Why should I own a smartphone?
When I use the phone I just need numbers to dial.
When I use Internet I use it in the computer.
Smartphones are more expensive than a laptop and have less processing and storage capabilities.
If it is about games, I have my PC games and a Wii.
I have not found a single game or app that fascinates me.
So I have not found a good reason to have a smartphone, other than being another brick on the wall and being trendy.
What do you think?
Freedom - When people learn to embrace criticism about politicians, since politicians are just employees like you and me.
I think you've already answered your own question.
Your reasons seem unique to you and you've answered your question.
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
They're really, really not. Every single one of those applies for me as well, and I'm certainly not the only one. I can maybe see myself using a tablet since I don't particularly care for laptops but smartphones? There is no function that appeals to me that I don't get more comfortably some other way.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
I have always been amused by the resemblance
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
What can one expect from a Norwegian like you?I have always been amused by the resemblance
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Finns and Norwegians make fun of the Svedes, the Svedes make fun of the Finns and the Danes.
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
The reason I'm considering is the ability to keep google in my pocket, the Internet has ruined human memory
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
I agree with the OP. Why the hell should AR81 have a smart phone? He clearly doesn't deserve one.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
Fascist
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Agree with the google angle. I miss the time wrecking my head over some name I can't produce to have it pop up unexpectidly though.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Eh, call me addicted or something, but nowadays a good part of my time I spend using my iPhone. Even at home. The only thing I really use a PC for any longer is these forums where typing on a keyboard is just that much easier. Overhere we just went down to one PC (laptop) for both Ronald and I, with a very clear possibility that at one point even that may go/not be replaced. I would miss my PC less I think than my smartphone.
Congratulations America
Of course, if the issue is one of finance and availability (of either smartphones or good mobile data plans) then that's another matter entirely.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
First, in my country you are unlikely to find second hand devices, and when you find one, usually it is basically in junk condition. Second, importing anything from costs the double of US prices. So you really must want something. Would you spend $400 for a $200 phone in US?
Why should I be in Internet while I am in the street? Thieves rob tourists, and if you carry one of those, it is tempting them to send you to the hospital with a bullet or stabbing wound.
I was first attracted by the idea of playing videogames at the bus, but I am more used to complex PC games like Mechwarrior, Fleet Command or Wii games like Wii Fit Plus, Sports Resort and PES 2012. I bought the Wii as it had something PC did not offer me, I am not big fan of consoles. I have found nothing that a smartphone offers me that I want. Even if I get bored, I have my doubts, as I use that boring time to think. Not the most entertaining thing, but the best you can do. I fear that not thinking may cause me to get less used to think, less patient, less used to abstract because I would move to the visual instant reward. Those who create technology have some attraction for abstract things, for intellectual stuff, imagination, create something out of nothing, everything you do not have with a mobile device.
I grew up during a time when Internet was not there. I lived in a time where cell phones were huge unaffordable walkie talkies. It was a time when books were printed on paper, and I own them. Am I too old fashioned? Should I need to change for some reason?
Freedom - When people learn to embrace criticism about politicians, since politicians are just employees like you and me.
That instant reward can be a real problem with kids who've teethed on this stuff. I read about parents whose toddlers can't be in the car longer than 15-20 minutes without demanding some tech device (hand held game, tablet drawing, DVD movie, etc.). Some tweens/teens never turn off their phones --- and even sleep with them!
Same here. I love my paper and text books, some are so old they need re-binding now.I grew up during a time when Internet was not there. I lived in a time where cell phones were huge unaffordable walkie talkies. It was a time when books were printed on paper, and I own them. Am I too old fashioned? Should I need to change for some reason?I went through a map phase when I was younger, and kept all the inserts in National Geographic magazines, as well as AAA family road trip maps. (Wish I still had those.) World globes are cool, too....not just because you can touch and spin them, and get a better idea of distance and topography, but especially because political borders have changed so much over time.
I never turn off my TWO phones either. And I do sleep with them. I don't really see where the problem is.That instant reward can be a real problem with kids who've teethed on this stuff. I read about parents whose toddlers can't be in the car longer than 15-20 minutes without demanding some tech device (hand held game, tablet drawing, DVD movie, etc.). Some tweens/teens never turn off their phones --- and even sleep with them!
Same here. I love my paper and text books, some are so old they need re-binding now.
Dead tree books are ok if you live life from behind the potted plants. Other people get around and still like to read, these people prefer e-books. There is nothing intrinsically better about the dead tree version.
FYI I do have somewhere in the region of 1,500 dead tree books in my house. My favorites on the shelves I have also as E-book. I noticed I am less and less inclined to take out anything from the shelves. One person's dear memories are another person's trash, something to keep in mind when you start about the 'value' of things you can touch.
Congratulations America
I think you should own a smartphone
A cheap and/or second-hand android smartphone is cheaper than a laptop, far far more mobile, has much better battery life, wastes fewer resources. It gives constant access to the internet, GPS and map-services, can be used to read e-books on the go, is great for interfacing with centralised planning tools (calendar, to-do-list, etc) and note-gathering tools, can be used to communicate for cheap if not free via the internet, can fulfill most people's everyday camera needs. Wasting money on a feature-phone is a weird bet unless you have a particular need for a feature-phone (eg. due to work-environment, blindness, desire to not be robbed, desire to be extra cool, etc) because the opportunity-cost of buying a feature-phone these days, in any modern society, is a little too high for most people.
If you're worried about becoming trendy just buy the untrendiest smartphone you can find. If you're worried about power-bricks taking over your home, give away one of your other gadgets. You can undoubtedly find at least one electronic item in your home that is less useful than a modern smartphone.
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
heh. I agree with Fuzzy.
Price is my biggest issue, for the difference between the price of a smartphone and dumbphone, and the increased monthly costs, I'm happier to support true elistest gaming on real gaming consoles. For me (time wise), its desktop > netbook > 3DS > PSP > Gameboy Color > ipad.
Maybe I'd use the ipad more often if I didn't have all the superior items I spent more time with, or maybe I'd use it more if I could pry it out of my 3 year old's hands, but whatever. I've had a $20 credit sitting in my apple account for damn near a year so far and have had no motivation to spend it.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
I think AR81 just....out-SMARTed himself...
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH.
Interesting. I just got my first smartphone last week and I don't think AR81/Fuzzy/etc. are entirely wrong. I bought it because the wife was getting one, and if you're already paying for a data plan it's kinda silly not to get a smartphone. I would say that it's a fun and expensive toy, but I honestly haven't been using it all that much. I find text input painful (even with pretty good predictive texting), which means that I'm WAY more productive on a laptop, even for non-work activities.
That being said, it's incredibly useful for two major things. The first is having email access wherever you are; I have often found that frustrating with dumbphones. The second is the GPS/maps functionality, which shouldn't be overlooked. Otherwise, it's largely a pretty (okay, VERY pretty) toy.
My wife has really gotten into the app thing, but most of what I've seen her use is irrelevant for my life. For me, I'll likely just use it for enhanced communication/connectivity on the go, but not for much else.
Oh, there are some other benefits - most of our recipes are electronic (either online or in data files), and keeping your phone near the kitchen is way easier than a laptop. It's somewhat easier to carry around the house to read news (though for e-reading IMO e-ink displays are WAY better than anything else). Mostly, though, it just sits around doing nothing when I'm near a real computer.
And then you find out about the hotspot function. Or how with one touch at your screen you can check your bank balance, or your last credit card transactions. Or how you will never have to bother about printing a boarding card again. Or how when you're bored you can get online and chat with people. Listen to an audiobook, or read an e-book, or a magazine or newspaper. The list goes on and on and on. I don't know exactly what your American plans cost, but for me the deal about a year ago was an iPhone 4, 300 minutes, and 1 GB (both more than enough even if you use voip on your smartphone which gives you incredible rates on international calls - calls to the US are ALWAYS free of charge for me these days) I pay €37,50 a month, which doesn't exactly strike me as something only attainable for rich people. And then I know that people pay less than that for the much fancier phones of today.
P.S. This post could easily have been twice as long and three times more enthousiastic. All the other gadgets that supposedly fullfill the functions of a smartphone are at risk of disappearing if they are competing with a topnotch smartphone I am certain. Because for all my enthousiasm I still haven't made the jump to that segment.
P.P.S.S. with some programs my iPhone will even alert me if messages have been delivered to my PC. Then I can choose if I want to read them on my phone or on my PC. I also have the possiblity of getting on my phone in the middle of nowhere and do things on my PC back home.
Congratulations America
See, I know about the hotspot function but I don't really need it for my life (and I certainly don't have enough data on my plan to use it frequently). My bank app is slow as hell, and I honestly don't need to check transactions
more than once a month (meaning I can do it from the comfort of home/laptop, and far faster). I've seen the boarding pass apps (my wife flies for work a few times a month) and I'm not impressed; they still have a long ways to go (and I don't print boarding passes anyways, that's what the kiosks at the airport are for). I hate the text input, so I'm not going to use it for idle chatter. Audiobooks/ebooks/magazines/newspapers are great, agree, but they eat power and I've already got compact versions of books/periodicals (and my wife has a kindle which is far superior).
My point isn't that smartphones are useless; I recognize my opinions are not universal, and I think I will find my smartphone quite useful. I just think that other options are far superior when it comes to actually using them (I feel the same way about tablets, though even more so). I will use my smartphone when I need to (traveling, etc.) but otherwise it will always be a second tier device behind a laptop.
My wife feels differently; instead of buying her a new laptop, she wants a Surface to watch TV and will keep her iPhone 5 for connectivity. I just use my computer for far more text input/real work than she does.
Why would you go to a kiosk to get a boarding card if you can have it delivered to your phone? I check in on my phone, have the boarding card sent to my phone and when at the airport I walk straight to passport controls/security, showing my phone whenever a boarding card is required. As for input; I don't know what phone you are using but have you ever tried swipe on a samsung phone? It sort of solves the problem with the virtual keyboard. Smartphones also are getting better at voice recognition. I have played around with that a bit, and even my cheapo Samsung can translate my spoken TURKISH into written messages, which is a miracle as I have never learned how to pronounce a proper 'r'.
I am only inches away from thinking that a Samsung Galaxy Note II is the one thing to replace all other internet tools.
Congratulations America
Smart phones are ace and people are only just figuring out the the possibilites of the technology. I used mine the other day to heal a lamb.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
I have my doubt about the veracity of that second claim.
Congratulations America
There are some excellent smartphone-adapted e-books and apps dealing with veterinary medicine
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
Yeah? Well where are the fucking lasers then, huh?
There's an app.
The light that once I thought compassion still casting shadows in your action
The words you shared were cold transactions that bring me to curse what you've done
When you're up there absorbed in greatness with such success you've grown complacent
I hope you scorch your many faces when you fly too close to the sun
Having the internet with you wherever you are becomes very addictive. I use it more for the internet than for actual phone calls quite often. Yes you can use the internet on a PC, but then again you can make phone calls from a Landline phone. You might as well ask why have a mobile in the first place?
I had an interesting experience the other day, I was shopping for a Laptop but had misplaced my Credit Card - had enough on the Debit Card though to buy it. I'd picked a model already so went into Manchester to pick it up but while in the shop saw a better but more expensive model. Spur of the moment decided to get it. Got to the checkout and then realised there probably wasn't enough cash in my account. While the shop assistant was processing it, I went on my bank app checked the balance (not enough cash) checked the Savings Account and transferred funds from my Savings to my Current Account.
By the time my card transaction was processed there was now enough funds and it all went through smoothly. Had it not been for my bank app I couldn't have bought it that day.
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