4 ms·

Smartphones are extinct. In the old days a smartphone was a phone with a lot of features, it had a (relatively) complex operating system where could tweak your

by tjoff 15y ago

Smartphones are extinct. In the old days a smartphone was a phone with a lot of features, it had a (relatively) complex operating system where could tweak your phone and it had just about all the features the market could come up with bundled. Today people call iPhones, Androids phones, windows phones etc. for smartphones. Why? They are really dumb. They can't do anything without installing an app (and installing apps is not something unique to smartphones...). Are you annoyed at the start-sound of your HTC-device, simple - install an app to remove it! Do you want to use the camera-LED on your nexus-S to use as a flashlight - download an app! (wait, download 50 apps and take away those that only makes the screen white, dismiss 30 for having ads or fishy permissions). Guys, theese are not smartphones... They are locked down browsers that you can install apps on. Thats the whole point though but they fail every test of being a smartphone. It's kinda sad because I somewhat cringe when I think about it, there are no enthusiast-alternative left on the market. The old focus of an smartphone wasn't to be mainstream, it was about as far away as you can possible come from iOS/Android/WP7. When the iPhone first came it was about the dumbest phone money could buy (and it was about the most expensive phone as well). But it had a lot of developer support that made it somewhat usable (and for the basic (mainstream) use it was great). My, altered, definition of an smartphone is today "a phone with a large screen" - it's kind of dumb but it seems to work. Maemo is the only real enthusiast-OS left and the only OS I'd consider to be a true smartphone-OS (given the old definition), too bad it's dead. Hopefully there will be something of value in MeeGo (and the devices that will be able to run it).

bad_user 15y ago
My definition of a smartphone is -- a general-purpose computing device that can connect to the Internet, can run third-party apps and also happens to be able to make phone calls. Both iPhone and Android pass this definition with flying colors. Do you want to use the camera-LED on your nexus-S to use as a flashlight - download an app! ( And you don't consider this to be great? Also, it is really easy to make such an app yourself. And in the case of Android it is really easy to distribute it to others. So what's the problem there? Maemo is the only real enthusiast-OS left and the only OS I'd consider to be a true smartphone-OS Except that it is pretty crappy ... I had faith in Nokia, eventually they could have come up with something great, but now they dropped the ball. But if you don't like the status quo, no need to spread bitterness around -- just go and do your own stuff. Some of the greatest projects in history have started as hobbies you know.
- tjoff 15y ago
  With that definition there have barely been any dumb phones for the last 10 years... Again, smartphones weren't supposed to be mainstream phones and the old sony ericsson phones (for instance) that ran java apps, could copy + paste, tether via USB or bluetooth many many years before iPhone and android and were certainly not considered smartphones by anyone. "And you don't consider this to be great?" No, I expect that such basic features to be available from the get go. Of course you should be able to download alternatives but at some point you have to draw the line. The phone must be usable when you get it. And requiring all users to download hundreds of apps isn't a solution. On my android-phone I can't even get it to automatically update the time correctly (because my network doesn't provide it?), so I use the app clocksync which can only set the time with 30 sec accuracy if I haven't rooted the phone and it can't update the time automatically unless I've rooted my phone. So much for being a smartphone. On maemo you just just ntp as you would on any linux box. And to backup everything? Run rsync. Done. I haven't even begun to start the long process of validating all of the backup-applications for android. And unless I root my phone I bet I won't be able to backup what I want anyway. Perhaps a new definition is in place. A smartphone is a device that must be rooted if you want to do anything with it :P Not saying that sandboxing isn't great and that it is just what the market needs - but it is not a smartphone (again, using the "old/original" definition)

by tjoff 15y ago

bad_user 15y ago

My definition of a smartphone is -- a general-purpose computing device that can connect to the Internet, can run third-party apps and also happens to be able to make phone calls. Both iPhone and Android pass this definition with flying colors. Do you want to use the camera-LED on your nexus-S to use as a flashlight - download an app! ( And you don't consider this to be great? Also, it is really easy to make such an app yourself. And in the case of Android it is really easy to distribute it to others. So what's the problem there? Maemo is the only real enthusiast-OS left and the only OS I'd consider to be a true smartphone-OS Except that it is pretty crappy ... I had faith in Nokia, eventually they could have come up with something great, but now they dropped the ball. But if you don't like the status quo, no need to spread bitterness around -- just go and do your own stuff. Some of the greatest projects in history have started as hobbies you know.

tjoff 15y ago
With that definition there have barely been any dumb phones for the last 10 years... Again, smartphones weren't supposed to be mainstream phones and the old sony ericsson phones (for instance) that ran java apps, could copy + paste, tether via USB or bluetooth many many years before iPhone and android and were certainly not considered smartphones by anyone. "And you don't consider this to be great?" No, I expect that such basic features to be available from the get go. Of course you should be able to download alternatives but at some point you have to draw the line. The phone must be usable when you get it. And requiring all users to download hundreds of apps isn't a solution. On my android-phone I can't even get it to automatically update the time correctly (because my network doesn't provide it?), so I use the app clocksync which can only set the time with 30 sec accuracy if I haven't rooted the phone and it can't update the time automatically unless I've rooted my phone. So much for being a smartphone. On maemo you just just ntp as you would on any linux box. And to backup everything? Run rsync. Done. I haven't even begun to start the long process of validating all of the backup-applications for android. And unless I root my phone I bet I won't be able to backup what I want anyway. Perhaps a new definition is in place. A smartphone is a device that must be rooted if you want to do anything with it :P Not saying that sandboxing isn't great and that it is just what the market needs - but it is not a smartphone (again, using the "old/original" definition)