>How often do you come into contact with the OS when developing for a phone, let alone use a phone
That's exactly the point,
Maybe you don't know what Plan9 is, but see it like that:
The Phone is just a Terminal. If i want todo business i connect my terminal to my Workplace-servers, every application, datas and settings are there, the calculation heavy stuff and backup is made on the server. If finished i connect to my private plan9-cluster, the Phone is just a bit more than a intelligent Terminal.
The difference is with a plan9 phone you would ~never have anything todo with software ON the phone, let alone having to worry to "sync" to the cloud to make backups, update Apps or need to encrypt the datas in case of loss.
It's a bit like Cloud-gaming or Virtual Desktops with thin-clients, but much much more integrated.
Slightly problematic when your phone loses service, but I get where you are coming from. It would be nice for that to be viable, we’re probably decades away from having good enough network connectivity.
Most of the attraction of 5G isn't really anything you as a consumer will ever see. Like more advanced spectrum management and more advanced core network components that allow what you can think of as "virtualization with quality of service guarantees" for multiple tenants. On top of that 5G also makes use of higher frequency spectrum which has implications both for use and the design of mobile networks.
To really make life interesting, 5G also aims to enable private 5G RANs. For instance industry in some countries are heavily involved in building their own 5G networks for their own use in geographically limited areas (made possible by allocating higher frequency spectrum for these uses).
The customers that 5G targets isn't so much the consumer as government and industry. For instance by removing the need for building dedicated infrastructure for emergency, defense, law-enforcement, manufacturing etc. which would represent cost savings.
Part of the challenge of 5G is that regulatory authorities don't understand how 5G differs from what they are used to, so many places in the world (with eager lobbying from the telco industry) one will try to keep new players out of the market. (Of course, they might understand, but there may be "motivating factors" to cling to the status quo where spectrum is mostly allocated in large chunks at significant cost and with bureaucracy that ensures smaller players are kept out)
That's exactly the point,
Maybe you don't know what Plan9 is, but see it like that:
The Phone is just a Terminal. If i want todo business i connect my terminal to my Workplace-servers, every application, datas and settings are there, the calculation heavy stuff and backup is made on the server. If finished i connect to my private plan9-cluster, the Phone is just a bit more than a intelligent Terminal.
The difference is with a plan9 phone you would ~never have anything todo with software ON the phone, let alone having to worry to "sync" to the cloud to make backups, update Apps or need to encrypt the datas in case of loss.
It's a bit like Cloud-gaming or Virtual Desktops with thin-clients, but much much more integrated.