> Smartphones are unapologetically devices for consumption. In this regard they differ critically from PCs, because PCs are equal devices in the sense that the

> Smartphones are unapologetically devices for consumption. In this regard they differ critically from PCs, because PCs are equal devices in the sense that the same device is used for creation and consumption. This means that anyone with a PC can create as well as consume, if they so wish. This cultural equality is diminished by an exodus to devices which can only really be used for consumption. So smartphone companies put so much emphasis on the camera and, to a lesser extent, other built-in input devices, because...? > Smartphones have powerful CPUs and fast network connections, except that you aren't actually allowed to use these resources in any meaningful sense, because doing so consumes battery power, and people don't want the precious battery life of their phones drained unnecessarily. True, and this is a big hurdle for ~every attempt to gain traction with modern peer-to-peer protocols. Approximately no-one wants their smartphone battery to die in four hours flat so they can help serve decentralized YouTube on IPFS. > Part of the “cloud” movement is probably driven by the fact that while smartphones have substantial computational resources, you can't actually use them because of battery life. So instead the computation is done in the cloud, creating a dependency on a centralized entity. They didn't replace PCs, though. "Real" computation (by these standards) availability has continued to grow alongside smartphones. I'm skeptical how many more PCs would have been sold in a world without smartphones, and exactly how much more "creation" would be going on (though nb. I think "smartphones are just consumption devices" is a totally bizarre take disconnected from reality in the first place) > They have ruined web design. Heh. Yes, kinda, but then again several of the best versions of sites (that have multiple versions) are the mobile one. I'm pretty sure web design ruined web design, not smart phones. > They are devices of unclear alignment, or of clear malevolence. Pretty damning that the most popular and widely used computing platform we could come up with, falls under this category. If only non-mobile operating systems weren't almost all completely terrible to use, for normal people. > With a PC, I don't have to perform some arcane operation to actually have control of the device. Do I need to link to a billion search results dispensing the advice, "you're going to want to disable [MS virus scan / selinux / auto-updates / telemetry / et c] using [the command line / the "about" settings page / et c.] or it'll just keep [getting in your way / breaking / misbehaving]", or can I assume everyone's familiar with that?