[rolltide78]

Heins said in that NYT interview that a BB10 phone can be a laptop/desktop replacement in 3 to 5 years hooking it up to a mouse/keyboard/display. Now you already can pretty much do this with the PlayBook and Citrix Receiver. My question right now though is if you do try to do this next year with a BB10 phone would you be able to have dual monitor support somehow? Also, what other enterprise/home laptop/desktop replacement features do you all think they have baked into BB10 or at least on the roadmap?

[ubizmo]

Good question. External monitor support seems feasible, possibly right from the start. I think a key feature set will be a productivity suite with cloud support. If you can get at the same files from the phone or from the laptop, and perform all or most of the same operations on them (editing, collaborating, etc.) then you're more than halfway there.

[RECOOL]

Wooah lets slow down I'll get back to you when I see the evolution happening each year talk is easy and cheap.

[anon(3896606)]

External monitor definitely, it has a micro-HDMI cable.
Not sure about dual-monitor.

[uglyduckly]

With my previous Nokia N8 i could do that: External monitor (TV) + mouse and/or keyboard.

[texazzpete]

I kinda wonder what jobs you folks do that a lowly ARM processor can be your productivity device.
Even with the most aggressive ARM milestones being achieved, I fail to see how this will be powerful enough to fit the needs of many users (and run specialized software) unless you're a tech journalist whose work is mainly in a browser.

[Rickroller]

Heins said in that NYT interview that a BB10 phone can be a laptop/desktop replacement in 3 to 5 years hooking it up to a mouse/keyboard/display.

In 3-5 years? This can be accomplished now with other phones (depending on how intensive your work load is). I've used my already 1 year old Gnex in this fashion already..

[ubizmo]

I kinda wonder what jobs you folks do that a lowly ARM processor can be your productivity device.
Even with the most aggressive ARM milestones being achieved, I fail to see how this will be powerful enough to fit the needs of many users (and run specialized software) unless you're a tech journalist whose work is mainly in a browser.

For me, a big part of my job involves handling emails, being able to do things on BlackBoard (educational web app suite), and collaborating on documents with committee members. I can do all of this fairly well on Android, but I'd gladly move to a mobile platform that does them better. With the exception of email handling, BBOS doesn't get the job done as well. My use of BlackBoard may be job-specific, but collaboration on documents must be a fairly common job-related activity. BB10 just needs to do it well.

[rolltide78]

From a security perspective BB10/BlackBerry sets itself apart because when tied to BES you are for all purposes behind the corporate firewall already so your phone could technically be just like a laptop assuming it has features to RDP, view File Shares, access Sharepoint, etc. I'm an admin so remotely administering servers and getting things done quickly is paramount. I just see BB10 has a huge opportunity here to fill the "non compromising device" status from a mobile device perspective. iPads/Androids are natively insecure so you are forced to work behind walls such as a Good for Enterprise solution or mobile iron, etc which is very annoying because you can't use the native applications. BB10 is different because you have access to the entire device because it is secured (obviously excluding the Personal perimeter). I can do a lot of what I need to do from the PlayBook using Citrix Receiver and the HDMI out as well as keyboard support but the issue is Enterprise feature support built in (file share access, apps, etc specifically for Enterprise). If I could connect a BB10 phone to my LCD along with a keyboard and mouse and be able to connect to my internal corporate Windows network and use tools to manage the systems I already manage with a Windows laptop and it not be cumbersome I'd be sold! With the PlayBook we are close but are lacking the built in Enterprise features. I hope this helps clear up my perspective of the real productivity opportunities of BB10 compared to non real productivity devices such as the iPad and Android. I'll reiterate the fact that mouse support is one killer feature that no one else has!

[rolltide78]

In 3-5 years? This can be accomplished now with other phones (depending on how intensive your work load is). I've used my already 1 year old Gnex in this fashion already..

Try managing a windows server or system on an Android/iPad device without a mouse...

[texazzpete]

For me, a big part of my job involves handling emails, being able to do things on BlackBoard (educational web app suite), and collaborating on documents with committee members. I can do all of this fairly well on Android, but I'd gladly move to a mobile platform that does them better. With the exception of email handling, BBOS doesn't get the job done as well. My use of BlackBoard may be job-specific, but collaboration on documents must be a fairly common job-related activity. BB10 just needs to do it well.

Well, I'm a Petroleum Engineer...and most of our software (reservoir simulation, production optimization etc) are very CPU intensive tasks. I'm using a quad core desktop with 32GB RAM right now. I don't see any ARM device providing that level of power in the next couple of years.

[kill_9]

Wooah lets slow down I'll get back to you when I see the evolution happening each year talk is easy and cheap.

With the increasing availability of web-based applications used by organizations and individuals the transition to an office-in-your-hands scenario for many workers Heins understands the future. No, he is not a psychic nor a prophet. The recent demonstration by Canonical of a Motorola smartphone runniing Google Android and Ubuntu Linux connected to a hub device with USB keyboard and mouse and HDMI video output to a monitor.

[badiyee85]

Well QNXwill run on any given processor architecture, i won't be surprised if RIM tags team with INTEL over their reputably "praiseworthy" Haswell line-up, or unless AMD can pull out major value proposition, 3-5 years is 'overextending' the projection of eventuality.

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk HD

[texazzpete]

Well QNXwill run on any given processor architecture, i won't be surprised if RIM tags team with INTEL over their reputably "praiseworthy" Haswell line-up, or unless AMD can pull out major value proposition, 3-5 years is 'overextending' the projection of eventuality.

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk HD

Haswell will enable powerful, fanless Windows 8 tablets. That should turn the tablet market on its ear once again.

[Superfly_FR]

I believe we are in the context of "everyday usage" as for reading (web, documents, mail, social ...), gaming, multimedia and some capabilities in the creation area (revise/modify a document, validate a workflow, create video and pictures). These "simple tasks" will probably slide from the desktop world to the mobile one. What I mean is that (as texazzpete stated) beside the power, you also need peripherals that would ruin the "mobile" concept.
More than a replacement, I'll call this efficient substitution: when in mobility, you can use your device instead of your desktop. Now, try to edit a Photoshop on a tablet ... can be done, but either very painful and long or limited in quality.

[ubizmo]

Well, I'm a Petroleum Engineer...and most of our software (reservoir simulation, production optimization etc) are very CPU intensive tasks. I'm using a quad core desktop with 32GB RAM right now. I don't see any ARM device providing that level of power in the next couple of years.

Agreed. For my work, I can get away with a low-end laptop. Any kind of work that mainly involves producing, editing, and handling texts of different sorts should present few problems to ARM devices. The UI is where the rubber meets the road, for this sort of thing. A simple thing like having a browser that can load and use the BlackBoard web suite is vitally important for many academics. If I can do that from my phone, I don't have to take a tablet or laptop along. I'm unlikely to write a book on my phone, but I have wanted to make edits to books I'm working on. If I'm working on a project with colleagues on a committee, a report can go through many rounds of edits and comments. Being able to view edits and comments on my phone is a huge advantage.

But for jobs that require heavy-duty specialized software, that's probably still a ways off.

[texazzpete]

Agreed. For my work, I can get away with a low-end laptop. Any kind of work that mainly involves producing, editing, and handling texts of different sorts should present few problems to ARM devices. The UI is where the rubber meets the road, for this sort of thing. A simple thing like having a browser that can load and use the BlackBoard web suite is vitally important for many academics. If I can do that from my phone, I don't have to take a tablet or laptop along. I'm unlikely to write a book on my phone, but I have wanted to make edits to books I'm working on. If I'm working on a project with colleagues on a committee, a report can go through many rounds of edits and comments. Being able to view edits and comments on my phone is a huge advantage.

But for jobs that require heavy-duty specialized software, that's probably still a ways off.

Yeah, ARM is catching up pretty fast in terms of processing speed.

The BIG issue is battery life. For mobile devices, even if one could shrink down a powerful chipset into a phone sized enclosure, heat would be an issue. If you manage to overcome heat, battery life will take a hit.
Nobody will buy an extremely powerful phone that will not last 3 hours of normal use.

The biggest area CRYING for innovation is batteries. That's still the holy grail of mobile development. The person who re-invents the battery tech will be a very rich man indeed.

[rolltide78]

I'm not talking about on the road laptop/desktop replacement. I'm talking about me walking in my office home/work and putting my phone in some sort of a dock that also attaches to a tv/monitor and being able to work on my network from a BES attached device and not have to compromise. I'm sure the peripheral stuff will take care of itself with other accessories like a dock. I'm really looking for features built in and these features to be easy to use and to work well.

[Rickroller]

Try managing a windows server or system on an Android/iPad device without a mouse...

And why wouldn't you be able to use a mouse with Android? It's called BT.. And I've used it plenty..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[skyrocket9]

I use Auto Cad and solidworks.

Would never work on bb10

[TgeekB]

Yeah, ARM is catching up pretty fast in terms of processing speed.

The BIG issue is battery life. For mobile devices, even if one could shrink down a powerful chipset into a phone sized enclosure, heat would be an issue. If you manage to overcome heat, battery life will take a hit.
Nobody will buy an extremely powerful phone that will not last 3 hours of normal use.

The biggest area CRYING for innovation is batteries. That's still the holy grail of mobile development. The person who re-invents the battery tech will be a very rich man indeed.

Wow, is this ever true. It will truly change the game.

[anon(4018671)]

I use Auto Cad and solidworks.

Would never work on bb10

You can using Citrix. But you or your company would need to run a Citrix server. So obviously not 100% practical but definitely possible.

[skyrocket9]

You can using Citrix. But you or your company would need to run a Citrix server. So obviously not 100% practical but definitely possible.

It's a industry wide system not just my firm. All engineers use auto cad or solid works and various other programs.

[mikeo007]

You can using Citrix. But you or your company would need to run a Citrix server. So obviously not 100% practical but definitely possible.

Autocad or Solidworks over Citrix? Ugh, just the thought of that makes my skin crawl. Latency and terrible framerates would make it nearly impossible.

[aragone79]

Autocad or Solidworks over Citrix? Ugh, just the thought of that makes my skin crawl. Latency and terrible framerates would make it nearly impossible.

I thought citrix is only for the data unification and synchronization but not to run heavy software like AutoCAD. CMIIW.
You've got the point Mike, that latency and framerates will be the major problems.