The phrase "a general purpose device" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a device that is designed for a wide range of functions or applications, rather than being specialized for a specific task.
Example: "The new tablet is a general purpose device, suitable for both work and entertainment."
Alternatives: "a multifunctional device" or "a versatile device".
We have a general purpose device for acquiring culture, technology and language.
But, he said, "nothing people do on a PC today is going to get less relevant tomorrow". He predicted that "there will exist a general purpose device that does everything you want," because most households can't afford to own "five devices per person". This was more than a semantic disagreement.
However, it doesn't seem likely Apple would want to go through the hassle of FDA approval for the Watch, which is a general purpose device used for numerous other applications besides getting your heart rate.
Conversely, how do you get people used to interacting with a general purpose device like the Amazon Echo to learn this is designed to answer a limited number of questions.
But if you're saying everyone is your competitor in entertainment, then why not just turn that second screen into a general-purpose device like a tablet?
Alias/Wavefront's Bill Buxton predicts a world where the personal computer stops trying to be a general-purpose device, like a Swiss Army knife, and goes back instead to what it is good at: making text documents and spreadsheets.
Alan Turing, who had earlier articulated the concept of a universal computing device (described in the section The Turing machine), may have pushed the project farther in the direction of a general-purpose device than his government originally had in mind.
They will want to use them any way they want, as a general-purpose device.
We have designed a lightweight TSS library as the portable device may not need a library similar to a general-purpose device such as PC.
Sharp hopes that a general-purpose device like the iPad can boost the number of orders as they are more fun to use.
The iPad's strength, he argues, is that it is a general-purpose device, not a limited to just a few media-consuming functions.
