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I'm amazed at my smartphone constantly, because it does things that my laptop/desktop cannot ever hope to do that are productive and important to me. I have, m

I'm amazed at my smartphone constantly, because it does things that my laptop/desktop cannot ever hope to do that are productive and important to me. I have, more times than I can remember, looked up restaurant recommendations, reached consensus with other people wirelessly, and then made a reservation, all without leaving my smartphone, while standing on the sidewalk somewhere. I have also walked up to a restaurant only to find it closed, and found a delicious alternative within seconds thanks to Yelp, Urbanspoon, et al. I have taken pictures, uploaded them to [social network] and received responses within minutes, if not seconds. I have met up with friends because the GPS told us we were near each other. My smartphone is great for consuming the day's news (especially on a high-ppi screen, reading is a joy) while on the train to work. Laptop or even tablet? Don't be ridiculous, I need one hand hanging onto a railing. My smartphone is also my light meter, when I'm out and about playing with vintage cameras that pre-date my birth. Not a very typical use case, but one where a laptop or even a tablet would be utterly useless. I love my smartphone.

sliverstorm 15y ago
I ditched my smartphone for a (very)dumbphone a few months ago. The only thing I miss is the flashlight function.
- 0x12 15y ago
  Same here. Just set the background image to all white, touch any button and it will light up. Not too bright but usable in most cases. The extended battery life is what clinched it for me. The funniest thing is that for years I would be way ahead of the curve and now I'm walking around with something that is probably more of a conversation piece than anything made by apple or htc. "You use that?"
  - Yhippa 15y ago
    Before you got the dumbphone were you a heavy user of email and calendar information? I wonder if I'd miss things like that if I went back to one. I cut the cord with cable so I don't see why I couldn't go back to a dumbphone.
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      I am, but I reasoned that since I spend nearly all my day within 20 feet of a computer, I can live with no e-mail for short stints during the day. Calendar info can be synced with nearly all phones in other ways. If you don't recieve important calls all that often, test yourself. Leave your smartphone at home for a week.
      - ahk 15y ago
        Contrastingly, I don't like the fact that I'm next to my computer all day. I'd rather have a smartphone and be out and about the town or in nature. Laptops increasingly feel old-tech and kludgy to me.
        sliverstorm 15y ago
        Yes, but if you spend your whole time out-and-about staring at your cell phone, what have you really accomplished? If you don't use it much while you're out and about, could you not simply have forgone it, planned your trip 5 minutes before you left home, and checked your email that evening?
        ahk 15y ago
        I don't spend the whole time on my phone. I don't do social networks and also usually turn off the sound for email notifications as well. But when I do actually need the abilities of the phone, it's there. There's nothing quite like wondering about that bright star on the horizon and then just waving your phone at it and getting the full details. Or getting to know when the next tram/bus home is, before you leave the coffee shop/club. Or grabbing a picture of that rare double rainbow. I also don't like planning or sticking to plans when going out (how much fun is that anyway?). But I do like to get information on the go, for whatever I decide to do.
- etcet 15y ago
  My Nokia 2115[0](my first and only cell phone) has a decent LED flashlight. I can make and receive calls and texts on it. It keeps its charge for weeks. I can play snake on it. That's everything I want from a telephone. [0] http://www.esato.com/gfx/news/img/2_2115i_lowres_2005_03_14.jpg http://www.esato.com/gfx/news/img/2_2115i_lowres_2005_03_14....
  - photophotoplasm 15y ago
    I have a Nokia 1800. Does calls, SMS, alarms, calculator, has a flash light, and keeps its charge for about a fortnight. I'm sure smartphones are good for a lot of people, but I haven't found the need for one personally. Anything I could do on a smartphone I can already do, I just have to wait until I'm in front of my computer. Which suites me fine.
- lzy 15y ago
  Nokia 1208
qjz 15y ago
I have a love/hate relationship with my smartphone, but I'm still amazed at some of the things I can do with it. Adding to your list: When my car's GPS took me miles down a road that was washed out on a trip hundreds of miles from my home, Google Navigation on my smartphone suggested a different route that got me safely to my destination. It's a flexible and reliable alarm and kitchen timer. I can read novels comfortably in bed on my smartphone (none of my several laptops are very ergonomic for this purpose). I can map my bike rides and get stats on min/max/average speed, elevation, etc. (all the while using it as a music player). It lets me easily maintain multiple shopping lists. I can tune my guitar with it. It functions as a real flashlight (my phone has a very bright LED). My smartphone is no replacement for a computer, but it's better at these tasks than any computer I own.
- delackner 15y ago
  Oddly, with the conceit of an offline GPS app (map data in the phone) every item you listed would work without a mobile data connection. The killer network-enabled app is still on the drawing-board. (I don't feel like being able to instagram a photo and have your friends "like" a black-n-white photo of your dinner WHILE YOU ARE STILL EATING IT! is it).
  - jessedhillon 15y ago
    Spotify: 90% of the songs I can think of, including Hindi songs, anywhere you have a data connection.
- bambax 15y ago
  > I can read novels comfortably in bed on my smartphone Really? I tried with an iPod Touch and an iPad, and really hated both. Then I bought a Kindle and found it extraordinary. The Kindle is the best device I've ever owned.
  - josephb 15y ago
    If you are a reader, Kindle all the way.
bambax 15y ago
> while standing on the sidewalk somewhere Do you not have a home? ;-) I think there's a big geographical problem that's overlooked. These things are all designed in California where the weather is sunny year-round. But in the rest of the world, most of the time, it's cold. You will not stand a long time "on the sidewalk" because you'll freeze. Maybe you're wearing gloves, which make using a smartphone impossible.
- ganley 15y ago
  This just made me sad. You only go outside when the weather is sunny? As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
  - bambax 15y ago
    > You only go outside when the weather is sunny? Did I say that? I won't stand for a long time at a street corner typing on my phone without gloves, in bad weather.
- RandallBrown 15y ago
  I live in Michigan. I use my iPhone outside all the time. Where the hell do you live that has worse weather than Michigan?
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Apparently Paris.

sliverstorm 15y ago

I ditched my smartphone for a (very)dumbphone a few months ago. The only thing I miss is the flashlight function.

0x12 15y ago
Same here. Just set the background image to all white, touch any button and it will light up. Not too bright but usable in most cases. The extended battery life is what clinched it for me. The funniest thing is that for years I would be way ahead of the curve and now I'm walking around with something that is probably more of a conversation piece than anything made by apple or htc. "You use that?"
- Yhippa 15y ago
  Before you got the dumbphone were you a heavy user of email and calendar information? I wonder if I'd miss things like that if I went back to one. I cut the cord with cable so I don't see why I couldn't go back to a dumbphone.
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    I am, but I reasoned that since I spend nearly all my day within 20 feet of a computer, I can live with no e-mail for short stints during the day. Calendar info can be synced with nearly all phones in other ways. If you don't recieve important calls all that often, test yourself. Leave your smartphone at home for a week.
    - ahk 15y ago
      Contrastingly, I don't like the fact that I'm next to my computer all day. I'd rather have a smartphone and be out and about the town or in nature. Laptops increasingly feel old-tech and kludgy to me.
      - sliverstorm 15y ago
        Yes, but if you spend your whole time out-and-about staring at your cell phone, what have you really accomplished? If you don't use it much while you're out and about, could you not simply have forgone it, planned your trip 5 minutes before you left home, and checked your email that evening?
        ahk 15y ago
        I don't spend the whole time on my phone. I don't do social networks and also usually turn off the sound for email notifications as well. But when I do actually need the abilities of the phone, it's there. There's nothing quite like wondering about that bright star on the horizon and then just waving your phone at it and getting the full details. Or getting to know when the next tram/bus home is, before you leave the coffee shop/club. Or grabbing a picture of that rare double rainbow. I also don't like planning or sticking to plans when going out (how much fun is that anyway?). But I do like to get information on the go, for whatever I decide to do.
etcet 15y ago
My Nokia 2115[0](my first and only cell phone) has a decent LED flashlight. I can make and receive calls and texts on it. It keeps its charge for weeks. I can play snake on it. That's everything I want from a telephone. [0] http://www.esato.com/gfx/news/img/2_2115i_lowres_2005_03_14.jpg http://www.esato.com/gfx/news/img/2_2115i_lowres_2005_03_14....
- photophotoplasm 15y ago
  I have a Nokia 1800. Does calls, SMS, alarms, calculator, has a flash light, and keeps its charge for about a fortnight. I'm sure smartphones are good for a lot of people, but I haven't found the need for one personally. Anything I could do on a smartphone I can already do, I just have to wait until I'm in front of my computer. Which suites me fine.
lzy 15y ago
Nokia 1208

qjz 15y ago

I have a love/hate relationship with my smartphone, but I'm still amazed at some of the things I can do with it. Adding to your list: When my car's GPS took me miles down a road that was washed out on a trip hundreds of miles from my home, Google Navigation on my smartphone suggested a different route that got me safely to my destination. It's a flexible and reliable alarm and kitchen timer. I can read novels comfortably in bed on my smartphone (none of my several laptops are very ergonomic for this purpose). I can map my bike rides and get stats on min/max/average speed, elevation, etc. (all the while using it as a music player). It lets me easily maintain multiple shopping lists. I can tune my guitar with it. It functions as a real flashlight (my phone has a very bright LED). My smartphone is no replacement for a computer, but it's better at these tasks than any computer I own.

delackner 15y ago
Oddly, with the conceit of an offline GPS app (map data in the phone) every item you listed would work without a mobile data connection. The killer network-enabled app is still on the drawing-board. (I don't feel like being able to instagram a photo and have your friends "like" a black-n-white photo of your dinner WHILE YOU ARE STILL EATING IT! is it).
- jessedhillon 15y ago
  Spotify: 90% of the songs I can think of, including Hindi songs, anywhere you have a data connection.
bambax 15y ago
> I can read novels comfortably in bed on my smartphone Really? I tried with an iPod Touch and an iPad, and really hated both. Then I bought a Kindle and found it extraordinary. The Kindle is the best device I've ever owned.
- josephb 15y ago
  If you are a reader, Kindle all the way.

bambax 15y ago

> while standing on the sidewalk somewhere Do you not have a home? ;-) I think there's a big geographical problem that's overlooked. These things are all designed in California where the weather is sunny year-round. But in the rest of the world, most of the time, it's cold. You will not stand a long time "on the sidewalk" because you'll freeze. Maybe you're wearing gloves, which make using a smartphone impossible.

ganley 15y ago
This just made me sad. You only go outside when the weather is sunny? As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
- bambax 15y ago
  > You only go outside when the weather is sunny? Did I say that? I won't stand for a long time at a street corner typing on my phone without gloves, in bad weather.
RandallBrown 15y ago
I live in Michigan. I use my iPhone outside all the time. Where the hell do you live that has worse weather than Michigan?
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  Apparently Paris.