Comment by IggleSniggle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by IggleSniggle | Hacker News Reader

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I had my "single device for everything" experience with the original Galaxy Note. I would plug in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and use it as a computer (it required a special OTG USB to HDMI adapter). It connected to my car. It had a big enough screen to be a mobile Tv. It was fun for sketching with the included pressure sensitive pencil. I had a game-controller that it could click into, making it into a handheld game machine. And it had a graphics chip that gave it more graphics ability than comparable mobile computing devices of the time. It even had a cool thing where it could emulate and magnetic credit card swipe, making it compatible with credit card readers that didn't yet support tap-to-pay! Truly a miracle device.

Yet for all that, I replaced it with a Moto X just 2 years later, and it's the Moto X that I really miss, with its superior voice control and its preference to remain in my pocket, and the little dimple in its wooden back.

Do-it-all devices tend to not really satisfy in anything. I got a Lenovo Yoga that was meant to be “convertible” between laptop and tablet and I never really did use it anywhere near as much as the technically much less powerful iPad Air I bought after.

I keep old Yoga 13 in a drawer. I think it happened still too early for its time - too heavy as tablet, fans, small screen vs form factor, font hinting quite bad in vertical mode, Windows8 clunky interface, battery...

I think today's Macbook Air M2 with 360deg hinges, touch and some iPad like UI-mode would be a holy grail for the article author.

I find the Microsoft Surface Pro works in this niche much better than the Yoga devices - they're lighter, smaller and the keyboard cover can be removed entirely for a tablet experience.

That would help but some of what I found annoying was the delay in transitioning between modes and software generally not designed with tablet mode in mind. Not sure if the situation has improved in the last few years on those points.

Not sure if that's changed over time or not but transition speed is more or less the same between the two in my experience. There's some software which does a decent enough job at tablet mode (enough that I don't feel the need for a separate tablet - basically media consumption type activities - ebook readers, Netflix, etc are covered well enough and web browsing works for me) and the surface pro form factor feels much better for things like note taking using the surface pen in my experience (my work laptop is a Yoga, personal laptop is a Surface Pro so I use both regularly). On the negative side, the Surface Pro does make some different compromises - particularly the type cover isn't quite as good as the Yoga laptop keyboard (though of course any laptop keyboard is never that great) and the stand which folds out of the back isn't as good as having a laptop supported by the base if you have it on anything other than a decent desk. But overall I'd say the Surface Pro gets much closer to a true 2 in 1 device.

You can't even turn off the touch screen when in laptop mode, so every time you brush the screen when typing (it happens a lot, the device is tiny) you end up messing up something.

Microsoft, for all its qualities, truly does not care about the finer details.

A 360 MX Macbook with all the benefits of an iPad (run iOS apps, cellular data, both cameras, excellent touch response, maybe even lidar) would absolutely kill iPad sales, but it would also be the best all-in-one device Apple ever made.

Your dream is an interesting thought experiment. Let's reflect on if Apple would provide all these experiences.

0. 360 MX. This is the least likely. I'm sure Apple has been testing flippable hinges for decades at this point, but even if they could make the best one, they need a marketing reason for users. What's the point in a flippable laptop if you can't use everything when it's flipped like Windows?

1. Running iOS apps. macOS with an ARM chip already runs iOS apps, the problem is that most developers are chickenshit and don't allow people to run their apps on macOS. Apple needs to reverse course and remove the ability to deny running on macOS.

2. Cellular data. By this point, Apple would have done it. There's a valid argument that Apple doesn't want to even entertain negotiations with Qualcomm about how much it would cost them to put modems in their laptops, so I believe our last hope is that the modems currently in development by Apple themselves are someday destined for Apple laptops.

3. Excellent touch response. Every Macbook already has the best touch response in any laptop. Their trackpad is best-in-class. I don't know how Apple could even fail at that.

4. Lidar. What? Why?

Ok, let’s go.

0. You bring up some points I fully agree with. Since we’re talking about Apple who can’t do anything mundane, for the hinge let’s just assume they come up with a new tech (maybe a single pivot point and the keyboard spins freely, or a mechanism that detaches it entirely so it can be snapped in flush on the back, or some other solution I can’t imagine yet)

1. Agreed

2. I can’t imagine this would actually stop them if they decided to cannibalize the iPad and build an MX 360

3. Agreed

4. Personally I would probably never use it, but it’s a notable iPad feature and might as well have them all

I miss my Moto X too! Which phone did you move on to?

I used the original Moto X as long as I could. I can't even remember what I got after. I'm now sporting a iPhone mini.

Obviously the market just isn't there for smaller phones, but I actually think the iPhone 3GS had the best form factor of any phone I've used, and it's smaller screen encouraged information density, which I like.

I say I use an iPhone mini now, and it's true, but only because Apple requires you to use an iPhone with their Watch. I've given up on the phone form factor, and use an Apple Watch with an ear bud and cellular, and keep the phone in drawer most of the time. Actually is was the Moto lineup that got me onto that: they had that short-lived earbud that was marketed as requiring zero screen in order to do all your mobile computing (I never got one though).

You might wonder why one wouldn't just use an Android watch that could do all of it without the bullshit Apple tax across multiple devices. It's for similar reasons for why I didn't end up liking the Galaxy Note, even though it still, to this day, feels like a miracle that they could cram so many features AND so much quality into that device, and that it could legitimately perform in all those categories.

The iPhone mini still feels too big, but at least it's mostly usable with one hand, even if it's not comfortable to do something like pull down the control panel shade on the top right corner with your left hand.

I know I'm just a weirdo though. I thought the Windows Phone UI was brilliant, especially the audio design.

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