The Padfone has developed somewhat since we saw the magic at Computex 2011. We’re now looking at the docking station (with 18Wh battery) and a cool little Bluetooth pen that acts as a headset.
Take a look at in the video below and the images below.
ASUS Padfone 2012. Hands-on with Phone, Dock and James Bond Pen!
Posted on 27 February 2012, Last updated on 03 January 2014 by Steve Paine
Then HDMI out to an external monitor & you have a desktop!
Isn’t this you’re vision of HDR computing realized?
I think the ARM CPU still lacks the grunt of a x86 laptop (never mind a desktop) CPU, meaning that there are still tasks that will be performed faster (if at all) on a x86 laptop.
Still, i kinda feel that Android on ARM will bring what Bill Gates was talking about when the UMPC and Tablet PC was introduced by Microsoft.
This is an obsolete concept IMO (remember Motorola trying to do the same a couple of years back? Yeah, we saw how this went…). There is a very fundamental distinction it seems a lot of people have difficulty to understand: the difference between desktop and mobile computing is first and foremost about GUI. The personal desktop computing revolution took off when the appropriate GUI was invented; the mobile computing revolution took off when the appropriate GUI was invented.
The convergence of desktop and mobile computing cannot take place by bringing one device inside the other. Why? Because such a convergence violates the basic fundamental difference: the optimal cursor-based GUI differs from the optimal gesture-based GUI. Sure, they can share common properties, common principles or common elements, but eventually there is a point of divergence. Even within a touch environment there are differences due to size and maybe other parameters (think of iPhone vs iPad).
So, convergence will not happen with the solution that Asus proposes (others tried to do the same before – none succeeded). Convergence has a very simple name: Sync. You don’t want the devices to be modular, you want your files to be in sync. Automatic, seamless push synchronization. We’re not there yet, but we are sure heading strong and fast…
Valid points, John. Are you talking about the Motorola Atrix?
I agree with you about the GUI being a major factor, but can’t we have GUI switching from one context to the next?
Yes, I’m talking about the Atrix. There where other efforts before that as well (can’t remember back in 2007 the name of that small clamshell design that required a connection with a smartphone to function…).
As for your GUI switching scenario, even if it is technically possible, the question is whether it is the efficient way to achieve convergence. You would need replicas of platforms (not just OS but all programs as well) residing inside a single device for each possible usage scenario. And that is not all. You would need hardware that is “infinitely” modular – connect one single mobile device (your thick client) with every possible external thin client. Does this strike you as efficient?
That is the beauty of cloud syncing: you don’t need to build infinitely modular hardware, you have “infinitely modular files” :) (not the right expression but you get the idea…).
I remembered the name: redfly :). The so called “smartphone terminal”. Well, what I am trying to say is that it is inefficient to try and make every other device a smartphone terminal. The right approach to convergence imo is to make all personal devices “cloud terminals”. This is where we are heading …