How sad...

[dkjones96]

I had what I would call my first decent computer about 10 years ago. It was an upgrade from a 486DX4-100 overclocked to 133 and in comparison it hauled!

The computer was as follows:
AMD K6-2-350 overclocked to 495(could never break the 500MHz barrier)
64MB PC100 SDRAM
10GB 5400 rpm ATA-66(watch out!)
RivaTNT 16MB 90MHz overclocked to 130MHz

I needed water cooling to achieve those numbers and the video card still ran hot.

Well, I got a new cell phone about 2 weeks ago and this is its specifications:
800MHz ARM11 Processor
288MB RAM (not sure of speed but I know it is DDR at 8.5Gbps while PC100 was ~1.8)
512MB Internal Flash ROM and an 8GB MicroSD card until the 32GB is available Q1 2010

It also has a dedicated video processor in the cpu running 133MHz. It can do 9 million triangles per second while the TNT did 6 million(without overclock).

Easily 1.5-2x the performance in a package that fits in my pocket.

My current desktop cost me about as much to build a year ago, has all air cooling, and sucks maybe 1/2 as much power both when under full load and when idling than the k6-2 system did:
E6550 Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz @ 3.23 GHz
4GB PC2 1066
150GB 10,000RPM Raptor system drive and 500GB storage/document drive
GeForce 8800GTS 650MHz @ 750 w/ 512MB DDR2

[bobc455]

Blows my Atari 800 out of the water, that's for sure

(1.99 kHz, 48kB ram, ~96k floppy drive plus tape drive) (but it has FOUR joystick ports!)

-BC

[theholycow]

All that power, and I bet it's still slow to boot up and load apps.

[Jay2TheRescue]

My first PC was a Pentium 100 running Windows 95. I had upgraded the memory to 136 mb (system max), a 32x CD ROM, and a 3 gig hard drive. My new cell phone blows that out of the water too.

HTC Pure: Processor 528 Mhz, 236 Mb Ram, 8 Gig storage card, Windows Mobile Professional Version 6.5

Then again, if we compare that to my Commodore 64, then that's a HUGE difference.

[dkjones96]

You can compare these to your Commodore 64



My phone is the Moment from Samsung. It runs Android and is shockingly quick at everything I've thrown at it so far. I'm used to my Q which had delays and lockups every time I tried doing stuff on it like watching videos and playing games. Stupid WM5. The fact that they NEVER upgraded that phone to WM6 even though the hardware was essentially the same as the Q9 series which did come with it was enough to make me not want a Motorola again.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Win Mo 5 wasn't bad on my HTC Tilt. Then again that phone was so hacked and running a custom OS (as all my phones eventually do), I often said if someone put a "normal" version of Windows on it, it'd blow up. There's a lot of support for hacking all the HTC devices, and I had seen where someone had modified a version of WinMo 6 to run on my Tilt, but I was happy with WinMo 5 as I had it setup that I had no reason to do it. If you check the Motorola hacking websites you may find someone cooking WinMo 6 for the earlier Q models.

I was very big on hacking my Motorola phones. I hacked my V551's (I have 2), all of my V3's (I have 5 or 6), My V180, my A845, and my mother's old L2. Motorolas are great for their build quality, hackibility, and signal strength. I would upload the phone's OS to my computer, make changes with a hex editor, then upload it back to the phone. I had the full test & engineering modes enabled on all the phones. Its really fun to call 611 to report a network problem, and tell them "The tower that uses control channel 0632 is down". Then the CS rep always wants to know how I know. I just tell them its complicated, but just put the info on the ticket, along with my cell number if your network techs have any more questions...

[dkjones96]

I had no issues with their build quality. After 2 years the only issue it had was that the HV circuit for the backlight got so loud other people could hear it when I was using my phone so I swapped it out.

My problems were mostly software and a lack of hardware capability. I really wanted to have a single device for everything but calls wouldn't come through at times when playing MP3s, I couldn't just plug in headphones without an adapter, no WiFi, the OS had problems multitasking and the hardware had just as much trouble keeping up, and even though the SD slots were identical between it and the Q9 there was not even a simple update to allow SDHC cards to be used in it so you were stuck with 2GB of storage... Not that much space when you start really using it!

It was probably because it didn't get much of a following though. With other brands out there being more capable at the same time and the Q9 coming out not too long after people didn't even bother messing with the Q and I don't see it ever happening. Especially with open source operating systems out there coming into play for phones now.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by dkjones96

My problems were mostly software and a lack of hardware capability. I really wanted to have a single device for everything but {...}

Me too. Although I believe it's quite possible to create a decent all-in-one device, it seems that nobody really wants to do that.

First and foremost: Calls and texts must come through. I must be notified of them and be able to accept them without canceling whatever else I'm doing or muting it while it still runs; the process must be suspended, and resumed when I'm ready.

Connectors and interfaces (physical AND software) must be standard. I don't mind using a 3.5mm->2.5mm adapter for my earphones; it can stay stuck to the end of the cord permanently for all I care. I hate proprietary connectors and platforms.

Interface must be convenient, intuitive, and easy to operate by feel. This is a large concern when using a phone as an mp3 player while driving.

Battery must support everything for a decent run time.

Those are a few concerns I can remember off the top of my head.

[VetteOwner]

haha we currently have sittin in our basement a 086, 186, 2 286's and about 2-3 486's, P1 166mhz, P2 300mhz, and a p4 2.4 ghz.

we have this weird thing that it says its a "computer" that hooked into your TV as the monitor. its about the size of a DVD case. haha has an add on ram pack in the back that boasts its 16mb add on capability.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I'm sure if I dug around my parent's basement I could find an 8086 and an 8088.