Like the linked article says,

> Mobile devices were originally designed for consumption

... and will always be consumption devices.

A television isn't a substitute for your laptop either.

Phones, sure, but there’s plenty of good productivity and creation software available for tablets. And these days, most productivity software runs in the browser anyway.

Just because something is designed for consumption doesn’t mean we should ignore text editing.

The fact that there are other devices that are better at text editing is a horrible reason to leave text editing on mobile devices as a terrible experience.

Termux lets you turn your Android phone into a software development environment. It's surprisingly good.

> Why should we privilege an intentionally nerfed computing experience as the inevitable future?

The fact that the author worked at Google should be a hint. Advertising companies like Google want desktops and laptops to be left behind in favor of phones and tablets specifically because of the inferior, more locked down and consumption-focused computing experience they provide, and I'm guessing this idea is hammered into all their employees.

I agree with your general point but there's nothing inherently bad about the smartphones themselves. They are perfectly good computers, it's these big corporations who turn them into locked down approved content consumption machines. We shouldn't be dismissing these computers just because of that, we should be working to empower ourselves to use them to the fullest with projects like postmarketOS.

I'm waiting for the new Pixel to come out so I can buy it and run grapheneOS on it. Then I'll try to port postmarketOS to my current phone.

Because using my phone while lying down in bed or sitting in my couch is so much more comfortable than using a bulky laptop or personal computer while sitting in a chair. I've written way too much code inside Termux. It's gotten to the point I only use my laptop to edit open street map now.

I'm looking for a way to build new Android apps inside Termux itself. Wonder if anyone here's managed it.

I wrote programs on my calculator in high school, an ostensibly narrowly focused device with computing power generously estimated at well under 1% that of your phone, made by a company that didn't really give two shits about their device's programming community.

Therefore, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that if someone as dedicated as you is struggling to write programs for your phone, on your phone, it's because you're being actively discouraged from doing so. Demand better! As a consumer the only voice you have is your wallet. Can you not find a real computer that's comfortable to use in bed?

> Can you not find a real computer that's comfortable to use in bed?

Real computers are not made for that. I don't think there's a comfortable way to use a keyboard and mouse while lying down.

I had better luck trying to find a bed for use with computers instead of the other way around. Even that was extremely difficult. I'd need an over bed or zero gravity workstation that's more expensive than the computer itself. I can't justify this cost for my recreational programming.

>I don't think there's a comfortable way to use a keyboard and mouse while lying down.

If a genie appeared and gave me one wish right now, I would wish for everyone in the world to get a free GPD Micro PC. Plus a spare one.

>My goal is not to return back to the desktop, but to move mobile forward."

>> Why should we privilege an intentionally nerfed computing experience

How would "mov[ing] mobile forward" privilege mobile?

How would it impair your experience on your desktop?

The implication is clear from the wording. Desktop is "back", mobile is "forward".

Someone being “mobile forward”, doesn’t hold desktops (or mobile laptops) back.

That’s a false dichotomy.