7 ms·

A typical short phone call has a few items of back & forth equal to a good number of texts. So for text to surpass phone calls, I think the ratio needs to be m

A typical short phone call has a few items of back & forth equal to a good number of texts. So for text to surpass phone calls, I think the ratio needs to be much higher than 1:1, maybe something like 8:1. So the "death" date gets pushed further out, but it's still there somewhere. I agree that mobile voice quality is terrible on most phones, especially when people choose to make their calls on speakerphone for some reason. At work we have landlines and actual desk phones with hard-wired headsets because the call quality is amazing compared to mobile. It lets you have a fully nuanced, tonal, relaxed conversation with everything but the facial expressions and hand gestures.

WalterBright 10y ago
As far as phone quality goes, cell < landline < skype For me, having a conversation on a cell takes some effort, and it's tiring. A conversation via landline is much more comfortable, and skype is best. This is all due to the voice quality.
- freestockoption 10y ago
  Lots of cell carriers are starting to do HD voice with VoLTE. It's definitely helped a bit, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of crosscarrier compatibility. I like Skype or Hangouts. I think the latency is a lot lower. When I'm on the cell, I feel like I'm always talking over people.
  - WalterBright 10y ago
    Cell phone quality hasn't improved since my first cell phone in the early 90's. Everything else is far better but that. Also, voice transmission only happens when the phone detects a voice, and this has the effect of clipping off the very first part of your sentence. I'd find this highly irritating, but I've noticed it a lot less in the last few years. Perhaps that has been fixed.
- douche 10y ago
  The killer feature of non-telephone voice services like Skype/GotoMeeting/etc is that it shows you who is speaking. It's a small thing, but it makes a huge difference.
chungy 10y ago
> especially when people choose to make their calls on speakerphone for some reason You make it sound so mysterious. Speaking for myself, I do it for long conversations because it's actually painful to keep the phone held to my ear for that long.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  Phones used to be shaped so it was comfortable to do so. It was quite a useful feature.
  - seanp2k2 10y ago
    Maybe someone will come out with an ergonomic cellphone and do some mad Columbussing in that area. "You pockets aren't flat, your face isn't flat; stop using a flat slab as a phone!" The marketing writes itself.
    - ptaipale 10y ago
      Actually, that was almost exactly the marketing slogan for Nokia 8110, the "banana", released in 1996.
  - ptaipale 10y ago
    Even at the time of Ericsson Dialog (standard issue phone around here from 1960's to 1980's) it was not comfortable to hold the phone for a long time. First of all, just to keep your hand raised up for an extended period of time is tiring. Even without any weight. (Modern phones are actually lighter than the Dialog handle was. ) Secondly, for many people, it is not convenient to touch the ear for a long time with any object.
    - tacostakohashi 10y ago
      Yeah, I can't abide using an actual handset for more than the shortest calls, a headset is so much better - for a landline, or even a mobile.
ralfd 10y ago
An advantage of text is that you can broadcast not to multiple people. My friends have a Whatsapp group where we coordinate or ask general questions. Also you can send audio recordings in a text message. I think I once read on hn that in some crazy asian country that is the main method of communication: they don't text, they don't call, they send each other voice mails.
ralfd 10y ago
An advantage of text is that you can broadcast not to multiple people. My friends have a Whatsapp group where we coordinate or ask general questions. Also you can send audio recordings in a text message. I think I once read on hn that in some crazy asian country that is the main method of communication: they don't text, they don't call, they send each other voice mails.

WalterBright 10y ago

As far as phone quality goes, cell < landline < skype For me, having a conversation on a cell takes some effort, and it's tiring. A conversation via landline is much more comfortable, and skype is best. This is all due to the voice quality.

freestockoption 10y ago
Lots of cell carriers are starting to do HD voice with VoLTE. It's definitely helped a bit, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of crosscarrier compatibility. I like Skype or Hangouts. I think the latency is a lot lower. When I'm on the cell, I feel like I'm always talking over people.
- WalterBright 10y ago
  Cell phone quality hasn't improved since my first cell phone in the early 90's. Everything else is far better but that. Also, voice transmission only happens when the phone detects a voice, and this has the effect of clipping off the very first part of your sentence. I'd find this highly irritating, but I've noticed it a lot less in the last few years. Perhaps that has been fixed.
douche 10y ago
The killer feature of non-telephone voice services like Skype/GotoMeeting/etc is that it shows you who is speaking. It's a small thing, but it makes a huge difference.

chungy 10y ago

> especially when people choose to make their calls on speakerphone for some reason You make it sound so mysterious. Speaking for myself, I do it for long conversations because it's actually painful to keep the phone held to my ear for that long.

anexprogrammer 10y ago
Phones used to be shaped so it was comfortable to do so. It was quite a useful feature.
- seanp2k2 10y ago
  Maybe someone will come out with an ergonomic cellphone and do some mad Columbussing in that area. "You pockets aren't flat, your face isn't flat; stop using a flat slab as a phone!" The marketing writes itself.
  - ptaipale 10y ago
    Actually, that was almost exactly the marketing slogan for Nokia 8110, the "banana", released in 1996.
- ptaipale 10y ago
  Even at the time of Ericsson Dialog (standard issue phone around here from 1960's to 1980's) it was not comfortable to hold the phone for a long time. First of all, just to keep your hand raised up for an extended period of time is tiring. Even without any weight. (Modern phones are actually lighter than the Dialog handle was. ) Secondly, for many people, it is not convenient to touch the ear for a long time with any object.
  - tacostakohashi 10y ago
    Yeah, I can't abide using an actual handset for more than the shortest calls, a headset is so much better - for a landline, or even a mobile.

ralfd 10y ago

An advantage of text is that you can broadcast not to multiple people. My friends have a Whatsapp group where we coordinate or ask general questions. Also you can send audio recordings in a text message. I think I once read on hn that in some crazy asian country that is the main method of communication: they don't text, they don't call, they send each other voice mails.

ralfd 10y ago