I have friends that read books on their iPhone… I haven’t tried it to be honest, but not sure I could…
I’d like to see some of the brains of these things converge. Why does my tablet have a processor and separate 3g connection? Why couldn’t my phone doc with my tablet which has a screen, input, and additional solid state memory, letting the phone take on the processing and connectivity functions? I want “my processor” that powers the thinking functionality on all of my devices.
I have concepts of this in my sketchbook…as I am sure many other Designers do as well. It seems to be a holy grail of sorts for those working in this convergence realm. Why it hasn’t happened until now…at least my guess, is a trifecta of size, reliability, ease of use.
Under the category of size falls battery power and the physical size and processing power of the PCB. Not to mention all of the RF and interconnectivity issues you’d have with all the high speed electronics in there.
I would imagine that this concept is being stirred in several pots already. Especially judging from the convertible tablets that are coming on the market…but I agree with you Yo…why can’t my iPhone be the brains of my netbook, notebook, tablet and desktop? Let alone my TV…car…credit card…house etc. etc.
No offence, but I really dont want to end up here:
Oxgen Audio O'Car (Medpi 2010) - YouTube (I tried everything but dont know how to embed the video)
edit - everything after the “=” i.e. __AmFiyD-Yg by: Lmo
On that note, I find it funy that you cant be on the cell or text in a lot of cities, nor can you have moving images. However, this is somehow legal?! I Cant wait to be hit head on from some 16 year old trying to find their Lady Gaga and Beiber… 
Convergence?
sorry … . couldn’t resist.
It is rather sickening…photos like that one.
Yeah… kinda… .
But I suppose if all of these devices converge their doing so might have the beneficial side effect of eventually eliminating the waste created by their constituents. Unless of course “good enough” isn’t , and we still need the other stuff … to be good enough (high fidelity sound, books, cameras, etc.)
Was thinking about this today… holiday reflections around here… remember when you didn’t even have a cell phone… when there was just 13 TV channels, a taping something on fuzzy VHS was amazing?
Expand the aperture on the remembering a little and you’ll see the bigger trend is toward progress, even if your phone “only” has Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio and 5-megapixel still camera… remember 5 years ago when 5 megapixel was amazing! Our expectations increase very quickly, not arguing for good enough, just that in a year these issues will be fixed and new ones will arrive.
There are 2 things I’m concerned with:
competition in the hardware/software integration space. The newest Samsungs and HTCs are nice (though those bigger screens mean bigger form factors) and I’d like to play with a new windows phone, but still not the holistic brand immersion of the Apple closed system which I think is actually a positive (I know I’m in the minority for admitting that, but there is a reason their physical and digital experience is better, and I think it’s their closed approach). Someone needs to take a holistic approach to hardware and software across multiple devices to compete with them to up the ante.
service plans. If I have a laptop, tablet and phone all with 4g connections do I really need 3 service plans? Realistically I’m using data on all 3 devices at the same time, just bill me $50 a month to use your towers, not per device. And, TEXTS are DATA.
I think our lower expectations hurt us most in those two areas.
My argument was leading toward contrasting “analog vs digital” notions of convergence, which is getting away from the OP topic.
Anyhow - I totally agree that having several different connection methods when they are all essentially doing the same thing is ridiculous. If we say ‘convergence’ relies on digital integration of analog sources then there’s no reason to expect anything but one big fat cloud-pipe (“wind-organ”) that delivers everything.
Ah, analog vs digital, got you. It all comes down to the old “Faster Better Ceaper pick two” While mp3s don’t have the quality of vinyl, vinyl dowdy have the portability of mp3s. It is all tradeoffs and compromise based on the best possible solution for the most possible users. I’d rather have 4000 songs with me on my China trip than a nice vinyl collection at home. Same with cameras. The ability to have amazing film pictures (if you know what your doing) vs the ability to see, modify, print, and email images immediately… The quality will go up though over time for sure.
Another thing that interests me is the idea of purchasing the right to listen to the song vs the medium. If I bought the Beatle’s White Album on vinyl, and then upgrades to cassette, and then upgraded to CD, and now MP3s, I’ve bought the same songs 4 times. Sems like I should be able to buy the right to listen to the song and when some super HQ digital file comes out I shouldn’t have to buy it again, or pay a blower upgrade price.
One of the best music purchasing experiences I’ve had recently was buying Neko Case’s ‘Middle Cyclone’ on high-quality vinyl (to be played on a 1970’s B&O linear turntable, naturally) and also receiving a coupon, inside the record jacket, for a 224 kbps download of the tracks. The whole purchase price was 50% higher than buying just the tracks digitally. I’m too young to be a retro-grouch, but wow, large-format record album artwork feels like a luxury these days. Converge that! 
iPad.
Think interactive album artwork. Not something cheesy like “Click here to read our blog!”, but something more abstract and interactive…
And really, isn’t everything some form of compromise? Before vinyl, there was wax cylinders, before that gramophones and player pianos,… Even the best vinyl set up isn’t as good as having a real pianist or orchestra in your house, but we all have to compromise a bit for convenience, no?
R
On a side note, I saw the latest Barnes & Noble color Nook in the store today. It looks pretty nice. I like the folded corner inspires detail in the lower left hand corner of the device.