The Amazing Shrinking Personal Computer.

[Web moderator]

There you go on your know-it-all attitude yet again, BC. Looks like you forgot to address my post:

I have a smartphone, and it is not "dreadfully slow" at web browsing or email. It is actually the best phone I have had since I've been buying phones.

I do agree however it is not a replacement for a PC, and never will be.

Web browsing is one of the primary purposes of the devices and they can't even seem to get that right. And even if it is "fast" (or rather, if the person using it determines that it's fast enough, it's never as fast as your average desktop computer) it's still going to look like crap because very few phones and tablet have browsers that work properly.

Web browsing works perfectly well on my phone thanks to Firefox for Android. As regards being as fast as a desktop PC, it's quite obvious that it will not be as fast as a desktop PC.

The ironic bit is behind all the bells and whistles "smartphones" are misnamed, since their ability to act as a phone is hardly ever utilized by anybody.

I'd like to point out something you said a while ago, which is quite similar to this case:

Yes it's fun to act all smart and point out "haha the words are [smart phone] and therefore we must take the two words completely literally and laugh at anybody who thinks otherwise"

Just because it's called a "smartphone" doesn't mean it's "smart at being a phone". For quite a while now, phones have been used more and more as texting devices, and are now being used more and more as GPS devices.

People are more intent to "text" each other at exorbinant rates and act as if this is the "future" when all they are doing is the equivalent of IRC, difference being that they pay for every message they send- and receive- rather then a hourly rate or a flat monthly fee. It's profiteering, plain and simple, and the fact that so many people buy into this crap, regard it as "hip and cool" and happily pay the ridiculous fees attached to simply swapping ascii text is just plain sad.

Once again, you're forgetting there are other countries in the world. My phone cost me about €80 / $105. I pay €25 / $32 a month, which includes 3000 texts and 200 minutes of calls for that month. So no, it doesn't work out that expensive.

Truly, the demographic for smartphones, ipads, ipods, itouch's, whatever   is simple. They are devices designed to be as efficient as possible at   separating hipster trash from their parents money.

As I said above, the phone cost ME. I paid for it. Obiously this isn't the case everywhere but you can't stereotype it as if it is.

You can tell when something has this purpose if all you can choose is the colour.

I'm not sure what you're on about here, but most smartphones have some sort of app market. Apart from that you can always root the phone and change the entire OS completely.

As I said above, the phone cost ME. I paid for it. Obiously this isn't the case everywhere but you can't stereotype it as if it is.

They are devices designed to be as efficient as possible at separating hipster trash from their parents money.

They are devices designed to be as efficient as possible at separating hipster trash from their parents money.

If something is designed for a particular market, that doesn't mean that those are the only people that will buy them. And if they aren't designed for that, I'm hard pressed to think of what purposes they could possibly be designed for that isn't already met by existing devices.

Web browsing works perfectly well on my phone thanks to Firefox for Android.

WORKSFORME(TM)

I'd like to point out something you said a while ago, which is quite similar to this case:

It's not similar at all. Personal Computer is two words and you can trace the entymology of the phrase back to the origin of the IBM PC, and it now has a meaning that gives very specific limitations to the device- a "Personal Computer" is accepted to mean a Open Standards machine based on IBM architecture. smartphone is a single word and doesn't ascribe any specific limitations to what the device is aside from it's a cellphone with other stuff. But to have phone in the name when in fact their primary purpose is anything but telephony is ridiculous. At least the term for Personal Computer relates to a subset of the original term. A "Personal Computer" is a Personal Computer and a Personal Computer is a Computer, but a smartphone isn't primarily a phone. "Smart Device" would be more accurate, particularly to include things like the iTouch that include a lot of the functionality that is more typically used on 'smartphones'.

I'm not sure what you're on about here, but most smartphones have some sort of app market. Apart from that you can always root the phone and change the entire OS completely.

You can also paint a Model T Ford Blue. That doesn't mean Blue was an factory option.

In 2007, with the advent of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft dropped the name Pocket PC in favor of a new naming scheme. Devices without an integrated phone are called Windows Mobile Classic devices instead of Pocket PCs. Devices with an integrated phone and a touch screen are called Windows Mobile Professional devices and devices without a touch screen are called Windows Mobile Standard devices...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_PC

Five years ago. Clearly Microsoft has limited ability to coin new and meaningful names for the devices people are buying instead of 'tradition' devices. The new age of mobile  gadgets is up on top of anything else and can do most of the things we used to do o with 'personal computers' or Apple computers. And more.

Devices that the new things replace or integrate into a compact personal device that might be called 'SuperSmartPhone' for lack of a better name include:
MP3 player, Voice recorder, Day planner, Calculator, Wrist Watch, Calorie counter, GPS with maps, 411 information, Yellow Pages, TV Guide,  Garage Door Opener, Personal Alarm, Personal DVD Player, Wallie-Talkie, Motion Detector, Smoke alarm, Weather Alpert, FM radio, Taximeter (requires thumb attainment), Anti-survivalist detector, Electronic Secretary ...

...and more things that you can imagine. (Some are still classified.)

[Web moderator]

WORKSFORME(TM)

This is the most important statement you made. The opposite of course being DOESNOTWORKFORME(TM), which is exactly what your argument is. Only difference being I made it clear that I was talking about my own experiences and not trying to stereotype every person who has ever owned a smartphone.

can do most of the things we used to do o with 'personal computers' or Apple computers. And more.

Except word processing, Image editing, video editing, Sound editing. Triple AAA game titles. That isn't to say they don't have any apps for those types of tasks, but that they are simply unsuitable for any of them. My point being that they cannot replace PCs because they don't do most of the things we do with computers, and that which they do is more limited, for various reasons, including input concerns and screen real-estate.

one problem with having all these functions in a single device is that they often work together even when you wouldn't think so. iPhones, at least, will encode GPS data into any pictures taken with the camera. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on the user, of course.

This is the most important statement you made. The opposite of course being DOESNOTWORKFORME(TM), which is exactly what your argument is.

On the other hand, no matter how much you hey say it works for you, it won't suddenly start working fine for me. I was able to connect it to my laptop and actually browse the internet properly. at least, and given the fact that it is using the same connection the fact that the cellphone is so dismally slower at rendering is sad.

I don't mean that the slower or less accurate rendering, where it occurs, makes them useless. I'm just arguing that no device can replace another when it clearly doesn't even come close to being as performant as them in the same scenarios, especially considering, with smartphones, the relatively limited input- a few buttons and a touchscreen hardly replaces a keyboard and mouse, for example, and the lack of a keyboard specifically makes tasks that require a lot of typing a gigantic pain- things like Word processing, for example. For the functions they serve- for example, web browsing, even with those models that seem to suck at it terribly- they are a adequate mobile substitute, but not a replacement.

Only difference being I made it clear that I was talking about my own experiences and not trying to stereotype every person who has ever owned a smartphone.

I wasn't stereotyping every person that has ever owned a smartphone. I merely pointed out the audience they were designed for. Which happens to coincide with a lot of people I know that own a smartphone. Most of them didn't buy it themselves, for example. They also, within a Month, have found another, newer model that they simply cannot live without. It is perhaps their connection to the devices that sours my own experience. Additionally, the common thread of "looking towards the latest model" has another profound impact, since desktop machines are typically a larger investment kept for a longer period of time, whereby various personal files and documents accumulate, are shared, etc. It's a "home base" for almost any computing tasks. The people I know who have smartphones typically charge them with their desktop computers, for example. Same for many of their other devices. They don't require the desktop machine itself, but they are effectively tethered to them if only by usage scenarios; the devices get replaced without regard for the data on the old one, or any attempt to transfer that data, which is what makes them an accessory. There are a lot of people that don't really care about what a smartphone offers and will purchase them (or get their parents to purchase them or they will hate them forever) the latest and greatest trending item, be it the latest iPhone or what-have-you. Heck I've heard of adolscents asking for an iPhone, getting some rather high-end android instead and throwing a tantrum because "it's not an iPhone" it is those types for which a lot of these devices are aimed. Some of them aren't, and those are a welcome reprieve. If I was going to get one I wouldn't really care if it was hip or cool or pop  n' fresh. Thankfully more and more android based devices are realizing that the iPhone has pretty much pocketed the "hipster trash" segment of the market (Apple has experience in that field), so more of them (other vendors) are actually starting to take themselves seriously. A few Android smartphone vendors have been doing that from the get-go and trying to take advantage of the growing market of people like yourself who are considering a smartphone, but aren't easily duped hipster trash that believe that the price of an object is a precise evaluation of how much better it makes you as a person.

I am glad I put this in off-topic.  The point is this post was about how computers are getting smaller and in particular households are becoming infested with computers that people use on a daily basis for doing personal things.  And then got into an argument is whether or not the term "personal computer "could apply to any sort of smart phone.  Well, unless IBM starts making smart phone's, the term PC and will always apply to the IBM compatible personal computer.  Unless it doesn't anymore.  Which could happen.
The facts that the apple eye-phone is extremely popular and use for many things is all too obvious.

Perhaps it comes as a surprise to some that the Android operating system is now becoming very widespread on smart homes made by various manufacturers.  There is now an opportunity for individuals and small start-up companies to develop applications for use on the present Android  2.2 operating system. Now anybody can download the Android SDK from Google and start to work on a hot new application program.  And it is not necessary for you know anything about machine code programming.  You write your programs to the  API that is maintained by Google. You test your application on an emulator.  And yes, it is a virtual machine.

In fact, anyone interested in writing for cash to  the Android operating system can just Google Android SDK and find everything she needs.
There is a lot more to say about this aspect of the smartphone thing, but I will wait and see if there is nay interest in this angle.
Anybody for Android SDK? It is not sabot programming. Its about making cash. Programming is incidental.

Time magazine had this:

http://techland.time.com/2012/02/09/why-we-need-a-new-definition-of-pc/

Time magazine had this:
http://techland.time.com/2012/02/09/why-we-need-a-new-definition-of-pc/

Good  catch,  B C_Programmer;   

What is a PC?
At first blush, it seems like a straightforward, uncontroversial question, not unlike “What is a bicycle?” But it’s actually a surprisingly tough one to answer–and even if you’ve been using PCs for decades, you might have have trouble deciding what one is, and isn’t, in 2012 and...

From the Time .cm web nite in BC's post.