Do you NEED Continuum?

[anon(9140902)]

What about business where the networks aren't accessible unless your computer is a part of their domain.

Some businesses, won't even allow you to connect to a WIFI if you aren't part of their corporate domain.

How will this work for the phones? Will the phones be able to join a domain?

Is there an ethernet port on the continuum dock?

Now.. It seems just useless...

from the image I saw of the docking device, it looks like it connects directly to a monitor via HDMI, the phone connects to the hub via USB and keyboard/mouse connect to the hub via bluetooth

 

[damtrx]

Yes I need it and I need it now.
I travel a lot and sometimes I need a laptop to do my work. I use mainly RDP and Word/Excel in my work . Some device that can be in my pocket and can connect to hotel TV or Home TV will be great addition . Now it is pain in the *** to do my work on the small 5"screen .

That's what about continium . To continue your work , not to replace your tablet or laptop.
I want wo watch some movie. I have to bring my tablet.

So for me continium will help a lot. It is not a feature that I will not use and for sure will not use it daily, but when I need it I will know it is there .

 

[KimRM]

I have a laptop that I usually connect to a larger screen with a mouse and external keyboard when I'm doing more heavy work, like programming etc. My workplace is in the living room so it creates a mess each time I'm working, with wires everywhere. I think for all the small work where I write e-mails, follow up on twitter and such, Continuum will be perfect for me! I can do this work on my phone without having to connect the laptop each time.
I don't think people fully understand how easy things will be with this feature.

 

[Nuno Moz]

I personally believe the idea is amazing but I will have no use for it. If I do buy it then I will use it a few times but no real use for it.

Yup. I think that is what will happen for most professionals, even the ones pledging they need it. It might be more interesting when it reaches to low end devices *device up to $200) but those consumers rarely buy apps really. Until than its is a waste of news bandwidth.

 

[Rob Ward1]

Continuum is genius? Oh yes please !!!

Ask yourself this question: How many Mac Minis has Apple sold?

The Mac Mini is a small computer with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a wired screen. It is small and can be hidden away. It uses almost no power. According to Apple, the new iPhone 6 is ~ as powerful as a laptop, or a Mac Mini.

So you come home form work or university and drop your phone (Mac Mini) in the dock to charge it, and immediately the screen turns on and you have in front of you a desktop that you can reply to your emails on, write a document, add some stuff to OneNote and send a PDF to a colleague. Press play to listen to a Reasonable Faith podcast while you cook dinner.

In essence, Continuum is genius. Just wait another 12 months and Apple will be doing it too.

 

[Nuno Moz]

Re: Continuum is genius? Oh yes please !!!

Ask yourself this question: How many Mac Minis has Apple sold?

The Mac Mini is a small computer with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a wired screen. It is small and can be hidden away. It uses almost no power. According to Apple, the new iPhone 6 is ~ as powerful as a laptop, or a Mac Mini.

So you come home form work or university and drop your phone (Mac Mini) in the dock to charge it, and immediately the screen turns on and you have in front of you a desktop that you can reply to your emails on, write a document, add some stuff to OneNote and send a PDF to a colleague. Press play to listen to a Reasonable Faith podcast while you cook dinner.

In essence, Continuum is genius. Just wait another 12 months and Apple will be doing it too.

Hi. I have a Mac Mini and rarely use it. At home most of us have laptops. Yes we do work in the office area, but I would say we do most of our computing at home everywhere else in the house.

 

[Ben Hanchett]

Just to clear: You do know that Continuum can only run Universal Apps. I'm just making sure because the only thing it would replace for me is my Surface RA. Stopped using that when I got a $100 tablet

 

[Richpl]

I don't think it will be used much when most households have multiple pc's laptops and tablets.

 

[HeyCori]

Re: Continuum is genius? Oh yes please !!!

Ask yourself this question: How many Mac Minis has Apple sold?

That's a good question. Maybe one day Apple will tell us.

 

[pallentx]

Minimal appeal to me. Cant see any scenario where this is a better alternative solution than carrying my S3 or any other 2 in 1, plus I'm not restricted by having to locate a spare monitor and either plug in wires or setup a wireless connection. On top of that the phone is going to be woefully underpowered to serve as your only PC, and any advancements in performance will apply even more to full tablets. It has its place in an emergency situation but the day to day utility is limited IMO.

Anyone here actually work in an enterprise? Is your employer really going to allow you to plug in your personal phone to work on their network? How about functionality? Need to work on a router and enter commands? Want to have an impromptu meeting round a table? Sitting in an airport lounge and want to made edits to your report? Which is easier, carrying your phone + keyboard/mouse and hunting for a monitor or just opening the screen on your keyboard-attached 2 in 1? The idea sounds cool but if being productive is the end goal this is not the ideal solution.

You're thinking of a world without continuum and you having the only one. Imagine everyone has this on their phone. I could see airports, hotels, Starbucks and many public places providing a monitor. I could imagine employers issuing a continuum phone to employees and then just putting a monitor, keyboard and mouse on the desk. We wont get there right away. The hardware and especially software needs to evolve, but I can definitely see this being the future. I might not even need a PC at home at all, just a couple of docking stations.

 

[pallentx]

I don't think it will be used much when most households have multiple pc's laptops and tablets.

Again, we're not just talking about the way things are now. If everyone in your household has this on their phone, would you buy them a new tablet or laptop when their current devices are done? (Assuming this platform eventually gets good app support)

 

[Nuno Moz]

Again, we're not just talking about the way things are now. If everyone in your household has this on their phone, would you buy them a new tablet or laptop when their current devices are done? (Assuming this platform eventually gets good app support)

Those are a lot of assumptions I guess. At the moment I would bet in innovative features to Windows Phone that could bring more Windows Phone sales hence app support then features that rely on app support. Especially features that leverage on consumer current investments on Windows technology with minimal cost to build up confidence in the market. It seams to me that MS has all the hardware in the streets necessary to bring those features both to XBOX One and Windows Phone at the moment. That for me is the real continuum. No need for new hardware although new hardware is always welcome.

 

[Reebs Reebs]

I think what you're saying is true.. but you're missing a small piece of info. You're assuming that Emerging markets don't have a share in high end phones, and that's not correct. Many now, in emerging markets spend $1000 on a phone because that's how they run their daily life. A phone is such a necessity for them especially if they use it for work. I know people who make $600/month that buy iphone 6 for $1000. That's just how the culture works really. I think the bigger issue is that you still need a monitor and keyboard...

 

[Citizen X]

I already have a Windows 10 laptop/tablet.. What advantage is Continuum to me? All the apps that are on my phone will be available on my pc/tablet.

I have an outdated laptop. Having Continuum pushes back the need to buy a new laptop. If I go to a relative or friend's place I just need a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and I'm set. Same in a hotel room assuming it is equipped with an hdmi TV.

Everything has to start somewhere. To me Continuum makes sense. As others have stated 10 years from now people will be simply plugging their phones into monitors in hotel rooms. Heck with how thin screens are getting now someone will just sell thin light weight keyboard/track pad/screen combinations for dirt cheap. You just add the phone to have a fully functional laptop. And the whole thing will break down. So if you just need the screen you take that. If you just need the keyboard you take that. Honestly for word processing, surfing the web, spreedsheets, and light photo editing you don't need a big noisy laptop.

The other question I have for all of you is how much does it cost to buy a data plan for your phone, laptop, and tablet? Think about it. Honestly if I wasn't into things like photo and video editing I would ditch my desktop and cable internet and save myself $50 a month. After a year that is $600 in savings. Actually when you say it out loud it really makes you think.

 

[snakebitten]

The early devices that support Continuum, will not do the concept justice.
So for the most part, most opinions right now apply to a crippled implementation of the vision.

I will be an early adopter of this new capability. That means I will quite literally experience it for the first time with a 950XL. But I know better than to declare success or failure based on that experience.

Put another way, under my desk, next to my cowboy boots, is a 7 year old "tower" with an Intel Quad Core and 4 gigs of ram. (4 Gigs is the limit of the motherboard chipset of that era). On top of my desk, next to one of my touchscreen monitors, is a MUCH smaller computer with a fraction of the footprint of that old desktop. It has an I5 and 16 gigs of ram and a couple of SSD drives. It crushes the performance of the tower and cost a fraction of its costs. The 950XL is smaller yet, albeit with much less than an I5 on board.

But THAT, is just a matter of time.

It's coming, regardless of what we might think today.

 

[RayWP7]

Agreed, niche feature, for sure. Just like the 40MP Pureview on the 1020 and huge screen of the 1520. Now will that be why *I* buy a W10 phone? No, but I'm certain I'll make use of it. When? As a "oh crap, no one was prepared for this meeting I was invited to? Ok, well, I can be. One minute." Not everyone keeps their SP3, S3, or laptop with them. I know I don't. But who doesn't carry their phone?

 

[MarCou]

Feature that is usefull in fantasy wonderland but totally useless in real world. No touchscreen apps and not enough horsepower to run computer apps.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[welsbloke]

Pretty sure the intention is not to replace a computer rather use your already installed Office apps in a desktop mode. This hardly sounds fanciful or useless. The few demonstrations that I have seen show useful applications for the use of Outlook and Office apps running on a normal large screen with a very useful keyboard and mouse. This to me sounds like an excellent hot desk scenario.

I am not expecting them to be running the full financial plan with the last 5 years of history in 3 million line spreadsheet but it is pretty good for those that need basic email and office functions but cannot be expected to perform this on a phone.

We will see how fanciful it finally ends up but the concept proposed is sound it will be the implementation i.e. access to cheap docking units. I would compare this to the QI chargers, they did a good job introducing the feature to the phones but take up was low until they shipped a free QI chargers.

 

[alex Anderson6]

Continuum opens the door for a new device category - host devices. We keep talking about hooking phones up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. That's not the only place this fits. With Continuum, we could have an ultra-lightweight laptop shell that combines nothing more than a display, keyboard, touchpad and battery. All of the internals would be provided by the phone. What would this mean? It could be a device that's very light, very inexpensive, and never needs replacing. Right now, when our laptop and phone get old, we have to replace them both. Continuum means that upgrading our phone could essentially give us both a new phone and a new laptop. And how many of us choose between a small screened laptop that's ideal for travel vs. a larger one that's nice to watch movies on at home or work on in the office? With Continuum, the option of having multiple notebooks at different sizes becomes more plausible, especially since they all act as one device, with the same set of apps and files.

And of course, laptops are just one class of device that could become buy once, upgrade forever thanks to Continuum. We've already identified TV's and desktop setups here. We also have the potential for tablets. I'd love to have a giant, fancy drawing tablet at home that gets an upgrade each time I buy a new phone. I'd enjoy being able to watch movies on the go on an 8" tablet that's driven wirelessly by my phone.

We talk about Continuum being worthless without apps. The truth, however, is that these devices will instantly be just as useful as another class of devices that has already proved its worth on the market - Chromebooks. The web today is full of many powerful apps for productivity, many of which can be used offline. A Continuum powered phone inherits this broad world of software and only adds to it. It has incredible value on day one.

 

[Nuno Moz]

Hi. I don't want to annoy anyone, but whoever thinks, I want this! ... I wonder why they haven't got one already ... Asus have been doing it for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzUZnlYhQzU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOJGob_5Myo

I'm pretty sure Asus will come up with something like this with Continuum for Windows Phones. GL.