Ah, someone beat us to the desktop replacement.


second exodous

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Ah beans, looks like someone beat us to it. I totally think that the Pandora2 can be a complete desktop replacement. I think pretty soon more phones will do this and kids will think 'why the heck do you need a computer when you have a phone?' I don't think this could happen on a small phone screen though, it needs to happen through a dock giving a full desktop experience through a 24"+ monitor.


So, think Pandora2 should have a dock?
 
Ah beans, looks like someone beat us to it. I totally think that the Pandora2 can be a complete desktop replacement. I think pretty soon more phones will do this and kids will think 'why the heck do you need a computer when you have a phone?' I don't think this could happen on a small phone screen though, it needs to happen through a dock giving a full desktop experience through a 24"+ monitor.


So, think Pandora2 should have a dock?

that would be interesting and especially if it would also charge it at the same time, though you would sacrifice the gaming controls in the process, so the tvOut cables will have to do til then(they look so cool :eek: )I'm guessing you didn't take a screen shot before you posted no? Its not everyday you have 666 posts.
 
Its not everyday you have 666 posts.
oops, missed it. Oh well, the only one I'm waiting for is 1337.


Well, by desktop replacement I mean you put it into your dock and use it like a computer replacement, no need for a notebook or desktop, use your Pandora through a 24" monitor. The dock could have a hard drive and a optical drive, rip DVDs, watch blu-rays(with the open libs logically), browse the web, watch movies, code, over take spy satellites, edit photos, blah blah blah. Just whatever you do on your PC right now.


No need for a second PC when you have your Pandora2, get it?
 
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And when you need to go somewhere, you simply pop your Pandora2 out of its dock and off you go with your entire computer in your pocket.


Now that should be the goal of mobile computers, but the Pandora2 specifically. I've always held the idea that eventually dedicated electronic devices will die out, leaving one powerful superdevice to perform every task that is done with current electronics. This device will be your desktop, it will be your Hi-Def game console, it will be your media center, it will be your phone, it will be your handheld game system, on and on and on, this device will replace every electronic media device that currently exists. All you will need to do is attach the device to the appropriate peripherals - or better yet, everything is connected wirelessly. The idea of a dedicated system will become superfuous at best. This conversion is happening already, but the next step needs to be taken.


That is the Pandora2.
 
It's not a tablet or a touch phone so I don't see why it need a dock, its shaped like a mini laptop and laptop generally don't have docks. But its not a bad idea to design one to increase revenue. This is not new as so many companies does this, such as Archos selling their touchscreen media player then sell the dock separately to provide additional feature for recording and tv output.


If there ever would be a Pandora 2, I'm 100% certain they'll use mini DisplayPort as the output. Being open standard and royalty free and designed specifically to connect to monitor, its the only option that make sense. As opposed to HDMI. The Trinity Android phone with dualcore ARM processor can already manage 1080p video over HDMI, so really for the Pandora2 1080p would be minimum for monitor output, I'd say 3840 × 2160.
 
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i think we will definitely see a convergent point with portable computing where you have "light" computer use and "intensive" computer use. there will always be a percentage of people who need 4 gig or more of ram and many core processors for higher end stuff like music, video and art editing along with big databases and super machines. also for higher end gaming which is more graphically intense.


the pandora however is obviously a very capable computer however and subsequent generations of chipsets will allow for more horsepower, so for browsing, watching videos in HD, playing less graphically intense games, less complicated office work, etc these devices will provide adequate possibilities for a great number of users.


where i see the biggest problems being is with form factor and operating system freedom. people like the portability of mobile phones and the sleek, touch only interface, but it doesn't allow for much portable productivity. the operating systems are often more restricted and beyond finger use, far from ideal when all docked up. conversely though a full desktop on a mobile comes across as fiddly overkill sometimes, so a bigger form factor is more ideal. we already have many things in this category already, all dockable like tablets, netbooks and things like the pandora. the best operating system battle is more apparent here as it really can go either way.


i think the "game changer" is going to be having devices open enough and capable enough to run different operating systems, or even just window managers, depending on the situation. up until recently (anything other than the pandora out there?), truly pocketable devices have been restricted to a small onboard NAND, with one restrictive operating system so it has been fit for one type of usage scenario. getting devices adaptive to all situations and all scenarios and flexible to cater for both casual and intensive computing surely has to be the goal these days. from what i can see, the only areas the pandora lacks on with this, built into the device rather than somehow tether-able, is telephony with 3G or GSM and HD connectivity. depending on the individual, this isnt a problem anyway. telephony software is currently not there properly, but we can tether, and not everyone NEEDS to do everything in HD, i know i dont.


jeez this got long and rambling and i dont really have a point other than ive not seen a mobile out there with a capable enough OS for intensive work to be a real desktop replacement, even on a casual level.
 
Pretty much agrees, since to me playing a virtual instrument or music from a 0.5cm speaker aren't like the real thing.


As for multiple OS, you don't have to wait for long, Windows 8 will support ARM. Mac is not an option, unless you want to be sued to bankruptcy like Psystar.

people like the portability of mobile phones and the sleek, touch only interface, but it doesn't allow for much portable productivity.
Because they want to show it off. If phones were invisible, people wouldn't own them.
 
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It's not a tablet or a touch phone so I don't see why it need a dock, its shaped like a mini laptop and laptop generally don't have docks. But its not a bad idea to design one to increase revenue. This is not new as so many companies does this, such as Archos selling their touchscreen media player then sell the dock separately to provide additional feature for recording and tv output.


If there ever would be a Pandora 2, I'm 100% certain they'll use mini DisplayPort as the output. Being open standard and royalty free and designed specifically to connect to monitor, its the only option that make sense. As opposed to HDMI. The Trinity Android phone with dualcore ARM processor can already manage 1080p video over HDMI, so really for the Pandora2 1080p would be minimum for monitor output, I'd say 3840 × 2160.
Well, depending on cost differences plain DVI could be an option. If I understand correctly, then the DisplayPort signal cannot be passively converted to VGA/DVI unless you have a dual-mode port which I assume simply adds a DVI controller to the chip, increasing the price. Source: Wikipedia

Wikipedia said:
Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI, dual-mode ports (which are marked with DP++ logo) can use DisplayPort wires to transmit single-link HDMI and DVI signals which are then converted to higher signal levels by passive external adapters. Dual-link DVI and analog VGA are supported through powered adapters which perform active conversion.
So far, I'm not seeing a lot of DisplayPort support in devices (HDMI seems to be winning), hence DVI is a good choice.


A dock can be easily replaced by a powered usb high speed hub, pandora power adapter and video-out cable. I'm not sure the effort to create a custom dock would pay off.


If we exclude gaming and some other heavy tasks (e.g. video editing) any dual-core atom can easily replace your desktop. With the OMAP 4 coming soonish and the OMAP 5 not too long thereafter mobile devices will also gain this capability. They are "good enough" for most desktop tasks.


I think the next generation of mobile CPUs are going to be a tremendous game changer. I don't know yet what shape this will take, perhaps these devices will become thin clients for a powerful home server and cloud services such as OnLive, perhaps we will see docks with on-demand x86 coprocessors, and perhaps we will just keep a powerful desktop around and just use it less often. Time will tell...sooner or later, time will tell.
 
I heard the dock is actually a separate computer.


Which is pretty stupid. I already have a laptop and desktop, I don't need my Pandora to have a Pandora desktop so I can cockloads of money while I spend money.
 
All a dock would need to be is a place to 'dock' the Pandora to charge it, a port to have the monitor, mouse, keyboard, ect plugged in so just drop it in and go. Maybe a blu-ray drive, but I only use it now to rip movies that I'll encode to put on my Pandora and media box to watch, not really for anything else. Also an HD would be nice, much more important than a optical drive, it could auto-backup and be used for more space when sitting at the desk.


I do think x86 is dead, this is one way that it will become reality. When people start using their phone sized devices like this then why the heck does one need a notebook or a desktop? If there is a universal connector or dock method so you could go anywhere and use whatever device you have, phone or Pandora, at a kiosk, library, friends house, ect, what is the advantage of having a bulky device just for a bigger screen?


I'm sure back in the early days of computers people would never think any computer the size of a building could be replaced by something the size of a computer that fit in a single room, and then one that could fit on a desk, then one that could fit under your arm, then one that could fit in the palm of your hand. . .
 
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Ah beans, looks like someone beat us to it.


So, think Pandora2 should have a dock?

How about no sound?!


At least that's what the article says here:


http://www.slashgear.com/motorola-atrix-4g-replaces-notebookpc-with-citrix-nirvanaphone-tech-video-06123967/

“Audio is currently not supported and not all of the HDX features are available, however, it’s easy to multitask and bounce out of the Citrix session and run YouTube and audio with the native Firefox browser, or even take phone calls. In “windowed” mode (vs. full screen) the webtop environment can display Citrix hosted apps alongside native Firefox windows, plus an Android window making a phone call at the same time” Citrix

That, and I don't really know if Pandora2 will really need a docking station. It might be good with just the video out, USB connections, and power supply charger.
 
Ah beans, looks like someone beat us to it.


So, think Pandora2 should have a dock?

How about no sound?!


At least that's what the article says here:


http://www.slashgear.com/motorola-atrix-4g-replaces-notebookpc-with-citrix-nirvanaphone-tech-video-06123967/

“Audio is currently not supported and not all of the HDX features are available, however, it’s easy to multitask and bounce out of the Citrix session and run YouTube and audio with the native Firefox browser, or even take phone calls. In “windowed” mode (vs. full screen) the webtop environment can display Citrix hosted apps alongside native Firefox windows, plus an Android window making a phone call at the same time” Citrix

That, and I don't really know if Pandora2 will really need a docking station. It might be good with just the video out, USB connections, and power supply charger.
Well, it isn't out yet so maybe when it is out it will have audio. Anyway, I'm looking more at the idea than the actual device.


Dock or no dock the point is a desktop replacement. Docks just make things faster and simpler. Well, if done right.
 
Well, it isn't out yet so maybe when it is out it will have audio. Anyway, I'm looking more at the idea than the actual device.


Dock or no dock the point is a desktop replacement. Docks just make things faster and simpler. Well, if done right.

So far, I have been able to do most of what I do on a desktop computer using my Pandora. Will I be able (or even try) to do the most resource-intensive operations on it? Probably not. But it doesn't look like the Atrix 4G will do all of that stuff either.


I just thought that, so far, it looks like their isn't really a desktop replacement but, rather, a few portable smart devices that could be considered to come close enough.


Either that, or it could be smart device manufacturers trying to explore new potential applications and markets for their products.


Yep, you can always peg it down to commercialism if you try hard enough!
 
I'm sure back in the early days of computers people would never think any computer the size of a building could be replaced by something the size of a computer that fit in a single room, and then one that could fit on a desk, then one that could fit under your arm, then one that could fit in the palm of your hand. . .

I've often wondered what the computer engineers of the 50s and 60s would think of present handheld machines if a time traveler took one back to that era and compared its power to the machines of the day. Especially if the device in question was something like a GBA SP and after boasting how much more powerful it was than the massive machine it was being compared to you had to explain why it way limited by design to only running a specific set of programs and all of them were games.


EDIT: Having finished reading the article I would have to disagree with the OP. To my mind the existing Pandora is already much closer to being a desktop replacement than the Atrix as the article describes it.
 
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Besides at the rate things are going, if the pandora2 comes out we could be spending years in the queue just to get it not to mention the price the team maybe has their hands full just trying to fulfill the orders of batch 1 so I don't think that they are gonna be thinking about it soon, nice idea though but I believe that there won't be a true desktop replacement since the power supply technology right now is only limited in portable devices (I think due to the cost of making it) an average laptop or netbook lasts? what? 3hrs 4 hrs? with everything dumbed down just to conserve energy, so a desktop replacement will just eat a lot more juice, unless we could carry a nuclear power pack on our person hehehe. I know that as the tehcnology progresses the desktops will just move on to have newer better technology which won't be available for the portables till years after, it would be cool to get a tony stark type of portable but i don't think that it will be happening soon...


BTW your topic saved me from posting my question about comparing the pandora with the touchbook since i saw it had similar specs and lower price and it might ship a lot faster than a pandora, but seeing the response I think I will be still going with the pandora :)
 
Besides at the rate things are going, if the pandora2 comes out we could be spending years in the queue just to get it not to mention the price the team maybe has their hands full just trying to fulfill the orders of batch 1 so I don't think that they are gonna be thinking about it soon, nice idea though but I believe that there won't be a true desktop replacement since the power supply technology right now is only limited in portable devices (I think due to the cost of making it) an average laptop or netbook lasts? what? 3hrs 4 hrs? with everything dumbed down just to conserve energy, so a desktop replacement will just eat a lot more juice, unless we could carry a nuclear power pack on our person hehehe. I know that as the tehcnology progresses the desktops will just move on to have newer better technology which won't be available for the portables till years after, it would be cool to get a tony stark type of portable but i don't think that it will be happening soon...


BTW your topic saved me from posting my question about comparing the pandora with the touchbook since i saw it had similar specs and lower price and it might ship a lot faster than a pandora, but seeing the response I think I will be still going with the pandora :)
That's a long sentence... do you ever stop for breath?


I disagree with this ambugiuty of tasks and purposes. I've said it before: I want my phone to be a phone, my camera to be a camera, and my palmtop top be my palmtop. I don't want to make phone calls on my palmtop, play games on my camera, or take pictures on my phone.


The Pandora's good because there's little (if any) pretention about its capabilities that I can see. It's a little handheld that can be used to play games ot browse the web, or whatever I want.
 
I disagree with this ambugiuty of tasks and purposes. I've said it before: I want my phone to be a phone, my camera to be a camera, and my palmtop top be my palmtop. I don't want to make phone calls on my palmtop, play games on my camera, or take pictures on my phone.

The Pandora's good because there's little (if any) pretention about its capabilities that I can see. It's a little handheld that can be used to play games ot browse the web, or whatever I want.
But what a lot of people want (not including myself) is things like the ability to make calls, accelerometer-based input, any other iphone gimmick, etc.
 
i would love if this forum just got completely rid of the Related Threads thing at the bottom...
 
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