Phone as a PC

[MoreCoffee]

I hadn't given it much thought but since Microsoft created Windows RT and Windows phone and made MS Office available on those operating systems it seems to me that if the phone can drive a large screen (through a work station box with appropriate innards) and a keyboard & mouse it follows that a phone can do as much pc-style productivity work as a Windows RT tablet. Have any of you got a windows phone? Have any of you tried to use it for MS office tasks?

 

[tango]

I hadn't given it much thought but since Microsoft created Windows RT and Windows phone and made MS Office available on those operating systems it seems to me that if the phone can drive a large screen (through a work station box with appropriate innards) and a keyboard & mouse it follows that a phone can do as much pc-style productivity work as a Windows RT tablet. Have any of you got a windows phone? Have any of you tried to use it for MS office tasks?

I used to use a Pocket PC phone many years ago. If the phone can drive the bigger screen (with adequate resolution) and can also support a keyboard and mouse I can see it could, theoretically speaking, replace a PC even if only for relatively simple tasks. But if you've already got a workstation box why not just use that? Office is pretty cheap unless you need the professional and enterprise versions, and there are things like OpenOffice that are free and support most of the functionality of Office.

Using a phone as an Office (or Office-like) device is more hassle than it's worth IMO. I've tried it using a Windows phone, an Android phone and an Android tablet. Without a keyboard it's a massive headache.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I used to use a Pocket PC phone many years ago. If the phone can drive the bigger screen (with adequate resolution) and can also support a keyboard and mouse I can see it could, theoretically speaking, replace a PC even if only for relatively simple tasks. But if you've already got a workstation box why not just use that? Office is pretty cheap unless you need the professional and enterprise versions, and there are things like OpenOffice that are free and support most of the functionality of Office.

Using a phone as an Office (or Office-like) device is more hassle than it's worth IMO. I've tried it using a Windows phone, an Android phone and an Android tablet. Without a keyboard it's a massive headache.

Here's a part of the product launch for the Lumia 950xl

 

[tango]

That's all well and good but if you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse the chances are you'll already have a PC nearby as well. If you're out and about then trying to find a monitor, keyboard and mouse to use would seem like a big ask.

I guess it could work to use a phone instead of a laptop, I just don't know I'd want to rely on it as a primary "go to" device. If my job expected me to be able to work on the move I'd tell them to provide me a laptop.

 

[MoreCoffee]

That's all well and good but if you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse the chances are you'll already have a PC nearby as well. If you're out and about then trying to find a monitor, keyboard and mouse to use would seem like a big ask.

I guess it could work to use a phone instead of a laptop, I just don't know I'd want to rely on it as a primary "go to" device. If my job expected me to be able to work on the move I'd tell them to provide me a laptop.

You might be at a university and want to connect your phone to a big screen and keyboard ...

Or you might want to spend only $1000 or less and already have a screen and keyboard but an old pc or a malfunctioning pc ...

anyway, it seems like a nice bit of software technology from Microsoft so I thought it might be fun to see what folk think

 

[tango]

You might be at a university and want to connect your phone to a big screen and keyboard ...

Or you might want to spend only $1000 or less and already have a screen and keyboard but an old pc or a malfunctioning pc ...

anyway, it seems like a nice bit of software technology from Microsoft so I thought it might be fun to see what folk think

Sure, there's all sorts of "you might be..." scenarios. Personally if I was at a university giving a presentation I'd take my laptop.

I'm sure there are people out there who could use their phone as a PC and not bother replacing a computer when it gave up the ghost. Personally I'm not one of them.

It's interesting to see this kind of stuff but from my perspective it looks like a solution desperately seeking a problem. But then I tend to use things until they come apart at the seams and most of the time I called Microsoft product support in the past I didn't get charged for the call because I'd hit a product bug or limitation, so I'm not your typical user

 

[MoreCoffee]

Sure, there's all sorts of "you might be..." scenarios. Personally if I was at a university giving a presentation I'd take my laptop.

I'm sure there are people out there who could use their phone as a PC and not bother replacing a computer when it gave up the ghost. Personally I'm not one of them.

It's interesting to see this kind of stuff but from my perspective it looks like a solution desperately seeking a problem. But then I tend to use things until they come apart at the seams and most of the time I called Microsoft product support in the past I didn't get charged for the call because I'd hit a product bug or limitation, so I'm not your typical user

I got a chuckle from this clip

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

I hadn't given it much thought but since Microsoft created Windows RT and Windows phone and made MS Office available on those operating systems it seems to me that if the phone can drive a large screen (through a work station box with appropriate innards) and a keyboard & mouse it follows that a phone can do as much pc-style productivity work as a Windows RT tablet. Have any of you got a windows phone? Have any of you tried to use it for MS office tasks?

Man, I wish Microsoft hadn't abandoned the Windows Phone project.