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Smartphones aren't nearly as good for being productive as desktops and laptops, though they're pretty good at consuming content. I think this shift away from de

Smartphones aren't nearly as good for being productive as desktops and laptops, though they're pretty good at consuming content. I think this shift away from desktops and laptops indicates a shift away from productivity. Yes, a lot of people watched too much TV, but at least they had the capability of doing things like image editing, building spreadsheets, etc. Smartphones can do those things, but it's so awkward that it's more likely that you're not going to bother, so you're more likely to just consume content instead of create it if you don't own a desktop or a laptop. Personally, I'm not really nostalgic over traditional computers, but I am a little nostalgic for stuff created by hand instead of filled in with a template.

bluntfang 8y ago
>productive That's an interesting word choice and something tells me "productivity" is highly subjective. For example, can you code on a smartphone? Yeah, but not as productively as on a desktop. Can I manage my sales team's day to day from my smart phone? Absolutely and that might be a great choice as managing sales probably doesn't lend to being in one place for very long.
- simonh 8y ago
  Smartphone no, but I’ve written thousands of lines of code and hundreds of thousands of words of material on an iPad, because it’s what I have with me on the train. Context is everything. I have written a few small programs on my phone too. Google Docs makes writing seamless with the desktop, and I can ftp my code out of Pythonista. Probably not a typical setup, but I find it very productive. They’re just tools.
meuk 8y ago
This. If we'd have a smartphone with a proper USB connection (one that doesn't stop working after a few years), and the possibility to connect it to a keyboard, screen, and mouse, I'd do pretty much everything on my phone. Instead, I can't even browser normally: I get a dumbed down version of most sites.
- windows_tips 8y ago
  It's possible to 'dock' a phone with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. I'm not sure many easily support that setup though.

bluntfang 8y ago

>productive That's an interesting word choice and something tells me "productivity" is highly subjective. For example, can you code on a smartphone? Yeah, but not as productively as on a desktop. Can I manage my sales team's day to day from my smart phone? Absolutely and that might be a great choice as managing sales probably doesn't lend to being in one place for very long.

simonh 8y ago
Smartphone no, but I’ve written thousands of lines of code and hundreds of thousands of words of material on an iPad, because it’s what I have with me on the train. Context is everything. I have written a few small programs on my phone too. Google Docs makes writing seamless with the desktop, and I can ftp my code out of Pythonista. Probably not a typical setup, but I find it very productive. They’re just tools.

meuk 8y ago

This. If we'd have a smartphone with a proper USB connection (one that doesn't stop working after a few years), and the possibility to connect it to a keyboard, screen, and mouse, I'd do pretty much everything on my phone. Instead, I can't even browser normally: I get a dumbed down version of most sites.

windows_tips 8y ago
It's possible to 'dock' a phone with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. I'm not sure many easily support that setup though.