Comments on: Poll: What Makes a Computer a Computer?

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:13:35 +0000

I think they are basically small PCs now.

My Nokia E71 does everything I use my PC for (albiet, on a smaller screen). I mostly use it for checking news, listening to music and other such things.

Technically they’re also computers by definition.

By: dttri

dttri — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:54:00 +0000

They are definitely computers. Just because they are used mainly for telephoning, they aren’t called computers.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:28:50 +0000

my toaster does a fantastic job at being a computer…………

By: Ketira

Ketira — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:32:56 +0000

I just got the LG Incite, and AT&T thinks of it as more of a PDA instead of a computer – although it’s got WiFi as well as it’s own browser. However, I’m still learning about this neat phone/browser/PDA/music player, but that’s why I wanted it. I miss my PDA!

I’m just glad it uses a stylus. My fingers are a tad too big to use as such. But is it a replacement for my desktop? No way! (Did I mention it syncs with Outlook 2007? ;> )

By: Meitar

Meitar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:56:59 +0000

I think if you mix this post with your next one, you make a much stronger point for both: namely, that "cross computer" or "cross device" web development is becoming more relevant because not only is browser market share finally fracturing from a single dominant player, so are the hardware form factors that people use to connect to the Internet. This doesn't really answer the question of "whether smartphones are computers," but that's just not as important a question for web developers to consider when the fact is people can access our web sites from smartphones, desktop computers, or even handheld gaming consoles for pete's sake! ;)

By: glenngould

glenngould — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:32:25 +0000

I agree they are computers.

The real question here is, are they ‘personal computer replacements’ yet:

Smartphones are not personal computer replacements just yet — and they might never be. It’s hard to imagine writing a term paper or designing a web site on your phone.

I think we’ll have to wait until the invention of a new visual output device which replaces monitors, which would be a huge change.

By: awasson

awasson — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:28:06 +0000

By all means they are computers… The have a CPU, RAM, ROM and a buss for input output. I have 8-bit computers from the 70’s that an iPhone will run circles around.

By: Tarh

Tarh — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:08:18 +0000

They are Turing-complete, so they are computers.

By: halfasleeps

halfasleeps — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:42:55 +0000

Well I guess in the raw meaning of the word they are computers, but when I think of a ‘computer’ I don’t think of a “device that computes information” I think of a ‘workstation’.

By: sbdi

sbdi — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:14:40 +0000

They are computers – computing has become increasingly ubiquitousness. I guess a PC falls into the workstation bit of the world. Most people use computers to use the internet. They use the internet to get access to media (Text, Video, Music)