Ubuntu has the same idea with their Ubuntu Phone, and Google has been working for a while to bring together Android and ChromeOS in some way as well.

Here's a question to insert lovingly into this conversation.

How much technology is too much technology for you? *otherwise known as a completely subjective interrogative with no easy answers*

Imagine, while in a conversation you have to say: "Excuse me for a moment, my hand rings!". :D

Transparent electronics on the window (or any glass surface) means it could be used to display content, so it would then be a matter of correct interface between the surface and the phone. I'd say it will be possible in the future, though unsure if children's or grandchildren's time.
We will most likely see it too though.

Yeah, and instead of butt calls with a cell phone you'll have people accidentally making masturbate calls because their hands are... well, you get the idea.

The problem with that scenario, at least the gaming part, is both that the size/heating/battery considerations cutting down how much powerful electronics you can put inside the device, even if current smartphones are admittedly amazingly powerful for their size.

One option would be that the docking station in itself offers more CPU/GPU power... but at that point, what exactly would be the point of such a device? Why couldn't that docking station be a standalone console gaming station in itself, without the need to insert your phone into it? What extra benefit does the phone bring to such a gaming/docking station?

Also, for that to work, it should be standardized somehow (de-facto standard, if needed), so that not every vendor comes with its own different solution, a bit like with VR headsets now.


For me, one thing that makes smartphones more and more useful are how they are becoming the devices that do lots of small things, like being able to use one to buy stuff from a brick and mortar store instead of a credit card, my Philips TV seems to offer an option to use an Android phone as a remote controller with an app (that sounds handy in case in misplace or break the original remote controller, beats having to buy one of those overpriced 20-in-1 remote controllers and trying to figure out how they work) etc.

Ouch... Unfortunately i almost have to agree.

My mobile has 15 days of battery time. The mobiles of friends' and relatives' tend to run out of charge during the evenings. I admit a pocket computer can be useful at times but that is only IF it still has battery charge, meanwhile I have problems calling my friend because her battery is dead.

Where is it all heading? In the long run, probably total integration. We are the Borgs. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

I`d rather be a Posbi.

It's more a matter of perception. I have at home a Wii, Xbox 360 and HTPC with a Phenom II X3 CPU and a Radeon 5550. They are used for gaming by my kids. Smartphones are probably around the level of the HTPC and 360, and much more powerful than the Wii.

If it was a trivial matter to hook a phone to a TV/controller, and there was a decent amount of games, many people would use that, even if they can't play the latest AAA shooters that way.

You know, I thought that was what the Shield was going to evolve to in one generation, but I was clearly wrong >.>

I'm surprised if they really are that powerful already. Or then the 360 wasn't that powerful to begin with. I was always thinking current smartphones are maybe past PS2 power at the moment (judging by how the most advanced Android 3D games look), but that was merely a guess.

Part of the problem may also be the storage size. Seeing how humongous games have become (outside of indies and strictly mobile games), smartphones have the issue with local storage. Dunno if there are new technologies coming where you can have hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes of low-power storage on a tiny card... (I saw some demonstration from Intel about that a couple of months ago, the next step from SSDs). Another option might be streaming games (making storage size irrelevant), but they have issues of their own, like the requirement for a reliable non-capped and high bandwidth internet.

Also, to benefit from using your phone as a dockable gaming device, I guess there should be some benefit in being able to detach it from the gaming station. Ie., the games should be so that they work nicely both on a smaller touch screen so that you can still play them away from your home/docking station, and on the big TV (possibly with a controller).

I don't know if there is real demand for such. My wife plays Candy Crush often on her phone. I've sometimes asked why doesn't she play it on the tablet instead with a bigger screen, but she rather just plays it on the phone. Would she be interested in putting her phone on a docking station in the living room to play Candy Crush on the TV? Most probably not, she seems to be drawn specifically to mobile gaming because it is mobile, and more personal/private.

It may also be that mobile gaming is considered more personal. You don't share it with others on the big screen, you play it on your small device in your room or cuddled in the sofa. This is a bit like how internet and social media have become more personal, people wouldn't like to read and write their Facebook entries on the big screen with everyone watching. I get a laugh of those early 90s projections how in the future (=now) people will make video calls from a big wall TV in their living room, or browse internet from it. It went to exact opposite direction, people doing those things with their small devices that they carry with them all the time in their own privacy.

Well, games like GTA: San Andreas and Bioshock are ported to phones, so I guess phones are well past sixth-gen consoles at least.

The Lumia 950XL does have pretty high specifications, 8 cores, 3 gigs of RAM, 1440p-screen, liquid cooling.. :P It's probably more powerful than a seventh-gen console. But I think most developers don't make mobile games for enthusiast-grade phones such as that one. Most devs probably aim to make games that most phones can run.

The next model; few seconds later.