Can a smartphone replace a laptop?

A

Alvein

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
223
Hello,

Please read the details I'll try to describe here. It's not exactly that question you're probably eager to reply with a boolean answer. :)

I have an old laptop, and also an old smartphone. I've been considering buying new ones. However, to save costs, the idea of having a single device looks promising.

Could I be able to connect a smartphone to a TV (HDMI) and a Keyboard/Mouse (either wireless or not)? I've never done this. Are smartphones strong enough to accomplish this? Keep reading to see the kind of tasks I plan to do...

I barely use the laptop, excepting when I travel. The stuff I do with it are either answering e-mails, browse a given team-collaboration website or connecting to the company servers through remote desktop. All this is done from the hotel room. I don't carry the laptop everywhere.

As you can see, those are not CPU-demanding programs. And if someone asks, I need to browse spreadsheets and debug source code (through remote desktop). Any screen below 17" makes my job unbearable. So I'd end using a big TV/Monitor anyways.

So here we are, is this possible and realistic?

May you recommend any smartphone for this?

Thanks for reading. :)
 
Microsoft has the new Lumia 950 or 950 XL smartphones that may interest you here. I'd try one of these new phones out if I was you. Actually I might try the 950 XL out myself. :)

"It’s a PC-like experience that’s powered by your phone".
 
Well, everything except the rdp sessions can be done already on current and even older gen flagship smartphones. I can edit docs/excel spreadsheets and type emails( not very fast though) on my note 3.

For your usage scenario , maybe a big phablet, like the The Sony Z Ultra GPE, or the samsung mega galaxy would fit the bill. In either case, with all smartphones you can use an external tv to view what you have on screen.
 
To bluntly answer your question, yes, it can do what a laptop does. For the price comparison though the laptop would have better specifications than the phone for the same price point. Considering you need BOTH and can only purchase one, I would go with the phone and connect your KB/mouse via Bluetooth and be done with it.

You don't NEED a windows phone to do the few things you mentioned, especially if you are doing the debugging and spreadsheets through RDP anyways. There are some good android RDP clients available.

My only concern with going with an OS other than windows is scaling when connected to a large external screen. I have never tried this with my android phone so maybe it would scale like a tablet... I don't know.

On the other side of the coin a windows phone runs windows... so it should detect the new resolutions from the TV without issue.

Good luck.
 
It sounds like you do important work while in the road. I wouldn't compromise my career just to save some $.

You can connect bluetooth keyboard, but large display is iffy.

One way to skip traveling with a laptop: You can install Linux Mint on a USB flash drive, that gives you a portable OS. You can use that to boot off any machine while you're on the road. I do that even when I'm traveling with a laptop because it's more secure. If the laptop is lost/stolen/damaged, I still have my work on the flash drive.

If you need Windows apps, you can run a Windows virtual machine as a guest OS. I use fast UHS flash drives and USB3, otherwise the VM can be sluggish.
 
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You really should look at the Lumia 950/950XL.

I've tried android with keyboard and mouse. Scaling is a big problem. And you cannot turn off the android screen and continue to work (device cannot be on standby). So if you are working on an external display, you're still killing the life of your mobile display.
 
sonicboom said:
Well, everything except the rdp sessions can be done already on current and even older gen flagship smartphones.
Click to expand...

I've been access remote desktops on my phone practically since Android was released. We've been able to do that forever, there's even an official MS app.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. :)

May somebody tell me what is this "scaling" problem about? Is this something that would cripple my experience using a mobile device with a bigger screen? Why does it seem like something which have been solved in Windows devices, but an obscure subject in Android?

Additionally, and now that I think about it, probably related to this scaling thing, let's say the phone screen is 720p. Is still possible to get 1080p in an external screen, of will it be tied to the native phone resolution? :confused:

Oh, and very important, would be there any noticeable delay in the screen responses? I can't imagine how annoying this would be, combined with the already subtle lag a RDP session can have.

....

About the other suggestion of using a bootable USB drive and a virtual machine, well, this limits my scope. It's easier to find (in a hotel room, that is) a suitable TV than a suitable PC.

But this made me remember about another option I might have. Getting something like the Intel Compute or Quantum Access PC sticks. The only drawback I can see with this approach is that this is obviously another device I'd need to carry with me...:rolleyes:
 
For your uses the Windows phone with the little dock thing sounds like a winner.
 
Yeah, it's doable. A modern smart phone will have this ability. Either a USB-OTG cable for keyboard/mouse or a Bluetooth KB/M. Some phones will have micro-HDMI, others sell adapters.

As for scaling. Most modern phones will be 1080p or up resolution wise on the phone LCD itself. What I think people are saying is that when you plug in an HDMI cable, some won't adapt the DPI of the screen to render it like a desktop. Think taking exactly what you see on your screen and putting it on a 32". Some devices may have the ability to adjust the DPI. I know in Android (with root) you can do it and I'm sure there's probably a way to get AutomateIT to detect the HDMI and automatically adjust the DPI setting. Standard is around 440Dpi-ish on phones now, where as a desktop hovers around 96-120ish. So you'd want to shrink the elements 3:1 or 4:1.

Now if you're viewing a remote desktop, that is moot because a lot of the VNC apps can give you a full desktop view on the phone itself (really small elements).
 
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YeuEmMaiMai said:
can it actually replace a laptop? No, not really
Click to expand...

*facepalm* Read the OP. He's not trying to render stuff in 3DSmax, work in Photoshop, and play Fallout 4. He has a small list of specific tasks that he wants to do, and wants to know if he can do them.

You're being pedantic at worst or not paying attention at best.

===

I would imagine it's possible with what you want to do. Like was noted, the Atrix basically did all of this stuff. It was kinda specialized, but there has to be something (that's even faster at this point) that can do it.
 
I agree with others on here that you CAN use it as a laptop replacement, as long as you keep the usage to basic things, and follow some of the recommended advice. Flagship smartphones today beat out pretty much any netbook and lower end laptops spec wise, and with the variety of apps available, you can undoubtedly do most of the basic laptop functions, and then some.
 
If one goes by minimalist and is willing to put up with the small size of smartphone screens, then yes, laptop can be replaced by smartphone, at the very least in the Battery life (especially with battery packs) and portability department. Smartphone does a few every day things a lot better than laptops.

However there are things that are much easier done on a laptop than on a smartphone. EG you wouldn't want to do spreadsheeting on a smartphone, also laptops can have much bigger storage spaces than current phones (the largest I have seen on a phone is 128GB, which is pretty much the minimum for laptops).
 
The experience of your typical handset (not flagship devices) is really going to suffer due to io bottlenecks like slow flash or low memory bandwidth.

Could you get by? Yeah, but the tech simply isn't there for a truly productive user experience.

I'd give it at least another generation or two on handset socs before getting hopes up on stuff like that Microsoft tech mentioned in the 2nd post.

Edit- dang typos
 
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UnknownSouljer said:
*facepalm* Read the OP. He's not trying to render stuff in 3DSmax, work in Photoshop, and play Fallout 4. He has a small list of specific tasks that he wants to do, and wants to know if he can do them.

You're being pedantic at worst or not paying attention at best.

===

I would imagine it's possible with what you want to do. Like was noted, the Atrix basically did all of this stuff. It was kinda specialized, but there has to be something (that's even faster at this point) that can do it.
Click to expand...

lol if you think for a moment that a device with a very small screen is going to give you the functionality/ ease of use as a laptop, you need to put down the crack pipe and step away slowly....

he asked can a smart phone replace a laptop and the answer is clearly no, it cannot.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
lol if you think for a moment that a device with a very small screen is going to give you the functionality/ ease of use as a laptop, you need to put down the crack pipe and step away slowly....

he asked can a smart phone replace a laptop and the answer is clearly no, it cannot.
Click to expand...

Read his post again. He would like to connect a monitor, keyboard and a mouse to his phone.
 
krogen said:
Read his post again. He would like to connect a monitor, keyboard and a mouse to his phone.
Click to expand...
Ding ding ding!

My old setup was BT keyboard and mouse, with an usb mhl hdmi cable to a display. Smartphones from from even 2010 could do rdp fine and is perfectly suitable as a thin client. It's just the scaling is off on a bigger monitor without the rdp client, and that the phone's display must remain on and not go to standby for it to work. It's a waste of display life.

I'm actually really excited for the Windows 10 Mobile to "fix" these flaws.
 
Get a Note 2 to 4 and Smart Dock that charges, allows connection to HDMI TV/monitor, USB keyboard/mouse, USB external storage, USB game controller, etc. Not sure if it works with Note 5 since it's a physical fit issue but don't know if anyone has tried an extension cable.
 
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krogen said:
Read his post again. He would like to connect a monitor, keyboard and a mouse to his phone.
Click to expand...

then try to run office and all of your other basic desktop applications and see what happens... again not the same functionality nor the same experience... office on mobile is very basic compared to it's desktop counter part...

do you buy a phone then a dock then a monitor and a key board an mouse and voilla you should have just taken the laptop in the first place... heck even a dell venue 8 pro offers better functionality overall than a smart phone...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
then try to run office and all of your other basic desktop applications and see what happens... again not the same functionality nor the same experience... office on mobile is very basic compared to it's desktop counter part...

do you buy a phone then a dock then a monitor and a key board an mouse and voilla you should have just taken the laptop in the first place... heck even a dell venue 8 pro offers better functionality overall than a smart phone...
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: Seriously. Stop. Posting. In. This. Thread.
You haven't read the OP or followed the rest of the thread. You haven't been paying attention to what the OP wants. At this point you're either completely oblivious to everything or you're outright trolling. Either way you're not helping.
 
Very educational thread. I think it's wrong to see this as a hardware problem. OP wants to do his work while on the road with minimal hardware to travel with. I do this often, the important stuff is your data, your files and their safety. As I posted above, a flash drive can contain a portable OS and also carry your data in an encrypted partition. If you are under contractual obligation to safeguard customer data, you can even use Tails OS. You can boot a Linux flash drive off any machine, there are PCs everywhere these days, offices, hotels, cafes, airports, etc. If you want to travel light, you don't need any hardware.
 
The OP is talking about using remote desktop. A raspberry pi could do that fine. So obviously a phone could too. I dunno why YEMM can't read that...

Reb, any thoughts of bringing a compute stick?
 
Get a phone and a raspberry pi 2 the compute stick would work too both can run win 10 the compute stick has a weak wifi/bluetooth chip though.

or new phone and keep the old laptop...
 
Well, I didn't want to write too much specific details, but it seems I need to define some. The last time I was on travel and needed to work on something, I used remote desktop (literally, RDP, not VNC) to do every stuff, excepting browsing to some websites, which I could have done perfectly from the RDP session itself. And about the rest of things...

Laptop: my old laptop still works, but I like to travel lightweight. Anything from 17" and up won't be exactly "light". And in the end, I'm not only trying to avoid carrying this extra weight but also buying something that I'll barely use.

Screen: apart of answering e-mails and messages, I don't plan to do the actual work on the phone screen. My desktop screen is 24" and I'm pretty accustomed to it. It's not that I'm short-sighted or something. It's about the available space.

Storage: almost every document is stored remotely and when not, I think I can live with just 8GB, to say something.

Tablets: big things that can't fit in any pocket.

Flash drive: I don't think it's that easy to find a PC that you can have it configured to boot from USB. It's not that I can't do this myself. But even if the PC is in the same hotel, and it actually has a big screen, nothing beats the comfort of doing the things from my own room, anytime. BTW, if I'm away, I still can tell them to wait 30min-1hour for the problem to be solved. No rushes on this.

Monitor: I don't plan to carry a monitor with me or even borrowing one. Just using the available TV in the hotel room. Last three hotels rooms I've been in, had a big TV with HDMI in.

Stand-by: so, is this a problem in Android AND Windows Phone right now? Stupid question...what if I set the phone brightness to the lowest, and the screen sleep time to the maximum? Would this be a partial solution? Would the TV/Out brightness be affected by this? :confused:

Scaling: according the your replies, this is an Android-exclusive issue and there's no available solution (incredible...just incredible). Right? Anyway, I asked something before, but it went unnoticed: let's say I have a phone which is 720x1280. It's not possible that it detects the monitor/TV bigger resolution (like 1920x1080) and adjust itself to it? What happens to the orientation, BTW? :confused:
 
the scaling is solved with black borders...

A chrome cast or raspberry pi 2 really does sound like the best solution as chrome cast from any lolipop phone you can cast the whole screen and using otg you can hook up a keyboard and mouse Alternately I just got a nexus player they are down from 99 to 49 at walmart they have a 1.8 ghz atom chip and some decent specs it should work for you too same deal otg ect a phone would be less to carry though.

as you just need a 3 port powered otg hub they exist i have one on my nexus player and a chrome cast 1 or 2
 
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