Life Between 0 and 1

Would you use a mobile device as your ONLY device?

It’s an interesting question that up until now, I would have given a resounding and blunt “No”, but all that has changed.  HP just announced a new Windows 10 Mobile device called the Elite X3, which according to their claims is everything you need rolled into a single package.  Here is the spec page if you’re interested in peeping at it.  I’ll give HP some respect, it takes Mt. Everest sized stones to 1) release a Windows 10 mobile device and 2) make that device a super high-end corporate targeted device.  I can’t complain though, HP has really stepped up their game as far as quality is concerned based on my research into their Envy and Spectre laptop lines.  I actually did buy the HP Spectre x360 from the previous post and actually got goaded into getting the higher priced model with 512GB SSD and a half-quad resolution display (2550 x 1440-ish).  The display is absolutely stunning.

My belief is that this is going to be the first of many all-in-one mobile devices as the human race continues to adhere to Moore’s Law:  Computing power will double every two years.  The law has stood the test of time since 1970 when it was first introduced.  The interesting fact though, is that as transistors (basically connections on a CPU) increased in number, they continued to decrease in size.  The physical size of a CPU has essentially remained the same for the last 20 years, however the processing power has increased exponentially.  A good metaphor, although old, is that a standard solar cell calculator has the same processing power as the entire computer system that ran the Apollo Space capsule.  There were approximately 2.6 trillion transistors on a standard 6-core i7 (circa 2013) and only approximately 500 billion transistors on a standard Core2Duo (circa 2009).

I personally won’t give up my laptop for several more years as I find the form factor very conducive to my tech habits.  A mobile phone just doesn’t seem to fit very well especially considering that you need to carry the phone, a dock, a dumb-terminal laptop (travel) or a home monitor.  I have all I need in a single form factor, my laptop.  I also don’t see how, at this point, a mobile processor can even come close to rivaling even a laptop Core m5 or Core m7.  The power just isn’t there yet.  I do know one thing though, if the Elite x3 is the standard of flagship mobile devices to come, there are going to be some really beautiful mobile pieces of art in the near future.