I want a smartphone for Christmas. My S.O. asked why--do I need it or just want it. I want to say "need," but I couldn't think of why. I want the apps! I don't intend to use it much as a telephone.

As I sat in a budget meeting for five hours this morning, listening to oral presentations of the printed materials I'd already read, I got my answer. I "needed" to check email, look up some stuff online...

Tablets are way cool, but too big. Can a smartphone really double as a computer for most of what we do daily (communication and research)? Look how much smaller iPods got...will we be wearing our "devices" on our wrists in three years?

Most of my work is on the Net these days, not in standalone software. How about you?

You can certainly use a smartphone to check email and browse the web, It can be a little small for the latter, but doable. You're not going to be writing much more than a short email or text message, unless you get a phone with good voice options and even then don't expect to write longer form things much.

I don't think a smartphone can replace a desktop or laptop or even a tablet, but they can still be very useful in a pinch to get some things done.

If you have no intention of using it as a phone why not go for something like an iPod Touch?

In many ways, it already has replaced the laptop. All together, smartphones and tablets are post-PC devices that are replacing the PC.

I know I use cPanel on my iPad more than I actually do on my laptop! Works great with my VPS server which never gives me a reason to go back!

It gets annoying after a while to surf on Smart Phone, so i would say that it can't replace laptop.

I have never consider a smart phone can replace a laptop. The laptop has much more functions and advantages than a smart phone. Such as, you can install and run a good registry scanner for your laptop to optimize your computer.