Smartphones vs. laptops: Of mice and... touchscreens

10 May 2013
Greetings GSMArenians and welcome to an interruption in our usual program. No need to change the channel though. It’s still the familiar place and good old us, and no, we haven’t run out of phones to review. But are we likely to run out of laptops? Ludicrous idea...

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  • blablabla
  • thu
  • 12 May 2013

you can compare smartphone vs laptop, if photoshop can running in smartphone...

    • D
    • AnonD-107751
    • vGi
    • 12 May 2013

    Its not a fair comparison. Comparing a beast smartphone with mediocre tablet type ultrabook.
    Bring in the beast laptop having best configuration till date, then see what happens all those figures will just double or triple.
    No doubt smartphone are becoming powerful, but to overcome the usability of computers is not by any chance.

      • D
      • AnonD-96269
      • dPT
      • 11 May 2013

      AnonD-50083, 11 May 2013You think Intel and AMD will just sit on their a$$es?!AMD?
      You're not understanding this.
      AMD actually bought ARM Cortex A50 license, to build server processors with it.( no point using it for their pc chips because windows doesn't support ARM, only the x86 architecture)
      Everyone is free to build their own chips on ARM architecture.

        • D
        • AnonD-144578
        • sq4
        • 11 May 2013

        AnonD-50083, 11 May 2013You think Intel and AMD will just sit on their a$$es?!No, they will simply expand/switch markets, as is normal for a profit-focused company that sees new opportunities rising.

        Besides, there's plenty more room for innovation on the both the PC front as the phone front, so don't worry yet.

          • D
          • AnonD-50083
          • xL}
          • 11 May 2013

          AnonD-96269, 11 May 2013You do realize that your 4.3 inch phone is a far cry from t... moreYou think Intel and AMD will just sit on their a$$es?!

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • ajU
            • 11 May 2013

            AnonD-96269, 11 May 2013You do realize that your 4.3 inch phone is a far cry from t... moreNo they will not be. Maybe in 20 years. No coolers=no good CPUs.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • ajU
              • 11 May 2013

              Honestly, you cannot compare a phone with a laptop/PC. They are different types of devices altogether. Laptops have worse screens because we will only use them indoors and we usually stand 30+ cm from them so we cannot do pixel peeping. A phone OS is far less useful for productivity compared to a computer OS. And the benchmark has something wrong with it. A CPU made for a handheld device is much, much, much worse than a computer CPU, because you cannot cool it inside a phone/tablet. And touchscreens are miserable input means compared to mice. With a phone/tablet you must choose between mouse/charger. Oh, and nowadays tablets are much more underpowered compared to smartphones. The conclusion is that phones/tablets are for mobile apps/casual web browsing, while computers are for every conceivable task.

              At this rate, in a few years' time we will be comparing servers with supercomputers. It's the same thing.

                • D
                • AnonD-96269
                • dPT
                • 11 May 2013

                Andrei, 11 May 2013That's because there is 1 smartphone/person, whereas there ... moreYou do realize that your 4.3 inch phone is a far cry from the best phone experience?
                What phone it is, if i may ask?
                My advice.. try the Note 2 and then get back to this.

                Also, you do realize that 2 years from now, phones will be more powerful than current highest end laptops??
                And that they will support new software and apps for even longer time(because of the lighter nature of mobile software and apps)?

                  • D
                  • AnonD-96269
                  • dPT
                  • 11 May 2013

                  Denzo, 11 May 2013Efficiency and Advanced dont mean the same thing necessaril... moreThat was a good arguing on your behalf, but my point is that per core, ARM is more advanced. What does that mean?
                  Well, you can put more little, more advanced cores together and get a better performance than with fewer big cores on a given die size.

                  That's what Cortex A 50 will demonstrate in servers.
                  And Intel can thank their lucky stars for the Microsoft monopoly in desktop /notebook space.

                  If Windows supported it, ARM would"ve already started taking over the pc world too.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-141370
                    • Sgv
                    • 11 May 2013

                    Andrei, 11 May 2013That's because there is 1 smartphone/person, whereas there ... moreGood reply and thanks for your response :)

                      • D
                      • Denzo
                      • sy9
                      • 11 May 2013

                      AnonD-96269, 11 May 2013You twisted and misinterpreted every single point I made. ... moreEfficiency and Advanced dont mean the same thing necessarily like you are implying they do.

                      What if you have to pull a boat? 300HP V8 engine for you will be more advanced.

                      Or is it a timing issue? If they had discovered 300HP engine after the 150HP, does this make the 300HP more advanced.

                      Efficiency doesnt really mean "advanced".

                      A rocket to the moon is advanced, but it is not efficient at all. Depends on needs, resources.. just my way of looking at it.

                      Anyway for the article, smartphones are good hardware wise - that is great.

                      But the reality, is that the I cant do a university assignment on a smartphone. Not now, not ever. Cause the screen is just too damn small.

                      end of discussion.

                        • A
                        • Andrei
                        • 0U0
                        • 11 May 2013

                        AnonD-141370, 11 May 2013The one thing I can say with a degree of certainty is, Sma... moreThat's because there is 1 smartphone/person, whereas there can be 2,3,4 or even more people/desktop/laptop.


                        There is no change you could do only with a smartphone
                        I have a prety high end smartphone, and while at home I only use it at night or when reaaally bored to play some games(things i could do with a laptop to, in which case i would never use my phone at home)or sending text. For ALL other things I'd rather use my desktop, because it's much more convinient to chat while browsing the web, play games etc. On a phone i'd have to get out of the browser/game(which sometimes means screwing the whole game up) just to send a messange on Y!M or fb, it's also painful to write for long periods of time on a phone. it gets more and more and more iritating with every tap, after 20-30 minutes of continous writing on my phone(which is 4.3 inch btw) I start to crush my fingers on the screen and strech them every 5 seconds because I can't stand it anymore. never having any problem on a normal keyboard, and it's also much faster to write.
                        Also one thing to consider in the smartphone vs laptop thing is longevity. A top end smartphone now will be obsolete in 6 months, old in 1 year and trash in max 2.5 years. an i7 machine bought right now will still be a great machine in 7-8 or even more years, partly because you can install newer versions of the os for many generations, and partly because they are very powerful now(unlike smartphones) and will still run all the apps and games for many, many years
                        Conclusion: laptop>smartphone

                          • D
                          • AnonD-31294
                          • w4B
                          • 11 May 2013

                          I think your comparison is totally wrong because the only competitor of laptop is tablet not smartphone.

                          Smartphone is designed to always in user pocket not like tablet or laptop that we need to carry it by own hand or own bag. So, there is no point compare object from different world just like you try to compare between motorcycle and Sedan car.

                            • m
                            • mars
                            • LaI
                            • 11 May 2013

                            I can't play Diablo 3 on a phone .. 'nuff said !

                              • D
                              • AnonD-96269
                              • dPT
                              • 11 May 2013

                              [deleted post]You twisted and misinterpreted every single point I made.
                              Learn to read.

                              Let me rephrase and ask you: take a 1.5 150hp engine that consumes 5 liters of fuel, and 5.0 300hp engine with carburator that consumes 15 liters of fuel..now answer me, which is the more ADVANCED engine?
                              Which is the more ADVANCED tech?

                              As for Qualcomm and Intel..i know what Intel announced (Haswell), and from what i've seen, it shouldn't be able to compete with Cortex A50 big.LITTLE system in the processing per Watt category.
                              And i haven't seen what Qualcomm has in the pipeline for the next year.
                              They havent announced anything yet.

                                • L
                                • Lord K
                                • rKR
                                • 11 May 2013

                                AnonD-134497, 11 May 2013Exactly my point. Comparing a high-end smartphone with a lo... moreYo, thanks for the support NokiaWPPureView . I was half afraid no one would take the time to even read my post (even I would probably not read a post that long).

                                  • L
                                  • Lord K
                                  • rKR
                                  • 11 May 2013

                                  AnonD-96269, 11 May 2013Do you realize how bad you're making your self look?? Do ... moreYo, quit commenting and log off, you're drunk.
                                  Nobody gives a damn about 'processing ability with a certain power level.' In the end, it's about the overall processing it can handle, in which regard laptops are superior. Too bad, so sad.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-95290
                                    • Kxv
                                    • 11 May 2013

                                    Guys, chill out.
                                    The conclusion is correct, smartphones and laptops are designed to completing each other NOT to replacing each other.
                                    Think of it as a car. Smartphones are like coupe car. Mobile, lightweight, designed for on-the-go lifestyle while laptops are like family van; not so mobile, but big, spacious, and you can attach many things to it.

                                    I think the answer is not in Smartphone / Laptop, the answer is the Cloud environment.
                                    We're getting there.. I'm working at some document on my office laptop, realizing it's 5 o'clock I just saved it in my cloud and able to continue to just proof-read or light typing of my document. Seamlessly, always sync between one device to another.

                                    Each device are designed and engineered to fulfill a purpose, a kind of situation where one device can't fulfill.

                                    Now, let's step back a bit.. Imagine this is the era of PC booming, you don't think that a PC can replace a Server right?
                                    As an IT guy, I know they wouldn't be able because they aren't designed to. It's meant to completing each other.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • Tr4
                                      • 11 May 2013

                                      Pleas GSMArena, write more features like this, i remember you wrote about how smartphone replacing many devices, also another feature about different kind of phones, i enjoy these more the reviews.

                                        • B
                                        • Black Xero
                                        • 38M
                                        • 11 May 2013

                                        AnonD-144436, 11 May 2013not everyone is playing crysis3 all the time. anyway, the s... moreI said before and again saying, on which device android was encoded. Ok they all were encoded on laptops. Ok leave it and talk about 4.1 JB. When JB was encoded ICS was available. So was it encoded on an ICS running Google Nexus..?? Was it S3. Laptops will remain laptop. They were not ever supposed to be phone. And a wiseman will never want laptop to be a smartphone. Half drunl idiot will obviously demand.