Ask HN: If I could add a 100MHz CPU external to a phone, what use would it have?

1 points by alins 11 years ago | 4 comments

Suppose I could interface a 100 or 200 MHz processor + RAM + storage externally to a high-end smartphone (say via micro USB), and all in a tiny form factor, almost un-noticeable. What useful applications could I run with this weak co-processor? What continuous or periodic tasks can be offloaded to it?

informatimago 11 years ago |

Phone processors are at least one order of magnitude more powerful than (usual) 100 MHz CPU, therefore it would be of no use.

Anything you would want to do with that external processor would be slower and more inconvenient than doing it on the phone processor itself.

alins 11 years ago | |

Of course I know that. The question is whether there are applications for which an external, physically separated processor, even if weak, would be useful.

andrewstuart 11 years ago |

What are you talking about?

alins 11 years ago | |

Talking about a possible product idea I have in mind.