[Omar9399]

As Microsoft announce the continuum for phone I see no future in it like wise
--who gonna use their mobile device to connect to external monitor+ keyboard+ mouse
just to use the app in big screen.
-- whats is the practical use of continuum? every one has laptop/desktop/tablets/2in1.
-- Microsoft need to bring features like "Handoff", "WiFi Direct"(old but useful) etc.
to compete with IOS/Lagdroid.

[theefman]

Neither do I. Its a novelty, a niche within a niche. Only power users will really be attracted to this feature and these users are more likely to have some other type of companion device, like a tablet or laptop, negating its usefulness. It'll work in a pinch but wont be the primary method of getting work done. Plus I don't see the appeal to the average consumer as this is geared mostly towards being productive so ultimately its appeal will be limited.

[ygtgngr]

I remember that Ubuntu tried to advertise this ability for their phone OS back in time. Well, now the OS is probably dead I don't know about the current state. But it means that people (at least some) was/is interested in the idea that their phone to turn into a "pc"...

[Laura Knotek]

I think Continuum will be very useful in Enterprises. I don't see it as a consumer feature. However, Microsoft has a huge presence in Enterprise, so even if we as consumers don't use it, it will still be a game changer.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

[Omar9399]

I think Continuum will be very useful in Enterprises

How?

[Laura Knotek]

How?

Presentations and business meetings.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

[ashram]

ever forget to charge a tablet or laptop before a presentation? Ever run out in a hurry and forgot your laptop or tablet (i did this morning)? rather use a phone than an apple product? i could go on and on. in the end, it's something that most may not use, but the ones who do will love it!

[Don Geronimo]

Some things I can see on the consumer side, considering there's a significant growth of people who can accomplish the majority of the things they needed a computer for in the past with their smart phones now, is that they only need one device that can store all their usage and communique. Whenever they need a situation where they need the advantages a bigger screen, keyboard, and mouse can provide, they can simply "dock" their phone into something that will provide the screen and input devices to work in a more traditional PC setting. It could/would save money for a consumer who does not need the features of an actual computer because all they would need to buy now is a phone, a keyboard, a mouse, and a screen. The mouse might not even be necessary if the phone itself could be used as a track pad for Continuum's desktop.

For enterprise:

• Using a Windows Phone with Continuum support would be cheaper than provisioning disposable systems if all the business professional needs is a web browser and office. It would be less costly to have to do an emergency dispose since all you're losing is the phone, not to mention the Workplace account set up could remotely wipe the contents of it to prevent sensitive information from getting into wrong hands.
• It'll be cheaper than buying mass volumes of laptops and ultrabooks, especially if they make a "dock" in the future that resembles a traditional laptop/ultrabook.
• Presentations can be had using the phone itself on a big screen (like a Surface Hub or other Miracast-capable device), with the phone acting like a remote control--Office Remote style.
• Company data per person would be centralized in one device instead of multiple devices, thus reducing the complexity of figuring out who had what device at what time, and where data is--particularly when coupled with cloud services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive (in Office there's support for that, AFAIK, now), SharePoint, etc.

For all people:

• Futurist thinking, to be sure, but just imagine stateless machines in the cloud (like Azure, EC2, etc.) that take input from a device running Continuum, will process it with the power provided by a datacenter of machines, and return the data to the device. Assuming a good Internet connection, even computationally expensive tasks can be performed on a Phone, and properly developed apps (like proper uses of Asynchronous Programming) would still feel smooth, despite all the number crunching being offloaded to a separate cloud SaaS/PaaS. Kinda like what the Xbox One can do (Forza, for example, with their Drivatars).

There's a lot of things that Continuum could open up, in theory. In practice and in reality, we'll see.

[aximtreo]

I see this capability as one that could be described as trickle down benefit. I agree that this would be really more useful for enterprise customers but I agree also that if it's available cross platform, more people will use it. I think it's a sleeper benefit for Windows for all platforms.

[Kram Sacul]

[Omar9399]

This is the funniest thing I ever saw. What's the point of carrying a laptop sized monitor and keyboard and connect your phone just yo use office apps?

[EssThree]

Continuum is ahead of its time, that's why it appears useless or a novelty now. Phones are already rivaling low end PCs as far as specifications go, it's only a matter of time where they start rivalling mid to high end. Once that happens you will have a pocket sized device with the power of a desktop.

The idea is "why bother with having a dedicated desktop PC when your phone can fill that role?", and I think that will be a valid question in the coming years.

[SamJHannan]

This is the funniest thing I ever saw. What's the point of carrying a laptop sized monitor and keyboard and connect your phone just yo use office apps?

I would imagine it would be much much lighter.

[falconrap]

This is the way a lot of people will eventually carry around their computers. At home, you could have a dock that is connected to a traditional sized keyboard and mouse. Then you could have a small, fold-able cover that goes with you similar to a Surface type cover inability, but able to be folded up and put in the pocket. for people constantly on the go who don't want to carry around a laptop, or who can't afford one, this will be huge. For business executives, they go have their phone as their primary PC and take everything with them, wherever they go. They could even sell a very thin, lightweight laptop that is merely the display, keyboard/touchpad, and battery that you can slide the phone into (similar but more compact than the Motorola one shown above).

Yes, Motorola did try this with Android, but it didn't fail because of the concept...it failed because 1) underpowered phone compared to where it needs to be and 2) Android. Android is just NOT a replacement for full Windows. This is full Windows available on your phone, minus the Desktop. But with all the core MS apps going Universal, and many other long time biggies like Adobe making Universal apps as well (and the ability for VS to recompile Win32 and .Net apps to Universal apps) everything you use on your desktop (for the majority at least) will be available to use on your phone. So why carry a full laptop around or get desktop PC's for your employees, when you can just by them a phone with dock, monitor, keyboard, and mouse?

Asking this question 10 years from now will probably seem like a "what the heck was I thinking?" kind of question. The phone as your primary PC will be common in 10 years. It already is in less developed countries.

[Stephen Burysek]

Agreed. It will require a different way of thinking but it is inevitable that more and more people will use their phone for the vast majority of their computer needs.

[Wam1q]

Adobe making Universal apps as well (and the ability for VS to recompile Win32 and .Net apps to Universal apps) everything you use on your desktop (for the majority at least) will be available to use on your phone. So why carry a full laptop around or get desktop PC's for your employees, when you can just by them a phone with dock, monitor, keyboard, and mouse?

Desktop apps will not compile to be installable on phones. They'll still be desktop-only apps for Intel-powered Windows machines. They'll only be available for download from the Store and updated from there.

[pericle]

This is why I think that Continuum is not going to a game changer. What's the point if you still have to carry something that resembles a laptop around with you to get any work done? Might as well just get an Ultrabook and you can use full Windows.

Most of the use case scenarios are very niche in nature or for emergencies which means most people won't use it after the novelty wears off. It's just something that looks great when you look at it, but not very useful for everyday use.

[hotphil]

I think it's less about having to carry a bigger pane of glass with you, more about being able to show your apps, with your data, your config etc on any supported pane of glass.

[Harrie-S]

It's not a game changer but it will be a "great" feature which can and will be used in commercials. Same as for example Lumia Camera 5 . It has some nice features like faster loading but the 4K video is more a gimmick then a daily used feature (for the majority of users).

[jlzimmerman]

As Microsoft announce the continuum for phone I see no future in it like wise
--who gonna use their mobile device to connect to external monitor+ keyboard+ mouse
just to use the app in big screen.
-- whats is the practical use of continuum? every one has laptop/desktop/tablets/2in1.
-- Microsoft need to bring features like "Handoff", "WiFi Direct"(old but useful) etc.
to compete with IOS/Lagdroid.

If MS only projects the phone UI to a monitor then yeah. But if MS makes its the UI more PC-like when it is plugged into a monitor/keyboard I will be all over it. I would pay big coin to have a phone that would double as a PC when plugged into the correct peripherals. I will be in the market for a new PC when W10 comes out and this would be a dream.

IMO, it is easily justifiable to spend a few hundred dollars on a phone with the specs to be a usable PC.

[Yazen]

This is the way a lot of people will eventually carry around their computers. At home, you could have a dock that is connected to a traditional sized keyboard and mouse. Then you could have a small, fold-able cover that goes with you similar to a Surface type cover inability, but able to be folded up and put in the pocket. for people constantly on the go who don't want to carry around a laptop, or who can't afford one, this will be huge. For business executives, they go have their phone as their primary PC and take everything with them, wherever they go. They could even sell a very thin, lightweight laptop that is merely the display, keyboard/touchpad, and battery that you can slide the phone into (similar but more compact than the Motorola one shown above).

Yes, Motorola did try this with Android, but it didn't fail because of the concept...it failed because 1) underpowered phone compared to where it needs to be and 2) Android. Android is just NOT a replacement for full Windows. This is full Windows available on your phone, minus the Desktop. But with all the core MS apps going Universal, and many other long time biggies like Adobe making Universal apps as well (and the ability for VS to recompile Win32 and .Net apps to Universal apps) everything you use on your desktop (for the majority at least) will be available to use on your phone. So why carry a full laptop around or get desktop PC's for your employees, when you can just by them a phone with dock, monitor, keyboard, and mouse?

Asking this question 10 years from now will probably seem like a "what the heck was I thinking?" kind of question. The phone as your primary PC will be common in 10 years. It already is in less developed countries.

1. Could it be that people prefer the experience over polymorphism? Asus PadFone never really took off either.

2a. WinRT apps (Universal Apps) are not even full Windows on the desktop OS. WinRT is an extended subset of Win32 on Intel devices. Moreover, a budget Intel N2920 based device crunches numbers 10 times as fast as a S801. Mobile devices are optimized for mobile computing, and are very fast at it.

2b. The only reason why Continuum is feasible is the fact that the world is changing the way it computes. Mobile is rapidly becoming the future of computing.

Continuum is pretty cool, but I do not see it revolutionizing anyone whose work does not require mobile computing.

[Gamely Lounges]

I see this as a really cool feature. Phones are becoming very powerful computing devices. I foresee a point in the not too distant future when the phone will be powerful enough to do most of the things most people want. Surely there will come a time soon when almost everything you need to do (computationally) will be possible using your little pocketable computer. Phoning. Video conferencing. Office docs. Presentations. Streaming, gaming and entertainment. Some people, like developers and artists, may need real high power computing devices. But most people do not have those high requirements. So at this time the majority of people would have their requirements meet by this single small device. It is only logical that we be able to dock our device to the appropriate peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, mobile, etc.

To me it is crystal clear that this is coming soon in the future. I hope MS can lead the industry and get us there. Continuum is the awkward teenage phase. It may not work perfectly. But I think it is going to start us down the right path.

[HoosierDaddy]

-who gonna use their mobile device to connect to external monitor+ keyboard+ mouse
just to use the app in big screen.

Someone who doesn't want to have a PC tying up space, eating electricity, interfering with the decorating, etc. I have numerous PCs at home and will definitely be eliminating at least one when and if I have a phone that supports Continuum.

whats is the practical use of continuum? every one has laptop/desktop/tablets/2in1.

I hope you don't come to the same end that Marie Antoinette did when she expressed that philosophy.

There are people who don't have those or who would rather spend the money on something else, maybe even bread.

It might not be for a lot of people but then again, maybe it will. I recall people saying why should I get a smart phone? I already have a flip phone and a Palm Pilot?

But be careful that you don't become "that" person who says something isn't important if its just for a few (who "coincidentally" don't include you). I'm just guessing but suspect you don't like it when your carrier tells you it won't be selling the WP you want or some developer won't port an app because not enough people want it.

[Harrie-S]

Someone who doesn't want to have a PC tying up space, eating electricity, interfering with the decorating, etc. I have numerous PCs at home and will definitely be eliminating at least one when and if I have a phone that supports Continuum.

I hope you don't come to the same end that Marie Antoinette did when she expressed that philosophy.

There are people who don't have those or who would rather spend the money on something else, maybe even bread.

It might not be for a lot of people but then again, maybe it will. I recall people saying why should I get a smart phone? I already have a flip phone and a Palm Pilot?

But be careful that you don't become "that" person who says something isn't important if its just for a few (who "coincidentally" don't include you). I'm just guessing but suspect you don't like it when your carrier tells you it won't be selling the WP you want or some developer won't port an app because not enough people want it.

I agree with you apart from
"There are people who don't have those or who would rather spend the money (on something else), maybe even bread."

People who have to spend there money on bread also don't have money to buy a "Continuum" phone because this will not be a low end phone.

[HoosierDaddy]

I agree with you apart from
"There are people who don't have those or who would rather spend the money (on something else), maybe even bread."

People who have to spend there money on bread also don't have money to buy a "Continuum" phone because this will not be a low end phone.

I agree it won't be on low end phones.... at first. But neither were a lot of other things that have trickled down over time. Plus you may be forgetting the millions who receive 10-15 free smartphones under the lifeline program. I can see trading most or all of them in for a single high end phone. I wouldn't even be surprised if the govt offered that as an option! LoL