Campbell: Phones could be the new laptop with the help of Google

Has anyone ever noticed the general trend in computing?

It isn’t necessarily that… Has anyone ever noticed the general trend in computing?

It isn’t necessarily that things are getting smaller. The general trend is that things are becoming more versatile.

Devices must conform to multiple new standards and must perform tasks they otherwise wouldn’t dream of performing.

When most of us were in middle school, the giant beige Macs we used were quite content to remain giant beige Macs that simply ran some games and an Office suite.

By the time we matriculated to high school, computers had to be portable, and so the desktop was left pining for use in favor of a smaller, lighter and battery-operated laptop.

Now, many of us have left our laptops withering on a desk — next to the now-crusty desktop — in favor of cell phones.

Cell phones can surf the Internet, download streaming media content, listen to the radio and double as MP3 players. And if Google has its way, cell phones will double as general-purpose computers.

It is somewhat disingenuous to single out Google. Google merely created an operating system capable of performing general-purpose computer tasks that are ‘light’ and efficient enough to be run on the embedded processors of common cellular telephone devices.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that T-Mobile took the daring steps to pair the Google mobile operating system with a telephone device that resembles a tablet computer.

Tablets themselves extend the capability of laptops by making them more like personal digital assistants — or PDAs — by giving the user the ability to interact with the operating system through natural written movements instead of relying simply on keyboard and mouse input.

The New York Times described the ‘line … between phones and computers’ as ‘blurry.’ Perhaps it will become too blurry for recognition in the near future.

T-Mobile, according to The New York Times’ interview with a T-Mobile representative, wishes to create a pairing of devices to further the usefulness of the average telephone. T-Mobile became the first carrier to offer a cellular telephone running the Android operating system.

The one device, a ‘regular’ telephone capable of exploiting the advances of a Linux-based Android operating system, will be made available with a tablet-like docking station device that resembles in function existing tablet offerings from dedicated personal computer manufacturers.

The pairing will allow greater integration between computing and telephony, giving users the ability to send more than simple voice data over telephone lines.

You may point out that cellular providers, like T-Mobile, have already been running with this thought for quite some time: text messages, picture messages, instant messages, awkwardly delayed messages — all bundles of data that are currently available for cellular customers to enjoy when using their cellular telephones.

What is so strange about Android and T-Mobile’s recent interest in Android? Put most simply, most cell phones are irritating to use if given the responsibility of being an individual’s sole device for general-purpose tasks like writing documents, surfing the Internet or balancing budgets.

Truly surfing the Internet comfortably is difficult to do, but mobile operating systems like Apple’s port of OS X and Google’s Android show a great deal of promise.

The pairing of such an operating system with a dedicated tablet-like device, as in T-Mobile’s plan, provides a greater opportunity to give telecommunications customers the ability to comfortably and easily take advantage of the general-purpose computing features of the world’s most advanced mobile operating systems.

In T-Mobile’s case, a tablet will allow the greatest showcasing of Android’s pluses.

The ultimate outcome of such a benefit could conceivably be the total usurpation of the general-purpose computing market by devices manufactured by cellular telephone providers.

It may become gauche, ultimately, to purchase an electronics device for your office that does not also double as a telephone. And as an added bonus, text messages will have to be free and unlimited.

Perhaps laptops will become obsolete, as surfing the Internet, writing Word documents and viewing PowerPoint presentations might just as easily be performed on a large form factor Android device as they ever could on a Lenovo ThinkPad.

At the very least, the expanded use of an open-source Linux-based Android mobile operating system and the expanded adoption of hardware that supports Android’s more clever and attractive features will spur the development of interesting Android applications.

And remember: No Google-oriented article would be complete without an overt reference to Google’s obvious attempts to conquer the world. T-Mobile is glad to help.