Microsoft: Why Not Use Your Phone as a Cheap PC?

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.physorg.com/news98525702.html

"While the PDA has existed as a sort of mini-PC for years, Microsoft said it would encourage phone manufacturers to formalize the transition of the phone to a mobile PC through a research initiative called "Fone+". Microsoft Research chief Craig Mundie said that Microsoft has a research project called "Fone+" that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television."

There was no indication in the article if Windows Mobile would be the platform for Fone+ or if it would be something else entirely.

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.physorg.com/news98525702.html

"While the PDA has existed as a sort of mini-PC for years, Microsoft said it would encourage phone manufacturers to formalize the transition of the phone to a mobile PC through a research initiative called "Fone+". Microsoft Research chief Craig Mundie said that Microsoft has a research project called "Fone+" that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television."

There was no indication in the article if Windows Mobile would be the platform for Fone+ or if it would be something else entirely.

[alese]

I know that the post is not directly linked to Windows Mobile, as Fone+ is not specifically linked to WM.
But given the current situation, it's pretty safe bet that WM is the underlying platform.
And if that's true then the answer to the question: Why not use Your Phone as a Cheap PC? Is pretty simple.

Beacuse such phone is expensive as a PC, not cheap and because it doesn't work like a PC thanks to Microsoft and their insistance on crippling functionality on WM - Office, Mail, Browsing, no (usually) ability to use external storage and external display...

WM as a platform is certainly capable of beeing PC replacement, but the functionality is simply not there, mostly (but not entirely) because of Miscrosoft.