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Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge)Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge)Posted Nov 24, 2012 6:07 UTC (Sat) by hadrons123 (guest, #72126)Parent article: Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge)
Looks like there is an mobile operating system on a daily basis. Didn't expect people to be this enthusiastic about mobile. Given an option I would choose my Desktop/Laptop all the time over mobile.
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Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge) Posted Nov 24, 2012 11:07 UTC (Sat) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link]
A few years ago, I would have said the same.
But today if I really had to choose I would take a phone. A phone like the Nexus 4 with 2gigs of RAM and a quadcore is not nearly as fast as my desktop, but it isn't slow either and I can take it everywhere. And you can connect keyboards and monitors. Sure I would have to live with lots of sacrifices, but not having a smartphone would be the bigger sacrifice.
Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge) Posted Nov 24, 2012 19:44 UTC (Sat) by cmccabe (guest, #60281) [Link]
Did you post that from your phone?
Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge) Posted Nov 25, 2012 2:12 UTC (Sun) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]
I am posting this from my phone, as I often do. This is a Nokia E63, an oldish model that is in no way comparable to a computer. But there is no reason why a newer Linux-based phone can't come with a laptop dock (like the Asus Padfone) and be a perfectly useful laptop. Or, indeed, paired to a keyboard/mouse and hdmi monitor and be used as a desktop. It is even possible with android without too much trouble if it's rooted and you're ok with a chroot setup and vnc display.
Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge) Posted Nov 25, 2012 20:59 UTC (Sun) by cmccabe (guest, #60281) [Link]
I have posted LWN comments in the past from my phone, but mostly very short ones. I was just curious if the original poster's comment was posted from a phone-- it is quite long, so I suspect not.
Combining an external keyboard with a mobile device is an interesting idea, but so far it doesn't seem to have taken off. The problem is, once you're lugging around a keyboard, you might as well lug around a laptop as well. Laptops have gotten really light-- mine is only 3.5 pounds. Maybe one day a good ultra-portable keyboard for tablets will be developed, but I wouldn't hold my breath. A lot of the newer "chiclet style" laptop keyboards are horrible-- if anything, keyboard design has regressed.
Microsoft seems to have placed a big bet on a combination tablet/keyboard with the Microsoft Surface. I guess we'll see how it all turns out. For every XBox, there are a few Zunes.
Jolla offer a first look at their Sailfish smartphone OS (The Verge) Posted Nov 26, 2012 11:01 UTC (Mon) by beagnach (guest, #32987) [Link]
"For every XBox, there are a few Zunes."
beautifully put :-)
smartphone as a laptop replacement Posted Nov 27, 2012 11:51 UTC (Tue) by pjm (subscriber, #2080) [Link]
> The problem is, once you're lugging around a keyboard, you might as well lug around a laptop as well.
Not entirely: a folding keyboard can fit in a pocket. It doesn't require a laptop bag over your shoulder, you can just put it in your pocket in the morning and forget about it until you use it.
> Maybe one day a good ultra-portable keyboard for tablets will be developed, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I use a Stowaway folding keyboard from a few years ago (predating tablets as we now know them). It's not quite as good as a laptop keyboard (mainly in that Esc and F1..F12 need a modifier key rather than having a separate row), but it's much better for my use than a netbook keyboard. It's one of the larger portable keyboards, but it still fits in a pocket, even if not a shirt pocket.
> A lot of the newer "chiclet style" laptop keyboards are horrible-- if anything, keyboard design has regressed.
The Stowaway keyboard I'm referring to doesn't have the problem I think you're referring to: it feels much like a traditional laptop keyboard.
There are others that you might not like, such as the rubbery rollable keyboards, or projection keyboards.
smartphone as a laptop replacement Posted Nov 27, 2012 18:22 UTC (Tue) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]
>> The problem is, once you're lugging around a keyboard, you might as well lug around a laptop as well.
> Not entirely: a folding keyboard can fit in a pocket. It doesn't require a laptop bag over your shoulder, you can just put it in your pocket in the morning and forget about it until you use it.
Besides this, in many places that you will be using the tablet for desktop type work, you may have a real keyboard sitting there (just like people do for their laptops in many cases)
Devices all over Posted Nov 25, 2012 0:50 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] The best part is that we don't have to choose. I have a powerful desktop and a light mobile phone, and each have their use. I can read LWN while riding the metro, and then work at my desktop.As to cmccabe's scepticism about writing on the mobile, I can write short messages, no problem. For commenting on LWN.net it gets harder because my terminal is configured for Spanish and the layout makes it a bit annoying; but I can also write short posts. Forget about entering HTML though.
Devices all over Posted Nov 25, 2012 13:02 UTC (Sun) by simlo (subscriber, #10866) [Link]
But why bother with two devices, when - as said in a comment above - could have one and a docking stating. Then you would not have the trouble of synchronizing data.
Devices all over Posted Nov 25, 2012 13:21 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] It is a good question from the outside, but for actual mobile users it is quite clear. I don't use the same set of applications on my desktop and on my mobile: I would never want to do development on my phone and I don't have any use for apps on my desktop. The only common use is web browsing, but for syncing data our friendly websites (such as LWN.net) do the hard work. As for data, pics go into external storage anyway and I don't listen to music (it eats into battery life). I could easily synchronize using a cloud service if needed.I can clearly be wrong, but this time we are headed to a constellation of devices that are going to need synchronizing anyway. On my desktop I currently have three general-purpose computers (desktop proper, mobile and SheevaPlug) plus two special purpose (printer and router). I expect that pervasive computing be the new paradigm, and that this number grows with time and encompasses the whole house. Then we will need storage hubs and/or cloud services for all computers, so it will not make any difference to have one more device; only convenience will matter. We are seeing a lot of effort thrown at convergence these days: Windows 8, GNOME 3, Ubuntu for Android. IMHO free software should instead focus on divergence and federation; that is where our best bets lie.
Devices all over Posted Nov 25, 2012 18:54 UTC (Sun) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]
Different people have different needs. My linux chroot on my android tablet (for which I bought a keyboard case) lets me do programming (mainly python), latex, and even libreoffice, apart from the usual mail and web browsing. And that tablet is a nearly two year old model -- lots of phones today are much more powerful. There are advantages to a powerful desktop, and also advantages to a device you can whip out whenever you have some spare time and start working on, without looking for a power outlet (battery lasts all day) or a wifi hotspot (it has a 3G sim inside it). And, when I need to run something from that desktop, I can access it from wherever I am.
A phone with a laptop-dock would work great. In fact I thought Ubuntu for Android was for precisely such uses -- I wonder what became of that.
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