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They are far more than that. For a large number of people, the smartphone is their first and only computing device. Enabling internet access is like rocket fuel

by LASR 6y ago

They are far more than that. For a large number of people, the smartphone is their first and only computing device. Enabling internet access is like rocket fuel for advancing socioeconomic conditions for those in developing nations. Entire generations have been lifted from poverty due to it.

usrusr 6y ago
And "first and only computing device" pales to insignificance next to "first and only bank account" which they also are, in a way. That's huge.
Mauricebranagh 6y ago
Its still a poor version of the internet when compared to a PC (laptop/Desktop).
selfhoster11 6y ago
I don't know about you, but a consumption-only "first and only computing device" sounds incredibly dystopian. I get that they have a positive impact, but it feels like we could be doing better.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > I don't know about you, but a consumption-only "first and only computing device" sounds incredibly dystopian Smartphones aren’t consumption-only.
  - selfhoster11 6y ago
    Doing anything but consumption and lightweight content discovery on smartphones is basically a farce. They are not usable as general-purpose creation machines.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > Doing anything but consumption and lightweight content discovery on smartphones is basically a farce. I disagree, even when talkingn about a smartphone as a human interface device and not, as was the actual context of the thread, a computing device. Having a, say, DeX-enabled Android (or even potentially powered by fairly traditional Linux, if one doesn’t just use a major maker device with stock software) smartphone as a computing device doesn’t preclude standard desktop I/O devices fo interact with it in manner very similar to a standard desktop PC. > They are not usable as general-purpose creation machines. Again, as an exclusive computing device, they are just about as much as is any computing device. Even as an exclusive HID, there’s a giant excluded middle between “consumption only” and “not usable as general purpose creation machines”.
      - cookiengineer 6y ago
        While I agree with your definitions of what a computation device is, I also don't see Android being developed on Android in the near future. So many UX conceptual problems won't allow this, so I think that as long as computers are required to build smartphones, they cannot be described as "general purpose" machines.
      - selfhoster11 6y ago
        What makes a smartphone a smartphone is the ability to use it with just the touchscreen. A smartphone with desktop peripherals is just that, a desktop. What I am arguing is that a bare smartphone (aka what most of those people in the developing world can afford) cannot meaningfully serve, due to being a form factor with a very imprecise input method, as a creation platform for any sort of precise content.
        dragonwriter 6y ago
        > What makes a smartphone a smartphone is the ability to use it with just the touchscreen You seem to be conflating the ability to be used with a limited interface with a restriction to be used with only a particular interface. I desktop PC has the ability to be used without a graphics tablet. It would be a much more limited creation device if it were restricted to being used without one. And the same is true of everything that isn’t a touchscreen, microphone, or other built in human interface and smartphones. But a smartphone as an exclusive computing device does not imply the limitations of its built-in interfaces, since having external interfaces is also a standard feature of the class.

by LASR 6y ago

usrusr 6y ago

And "first and only computing device" pales to insignificance next to "first and only bank account" which they also are, in a way. That's huge.

Mauricebranagh 6y ago

Its still a poor version of the internet when compared to a PC (laptop/Desktop).

selfhoster11 6y ago

I don't know about you, but a consumption-only "first and only computing device" sounds incredibly dystopian. I get that they have a positive impact, but it feels like we could be doing better.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> I don't know about you, but a consumption-only "first and only computing device" sounds incredibly dystopian Smartphones aren’t consumption-only.
- selfhoster11 6y ago
  Doing anything but consumption and lightweight content discovery on smartphones is basically a farce. They are not usable as general-purpose creation machines.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Doing anything but consumption and lightweight content discovery on smartphones is basically a farce. I disagree, even when talkingn about a smartphone as a human interface device and not, as was the actual context of the thread, a computing device. Having a, say, DeX-enabled Android (or even potentially powered by fairly traditional Linux, if one doesn’t just use a major maker device with stock software) smartphone as a computing device doesn’t preclude standard desktop I/O devices fo interact with it in manner very similar to a standard desktop PC. > They are not usable as general-purpose creation machines. Again, as an exclusive computing device, they are just about as much as is any computing device. Even as an exclusive HID, there’s a giant excluded middle between “consumption only” and “not usable as general purpose creation machines”.
    - cookiengineer 6y ago
      While I agree with your definitions of what a computation device is, I also don't see Android being developed on Android in the near future. So many UX conceptual problems won't allow this, so I think that as long as computers are required to build smartphones, they cannot be described as "general purpose" machines.
    - selfhoster11 6y ago
      What makes a smartphone a smartphone is the ability to use it with just the touchscreen. A smartphone with desktop peripherals is just that, a desktop. What I am arguing is that a bare smartphone (aka what most of those people in the developing world can afford) cannot meaningfully serve, due to being a form factor with a very imprecise input method, as a creation platform for any sort of precise content.
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        > What makes a smartphone a smartphone is the ability to use it with just the touchscreen You seem to be conflating the ability to be used with a limited interface with a restriction to be used with only a particular interface. I desktop PC has the ability to be used without a graphics tablet. It would be a much more limited creation device if it were restricted to being used without one. And the same is true of everything that isn’t a touchscreen, microphone, or other built in human interface and smartphones. But a smartphone as an exclusive computing device does not imply the limitations of its built-in interfaces, since having external interfaces is also a standard feature of the class.