- Is Microsoft's rumored foldable PC
that fits in your pocket a little too niche for the market?
Today I'll tell you why I don't think it actually matters.
Stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
Alright for this week's rant
I just wanna talk about a topic
that I find really interesting, which is technology.
I know, it's pretty broad, right?
But I want to relate it to this Microsoft device
that's rumored to come out later this year
and the reason I'm talking about this
is because I've recently seen a lot more about it
something that we don't really wanna share
publicly just yet.
Now all technology starts off
as being things that seem really cool
but that are either too expensive
or you don't really feel like you need it.
For instance, years ago,
and I'm going to kind of date myself here
I had a pager, I had a pager in college,
and that was because there were no smartphones
or cell phones that existed yet
or at least that were available to the consumer market.
Now the question was, did I need a pager?
No, I was not a drug dealer, before you ask,
I was also not an EMT, although I did train to be an EMT,
which was interesting
and I actually didn't need one of these things
but it was like $7 a month
and I thought it was a cool way to stay in contact
with my friends and family as I was away from school.
But again I didn't need that
and a lot of people didn't need a pager.
The same thing happened a few years later
when cell phones did come out to the market.
I was one of first people to have one
in my group of friends and family.
And I didn't need it but it was cool to have
and this also went on and on
for things like, even a laptop,
I remember first seeing a laptop
and they're big, and huge, and super expensive,
at the time, I didn't even have a home PC,
and I was just thinking like,
that would be cool to have, but what would you do with it?
If you remember, when laptops first came out
they were glorified word processors
that you could take with you.
There was no internet,
there was no way to connect to things
Wi-Fi cards, Wi-Fi barely existed back at that time.
So it was kind of a weird thing to even own a laptop
'cause you just couldn't do as much with it.
Well all of this changed, even smart phones back in 2007,
I remember when the iPhone came out
and people were like, "Ohh."
You know, very excited, but by this point,
I'd been using a Treo for a few years already
and pocket PCs, and before that, I used a Dell Axim,
and all that stuff was very niche
and a lot of my friends and family
did not see the point of having those devices.
Why email on your phone?
Just wait till you get home.
Why message?
They didn't see the benefits of having a smartphone
but I saw where this stuff was gonna be very important.
Fast forward to 2018 and it would be weird for you
not to have a smartphone
and the reason I'm bringing all this up is because
everything changes with technology.
So when a new device comes out to the market, like I said,
you may not need it, and that's totally fine,
but it doesn't mean it's a bad device either
or that it can't change.
Okay so let's talk about Project Andromeda
a little bit more here, also known as this foldable PC
and what it is specifically.
I see a lot of people still refer to it
as a Surface Phone, and I kind of get that,
it can make phone calls, and it can do text messaging.
But it's not a phone
and it's not really meant to replace your phone.
It's also not a tablet
but it can kind of replace your tablet if you want it to.
It's an all new device
it is a foldable journal that fits in your pocket.
It is literally Microsoft Courier 2018.
That is the origins of this device.
I think that's super important to remember
when you think about its usage.
And there are things this device will be able to do
that Microsoft has teased before
but we haven't actually seen implemented in a real device.
There's gonna be I think a lot of cool things
that this thing will enable people to do.
Will it be good for you?
Well that's a different story, again,
going back to my examples of a pager, or a smartphone,
or a PDA back in the day,
I didn't really need any those devices
but I was pretty excited to have it
and I figured out new ways to integrate them into my life.
I think it's gonna be same situation here with this device.
Now I don't wanna get too ahead of myself here
I'm not saying this is gonna be a slam dunk.
Obviously user experience is gonna be a huge thing.
They could create the most awesome device in the world
but if the OS sucks, or if it's not fun to use,
or it gets bad battery life,
obviously it's not gonna do very well.
There's also of course the app question
and what you can do on this
but this is a pen-driven device
it's meant for note-taking,
it's meant for 3D creation
basically scanning things and putting it into the device.
It's meant for manipulation of photos and images
and creating on the go.
And yeah it's also basically a pocket PC
it can make phone calls
it can do all sorts of cool things.
But whether or not that actually affects you
remains to be seen.
And the reason I like talking about this stuff
is because as I've been seeing more
about with this device does
I'm thinking to myself, do I need this device?
And of course, I'm going to get one,
I mean, I'm gonna review it, that's my job,
but that's beside the point.
I review a lot of things
that I also don't use all the time either
but, in thinking about this device, I'm curious,
I don't know how this will actually fit into my daily life
but I'm excited about the opportunities
and things that it'll allow me to do.
First is, my handwriting is terrible
so am I going to actually enjoy writing on this thing?
I don't know.
I think that's the real big takeaway here
and I just want you guys all to step back.
You're living in an amazing time for mobile technology.
And this doesn't have to do with just Microsoft
this is Apple, this is Google, this Amazon.
Everybody is doing really amazing work here in this field
and it doesn't matter what team you believe in
it's just cool stuff
and if you don't step back and appreciate
what's actually happening
what's going to happening in the next five years,
well, you really should, 'cause this is amazing stuff.
This is things I've been thinking about and hoping to happen
ever since my first PDA, the Dell Axim, I had years ago.
When I got that I literally thought it was a pocket PC
and it wasn't, but now,
we're kinda on the cusp of all this stuff coming true
and I kind of think it's awesome, so,
we'll have to wait and see what Microsoft actually delivers.
I'm super curious about the messaging
and how they're going to sell this device.
But let's just take a step back and appreciate it
and if it's a new device category
you're gonna have to give it some room to breathe.
Remember, not everybody had a smartphone in 2007, but today,
things are very different.
Okay, that does it for this week's rant.
Now if you want more on this topic
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Thanks for watching, take care everybody.
All right for this week's Dan's Rant...
Dan's rant?
Dan rant.
Dan rant?
Or my rant, should've just said my rant.
Okay.