One of the great things with Web browsers is that they’re everywhere, so we can use them to compare the performance of widely varying devices, such as a computer and a smartphone.

Of course, it’s not the perfect test. Some browsers are more optimized than others, etc. But it gives you a very good idea of the performance difference between devices, especially since Web browsing is one of the activities we do the most on these devices.

For this test, I have chosen to compare my Samsung Galaxy S (SGH-T959D), my BlackBerry PlayBook and my work computer which runs on your average Core i5 with SunSpider only.

The results are nonetheless fascinating, despite being limited. Perhaps more fascinating is how unexpected some of these are. I’ll let your read on for the surprise.

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An article about how Google is FUBAR recently appeared on ExtremeTech. In typical sensationalism, whenever companies change anything, and more so when it’s self-serving or when it concerns privacy, people go wild, as if business was illegal.

What I’m going to do here is explain my point of view which is that Google’s new privacy policy is not making them “FUBAR”, it’s making them ready for the future.

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Android will dominate the general consumer computing industry and will exist in various forms from refrigerators to superphones everyone will be using and docking into tablets and other form factors such as multidisplay super high definition setups for professional work.

Apple will hold a minor but highly lucrative high margin part of the consumer market, just like it does now with the Mac. iOS will be its only operating system.

Computing will have migrated in large part to the cloud, where Microsoft will be making its primary business with highly integrated cloud systems and tools for Android. Windows for desktops will have ceased to exist.

Computing in general will have been highly simplified and automated. The engineering required to make such platforms work will now be relegated to the likes of car engineering and other high education sectors difficult to access.

The apps phenomenon will have subdued. Excessively fast Internet access and highly integrated services will have rendered them useless the use of apps. Except for informative websites and games, mostly everything will have been replaced by services for use in integrated fashion on Android.

Due to Government intrusion into Google’s business for monopoly practices, much of the services on Android will not be run directly by Google. Microsoft will play a major role, along with Amazon, in running many of these services.

Apple will be close to launching a new disruptive device based on optical peripheral technology; see interactive wearable glasses. Google will have tried to market the technology but will have failed doing so.

A new company from China will be doing the same thing with the interactive optical technology market than what Microsoft did with PCs in the late 90s and what Google did with touch devices in the late 2000s.

Much of the tech discussions will be centered on this new company and Google’s plan for survival.

The problem with Windows Phone is MS’s keeping the hardware requirements low to make it cheaper to produce, while charging high for licenses.

In and of itself this is actually good for both manufacturers and Microsoft. They get to make more money of the OS directly, the hardware manufacturers like Nokia can sell their handsets at much higher margin because they don’t require revolutionary hardware.

It’s bad for consumers though. Inevitably, if you buy the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900, you’re buying a phone with hardware technology dating back from 2010.

Yes, it works. The OS was made to work on this hardware better than anything Android has currently achieved, but ultimately, this is severely limiting for developers.

As Android gets more open and more fragmented, powerful 2012 quad-core beasts like the upcoming Galaxy S III from Samsung are going to offer more development opportunities and a better platform for mobile computing, especially with the improvements seen in Android 4.0.