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Microsoft Says Your Phone is Your Next PC
eldavojohn writes "While other companies are marrying the obvious functionalities to cell phones (calendar, MP3 player, GPS, etc.), Microsoft is aiming for it to be your next computer. Microsoft Research chief Craig Mundie said that, "Microsoft has a research project called 'Fone+' that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television.""
Given their spectacular foray into the MP3 player market, and the hideous mess that is Windows Mobile, I wonder exactly what more plans they have for markets they "don't really get"....
There is nothing interesting going on at my blog
Gee, how inovative. He announces the next big thing 4 months after Steve Jobs demos one.
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
Why can't a phone just be a phone any more? I don't want a phone that's a PDA, camera, voice recorder, makes the dinner, advises me on my psychoses, and so on. I just want it to be a phone, darn it!
Isn't that, like, a big step backwards from HD TV? I mean, what kind of video coudl a phone possibly put out? Might as well watch YouTube on your TV. :P
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
MS direction is not set by listening to the market, but by Bill's ego. This is what happens when you have a virtual monopoly.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I presume you didn't read TFA and instead projected your negative preception of Microsoft onto the summary. FYI, that bit of the summary relates to this quote from TFA:
The fact that the average person in the developed world spends hours per day viewing video on a TV suggests that TVs are widely considered adequate for that task.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
Ah, so you're one of those, "Let's see how many people we can take down if they say the least negative thing about MS" fanboys that lurks around.
Yes, you can use a TV to watch videos, if that's all you do with your toys. On the other hand, if you read the first sentence of the article, it uses the phrase "formalize the transition of the phone to a mobile PC." I don't know about you, but I use my computer for a lot of things, most of which need text and very few involved just video.
So I'd suggest reading all of TFA before saying others have not.
Oh, and that pretty much renders your other point as a non sequitor.
Why not use your tweezers as a wrench?
Why not use your oboe as a bassoon?
Why not use your sleeve as a handkerchief?
Why not use your car as a truck?
Why not use your PC as a doorstop?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
After buying a Nokia N800, I don't think so. I think having the connectivity be in a separate device from the computing is a huge win, for most of the same reasons we went away (or never adopted) the all-in-one model on the desktop.
1) In a convergence device, if two parts are important and are still in active development, one part will always obsolesce faster than the other part and force replacement of both.
2) In the particular case of a cell phone/computer, you -can't- replace the phone cheaply and easily until your plan's up (yes, eBay, but that can be tricky), forcing you to use an obsolete computer for the duration.
3) The design considerations for a phone and the design considerations for a portable computer are similar, yes--you want small, thin, and simple to use for both. However, if you want any sort of real power from the portable computer, it's nearly a given that it will need to be bigger and thicker and less simple than a cell phone of the same tech level would be. It needs to do more stuff.
4) Not -all- the design considerations are the same. The portable computer probably wants a relatively large, high resolution screen, and it probably wants to have a touchscreen. A phone doesn't need the complexity or defect rates of a touchscreen, and a high resolution screen on a phone means either a large phone or a relatively high defect rate from a high-pixel-density screen.
5) You don't always want all of your functionality wherever you go. Sometimes you just need a phone. It'd be nice if you could take your 2oz phone with you, instead of your 7oz smartphone.
6) If your phone breaks, you lose your computer, and vice versa.
7) We just don't really need to do it that way, now that bluetooth lets you essentially wear modules in a jacket or nearby bag. You can make a really small phone, if you're not trying to hang a computer off it. You can make it even smaller if you position it to use a bluetooth headset as the primary mic/speaker cluster (of course, you still have built-in ones as backups, but they don't have to be super-comfortable). The classic argument against multiple devices is too much space taken, but if you can make everything as small as they possibly can be for their focused purpose, you can minimize that. Making things smaller is one thing we generally get good at as time goes on.
Sure, there's always going to be a market for phones like the Verizon V/NV or the Sidekick, that do a relatively large subset of the functions of a smartphone for people who don't need more. And eventually, the phone/modem part will hopefully end up standardizing and will be a commodity item that you don't have to chase advancements on. Maybe we'll even drop the current handcuffs model on phone plans. At that point, moving phone functionality into the portable computer makes a lot more sense.
For now though, if you really need a -smart- setup, use separate devices. It seems clunkier and more expensive at the beginning, but you'll always be able to stay at the front of the curve if you want to, and you won't have conflicting buying priorities holding you back.
--
~AC
Apparently Microsoft thinks a computer is something that can play video, not irrelevant stuff like calendar, MP3 player, GPS, etc.
You're dialing (1), cancel or allow? ....
You're dialing (8), cancel or allow?
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ten minutes later after you actually are talking to someone
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WinPhone has downloaded and installed an important security update, please reboot your phone
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Missing WINPHONE.DLL, Please Restart
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.