Titans die for technology to evolve

It was 2012 and I was still in high school beginning to develop my affinity for gadgets and in that era I was the proud owner of a Nokia X2. I remember getting so excited when I found an app that could open pdf documents on it, it was such a huge achievement.

I then went on to get a Nokia 603, one of the last Nokia devices to use Symbian OS and man oh man was it a machine! It came with Microsoft Office out of the box and could open and edit Word and Excel documents. It was the ultimate pocket PC for me at the time….Yes I didn’t have a PC….

But that is technology. It is ever changing and ever evolving. Its a good story yes to me the end user I mean technology is making life easier for me. However boy is it a headache for industry titans. To them it is a true testament of you either evolve or die.

I mean Nokia was the king at some point up until it got bust and was bought by Microsoft who then sold it to HMD Global. It went from Symbian to Windows to Android all in a matter of just 5 years. Might be the ultimate fight for survival by a brand ever in history. A big brand too. Complacency maybe?

Let’s jump to 2015. Microsoft released the Lumia 950 and 950XL with an interesting technology that they branded Microsoft Continuum which is basically a way of using your smartphone as a desktop computer once you hook it up to a monitor or a television.

The whole thing would work with a $100 dock that interfaced between your phone and the monitor with some ports too for keyboards and mice and the like.

2017 rolls in with Samsung bringing in their own version under the name Samsung Dex that operates the same way that Microsoft Continuum does but this time running Android. Again you need a $100 dock to enjoy the desktop experience.

Then came Huawei with the Mate 10 series offering their own variant of this desktop experience powered by a smartphone called EMUI Desktop which requires a more reasonable USB-C to HDMI adapter to make it work. Again…this is running Android.

If I were Microsoft I would be worried. Or I would have something in the works. Android is on the road to bringing the desktop to everyone with an Android device which might not be a big story now but for a light PC user this mobile/desktop feature is going to push a basic laptop to just being an anomaly.

I say light PC user because smartphones don’t have the horsepower to handle intense desktop tasks YET, but these darn things are getting increasingly capable with each coming generation.

Microsoft is a PC operating system titan. But titans have fallen before. Do you see yourself using your phone as a PC?