a piddly little keyboard. Make a touch screen small enough and put enough on it and the problems are the same as with the tiny keyboard.

Have a detailed image, like a technical drawing, display on a small little screen and things are not so good.

The finger problem will one day be solved when we can talk to these things. Maybe the visual feedback problem will be solved by putting on some kind of 3D reality glasses and get huge images displayed to us. But those are some way off. Until then interaction with tiny things will be a problem.

"..a future device that looks like today???s smartphone or tablet but has all of the power of today???s personal computer"

All the power? My notebook has a screen real estate of 1680 x 1950 pixels. Nothing mobile today or next week can replace that. It will need something that plugs into my brain or some projection device in front of my glasses.

I still see two devices for the next 10 years. A truly mobile with you all the time, eg jogging. And a full blown one for the other occasions when you have an opportunity to sit down. And tablets are not in this equation, except as a fashion accessory.

In stead of dramatically plugging devices into your brain, have you considered to just plug your screen into your mobile phone to get the same resolution? :-p

and not one device, as this article is suggesting.

Jason, let me remind to your readers an article that supports your point. It is your colleague's report on the Padfone: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20067515-251.html

Also, as the folks at http://chromebookreviews.net/ point out, many non-geeks will start using the Chromebooks as an Internet appliance, because all they need from a computer are its web abilities. So yes, the desktop PC as we know it today will become a very specialized machine in a not so distant future.

I agree that the desktop PC will become more specialized. The average home user (Who is not particularly interested in computers) really only require web browsing, word processing and would probably love to remove the need for a full sized computer.

Myself on the other hand, having a massive tech crush, will always love to have the latest gadgets & computers.

The single personal device will really take off when the ultimate dock is developed - and that is well within today's technology, just waiting for someone to invent and patent it. It is a ubiquitous device, with screen, keyboard and mouse, print server, internet connection and optional local file server; the magic is a blue-tooth-like connection so that your smartie docks with it.

Walk up to the ubi, either your own, a friend's or in an Internet cafe, give it your smartie password and hey presto - whatever the ubi screen resolution may be you are at your own desktop computer. Any data shared with other smarties or too big for your smartie is in the cloud. Any apps too big for the smartie are in the cloud or on the ubi.

Oops - now I've invented it no-one can patent it. Never mind, it was obvious anyway.

But now that I've messed up the patents, will it have to be an open source development?

You there Mark?

Why do people keep talking about a single device and in the same sentence add in a mothership dock? Those are two separate and distinct devices.