Can the iPhone Replace Your Laptop?

can object x replace object y is dependent on what you do with object x. To replace a laptop with a phone is only possible if you do not have to do those things that a laptop is reasonably good at, displaying things on a larger screen and any amount of data entry.<p>If the answers are 'no' to both, in other words you only do stuff that you'd be happy to look at through a phones reduced display and do not do any significant data entry then the answer is 'possibly', but you'd still have to at least try it before you make the switch on a permanent basis.<p>Personally - as a software developer - I already find a laptop with its sub-size keyboard and screen a very limiting environment, I only use it for the most urgent stuff (using a 3G modem), anything else can wait until I'm behind a decent screen &#38; keyboard.

No, it is a Swiss army knife. I love my first generation iPhone - it allows me to occupy myself for a finite, battery and/or attention-bounded amount of time when stuck in line, on the train, bored at a work event. But sometimes you need a real chef's knife for real tasks. Like coding

For the past few months I’ve been having trouble with my laptop, so I’ve had to fall back on my first-gen iPhone as my main computer.<p>While it’s capable of quite a lot, it is not a substitute for a real computer and I don’t think anything in its form factor ever could be—primarily due to the small screen inherent to mobile phones. The iPhone’s way of zooming in on text blocks is certainly helpful, and better than the ‘dumbphone‘ method of showing a few dozen characters per screen, but it’s a less than ideal way to read anything of length.<p>Let’s get to work on those holographic displays.

I've only had my iPhone since the 3GS launched (so barely two full weeks) but I've already stopped taking my laptop with me when I work out of town.<p>I used to lug my laptop around as more of a precautionary measure and not out of necessity. But with decent SSH, FTP and other "sys admin" apps available for the iPhone my laptop is now collecting dust in a closet.

Yes. I know this because my wife's cousin, who is 12, said he wanted an iPod touch for Christmas because it can do everything a laptop does: facebook, IM, etc. I was floored when I heard that and it hit it home for me how big iPhone devices will be in the future.

I can't type for shit on my iPhone touch because the keys are too tiny for my fingers. So no.

Yeah, if they make the keyboard and screen as big as my laptop's keyboard and screen. I can't see doing any type of serious development on an iPhone.

I think the iPhone could definitely replace a laptop for me, since I already use a desktop Mac for the heavy lifting stuff development and editing films.<p>For me the keyboard is the only missing piece.<p>I had a Palm Zire and a fold-up Targus keyboard and that satisfied my mobile needs for quite awhile (until some idiot stole it out of my car, probably thinking it was an iPod...).

The iphone can replace a laptop if it resolves/provides the following features:<p>- docking station to connect to larger screen/kb/hd<p>- enables flash<p>- integrates with more email providers<p>- provides 4G<p>- comes with tactile keyboard<p>- longer battery life<p>- works with multiple mobile carriers<p>All of the above seems feasible by the 3rd of 4th generation of iphone.

Yes. I have an Android phone, and have been running around, meetings/interviews, writing emails, browsing the web, maps, etc. non stop. And I never missed my laptop.<p>I have a desktop at home though, to do real work, but while on the go, the Android has been fantastic. You can do almost everything you can with a normal computer.

I hope so, at least for a few days, because the hard drive on my MacBook just went sour.

Until I can hook my iphone up to some sort of pocket projector, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I'll be lugging (ha, it's only 4lbs) my laptop around with me.

an android might...

No.