Are Smartphones Becoming Too Complicated?
I was intrigued earlier this year by HP's Elite X3 , a phablet that can be used as a smartphone, tablet, and even a full PC. This 5.9-inch Windows 10 smartphone runs the new, high-powered Qualcomm 820 processor and 4GB of RAM and has 64GB of internal storage. On the surface, it's a great Windows Mobile phone, but what makes it interesting is a special docking system that turns it into a PC. Using a phablet to run full Windows applications would be difficult, but with this docking system, the X3 can be connected to a larger keyboard and monitor to serve as the CPU, OS, and application layer. The idea is not new; Motorola tried it unsuccessfully with the Atrix . And I have seen at least four or five similar designs in labs that never came to market. But HP's attempt begs a more important question: are smartphones these days just too complicated? Smartphone makers are cramming more and more functionality into smartphones, but this actually ma...