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Every time I see these "back to the basics" phone articles, I think camera. Having an adequate camera built into the phone I take everywhere has been a game ch

Every time I see these "back to the basics" phone articles, I think camera. Having an adequate camera built into the phone I take everywhere has been a game changer. Before that it was always a decision, do I take the camera or not? Often take it for nothing, and sometimes a killer photo op and you don't have it. So a hybrid of traditional featurephone and traditional pocket camera. No temptation to immediately share on social media. Just to download later for your collection.

amelius 5y ago
It takes 5 to 10 seconds to open my camera app, so I usually miss those killer photo moments anyway.
- nebula8804 5y ago
  Are you using an old Android phone? I recall having this problem on my Nexus 5 (one if the many reasons I gave up on Android) Latest iPhones are lightning fast and the app is on the lock screen so you don't even have to unlock the phone.
  - asdff 5y ago
    But in natural iOS fashion, anytime I need to rapidly take a photo I find the phone registering my horizontal swipes on the lock screen to open camera as vertical ones for a good 5 seconds and I miss the shot.
    - kaba0 5y ago
      I assume you have one with a home button? On newer ones the lower-right icon can be long-pressed to launch the camera very very fast.
      - asdff 5y ago
        Yeah its a home button model. Really its just a fault of having to rely on touch screen inputs which become naturally less accurate the more hasty you are. Maybe my quick swipes aren't firm enough, or my hands might be too hot or sweaty, or too cold to register input, etc. I wish there was some way to map a physical button assignment to the camera short of having to jailbreak the phone.
- vetinari 5y ago
  If you are on Android, double click the standby button. It will launch the default camera app, even if the display is off and the phone is locked.
  - noman-land 5y ago
    This is the way. I don't even know what the camera app icon looks like. I've never clicked it.
  - amelius 5y ago
    +1, learned something new today.
  - stuaxo 5y ago
    More than half the time on my Nokia phone with "Android One" that opens with the camera itself is disabled, so the app opens but I don't see the camera image, just black.
    - diggernet 5y ago
      For me, the app works and takes a picture, but often doesn't save it. Some kind of permission issue because the phone is locked, maybe?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
brimble 5y ago
My phone is a bunch of tools, for me. It'd be hard to replace with a dumb phone, now that I'm so used to it. - Flashlight (yeah, dumb phone could probably do this one, at least, if it has any camera at all, so a flash) - Level (!) - In a pinch, a tape measure (I don't trust it for anything precise, but it's fine for rough measurements) - Tuner (as in, for musical instruments) - Camera (video and still) - Internet messenger (I barely use SMS, haven't for years, and despite being a relatively late adopter of the new wave of messengers like WhatsApp) - Access point for my laptop when working but not in my (home) office. - OTP 2FA thingy - GPS/mapping device - Music player that integrates wirelessly with my car stereo (that is, I can control it with my car stereo controls) - TV remote for when my kids manage to lose all the physical remotes, which is often. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting right now. I could lose the web browser relatively painlessly. And I don't do social shit on it (private messaging aside—no FB, Twitter, Insta, TikTok, none of that) so that doesn't matter. I don't game on it. Still, I'd need several other things to replace it.
thesuitonym 5y ago
On the topic of the camera, I've been considering buying a disposable camera to keep on me for those "gotta have it" moments. For one, even my iPhone 12 takes a few seconds before the camera is ready, but more importantly, I have kids, and if I take a picture of them doing something, the moment immediately ends, because they want to see it. They know they can see it now, so they stop whatever their doing to come look. I always tell them they don't need to see it because they're living it, and the picture is for later, but they always ask anyway.
- acoard 5y ago
  We got a polaroid camera. They definitely wanna see it after, but hey, so do adults. The best addition is we got this little like rolodex type polaroid-photo container that my kid uses as a bedside photogallery of their favourite people.

amelius 5y ago

It takes 5 to 10 seconds to open my camera app, so I usually miss those killer photo moments anyway.

nebula8804 5y ago
Are you using an old Android phone? I recall having this problem on my Nexus 5 (one if the many reasons I gave up on Android) Latest iPhones are lightning fast and the app is on the lock screen so you don't even have to unlock the phone.
- asdff 5y ago
  But in natural iOS fashion, anytime I need to rapidly take a photo I find the phone registering my horizontal swipes on the lock screen to open camera as vertical ones for a good 5 seconds and I miss the shot.
  - kaba0 5y ago
    I assume you have one with a home button? On newer ones the lower-right icon can be long-pressed to launch the camera very very fast.
    - asdff 5y ago
      Yeah its a home button model. Really its just a fault of having to rely on touch screen inputs which become naturally less accurate the more hasty you are. Maybe my quick swipes aren't firm enough, or my hands might be too hot or sweaty, or too cold to register input, etc. I wish there was some way to map a physical button assignment to the camera short of having to jailbreak the phone.
vetinari 5y ago
If you are on Android, double click the standby button. It will launch the default camera app, even if the display is off and the phone is locked.
- noman-land 5y ago
  This is the way. I don't even know what the camera app icon looks like. I've never clicked it.
- amelius 5y ago
  +1, learned something new today.
- stuaxo 5y ago
  More than half the time on my Nokia phone with "Android One" that opens with the camera itself is disabled, so the app opens but I don't see the camera image, just black.
  - diggernet 5y ago
    For me, the app works and takes a picture, but often doesn't save it. Some kind of permission issue because the phone is locked, maybe?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

brimble 5y ago

My phone is a bunch of tools, for me. It'd be hard to replace with a dumb phone, now that I'm so used to it. - Flashlight (yeah, dumb phone could probably do this one, at least, if it has any camera at all, so a flash) - Level (!) - In a pinch, a tape measure (I don't trust it for anything precise, but it's fine for rough measurements) - Tuner (as in, for musical instruments) - Camera (video and still) - Internet messenger (I barely use SMS, haven't for years, and despite being a relatively late adopter of the new wave of messengers like WhatsApp) - Access point for my laptop when working but not in my (home) office. - OTP 2FA thingy - GPS/mapping device - Music player that integrates wirelessly with my car stereo (that is, I can control it with my car stereo controls) - TV remote for when my kids manage to lose all the physical remotes, which is often. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting right now. I could lose the web browser relatively painlessly. And I don't do social shit on it (private messaging aside—no FB, Twitter, Insta, TikTok, none of that) so that doesn't matter. I don't game on it. Still, I'd need several other things to replace it.

thesuitonym 5y ago

On the topic of the camera, I've been considering buying a disposable camera to keep on me for those "gotta have it" moments. For one, even my iPhone 12 takes a few seconds before the camera is ready, but more importantly, I have kids, and if I take a picture of them doing something, the moment immediately ends, because they want to see it. They know they can see it now, so they stop whatever their doing to come look. I always tell them they don't need to see it because they're living it, and the picture is for later, but they always ask anyway.

acoard 5y ago
We got a polaroid camera. They definitely wanna see it after, but hey, so do adults. The best addition is we got this little like rolodex type polaroid-photo container that my kid uses as a bedside photogallery of their favourite people.