4 ms·

> I think it's time for me to go back to sending SMSs on the telephone keypad. Well if your primary use of a "phone" is to make GSM voice calls and send SMSs t

> I think it's time for me to go back to sending SMSs on the telephone keypad. Well if your primary use of a "phone" is to make GSM voice calls and send SMSs then what you're looking at is completely overkill. The vast majority of people that buy top end phones do so for things like: pocket sized, always available, excellent quality camera, near desktop-like internet browsing, and then the entire application ecosystem including maps, lifestyle applications, games, etc. There are going to be tradeoffs to be made depending on what your requirements are, including price and battery life.

johnchristopher 12y ago
The vast majority of people I know are buying top phones for things like: sending SMS, calls and camera. Only my brother uses it for Internet browsing. I know of only one guy who uses it for the agenda features (and it's a blackberry).
- aceperry 12y ago
  The top end smartphones have cameras that are at least good enough to replace casual point and shoot cameras. Their excellent quality is worlds apart from the new Nokia phone's camera. While the vast majority of people use smartphones for calls, sms, and the camera, there is huge growth in mobile based purchasing, gaming, and social network usage. There are lots of different things that people do with smartphones, maybe not everyone uses the same app or game, but the flexibility of the smartphone makes it possible.
  - dogma1138 12y ago
    Top End smartphones might be able to replace a 8-10 year old P&S camera they still have respectively horrible cameras. But it doesn't really matter, no one prints photos any more, and with the amount of filters people stick on each photo it doesn't matter if you are making it with a 240p web cam or a 50MP DSLR it will all look the same.
    - SoftwareMaven 12y ago
      The best camera is the one you have with you. Sure, my Canon DSLR takes nearly infinitely better pictures than my iPhone, but it's the iPhone that takes most of the pictures because it's the one in my pocket. You are right, of course, that printing from a phone camera is futile, but printing from a P&S is much the same unless you've purchased something at the top of the line.
      - semi-extrinsic 12y ago
        I think you would be surprised at how much closer a $200 Canon P&S is to your DSLR than your iPhone both in terms of image quality and precision of operation. If you know how to use one. Example: this was taken with a Canon Powershot A610 that cost me $250 around seven years ago: http://folk.ntnu.no/asmunder/files/images/nudibranch.jpg http://folk.ntnu.no/asmunder/files/images/nudibranch.jpg
        aceperry 12y ago
        Very nice pic from your Canon A610. Fully agree about P&S cameras today. I wouldn't run down the quality of today's top of the line phones, they're very good.
    - jmgtan 12y ago
      Me and my wife still do print a select number of photos. Whenever we travel we purposely take a couple of shots from her Lumix (a non DSLR but with replaceable lens) for the purpose of printing and putting it up on our "travel" wall. Not sure how it would look like if we used our phones to take those shots.
- michaelt 12y ago
  Facebook reports 78% of US daily users are mobile [1]; Twitter report 75% of monthly active users have used mobile [2]; and Amazon report 60% of customers shopped with a mobile device during the Christmas period [3]. Admittedly these headline figures appear to count users with any mobile activity, even if they have far more activity from other platforms. I prefer desktop too, but I think it's a mistake to underestimate mobile. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/13/facebook-mobile-user-count/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/13/facebook-mobile-user-count/ [2] http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/mobile-twitter-161m-access-from-handheld-devices-each-month-65-of-ad-revenues-coming-from-mobile/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/mobile-twitter-161m-access-... [3] http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/26/amazon-2014-holiday-sales/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/26/amazon-2014-holiday-sales/
- personZ 12y ago
  While this seems to be a battle of anecdotes, everyone I know who owns a smartphone uses it as their primary non-work email device, Facebook device, browsing device, LinkedIn device, etc. Many home personal computers no longer get turned on. It isn't a cell "phone" as much as it's simply a portal computing device.
  - personZ 12y ago
    It seems that HN now automatically applies a -1 to my posts. Add this to the cowardly slowban and I'm done with this site: The users have gotten stupider, the administrators are halfwits (I'm talking about you, dang), and its utility is gone.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
- totalrobe 12y ago
  Do you know any professionals? Everyone I work with uses calendar/agenda features...
  - stinos 12y ago
    Well then they are busy professionals. You almost make it sound like they are professional because they need a calendar :P That surely is not a criteria I'd use to consider one professional.
    - totalrobe 12y ago
      Well, that is not what I'm implying. If you work full time and aren't using email/calendar invites then I envy you. Many people in the corporate world have meetings with different people/departments/organizations on a frequent basis, even if you're not in a client facing role. Conference calls are also scheduled through calendar invites.
- Rotten194 12y ago
  To counter an anecdote with an anecdote, almost everyone I know uses their phone more for Facebook/Twitter/Hangouts/Snapchat/etcetcetc than for SMS (and I can count the actual calls I've received in the last month on... 2 fingers).

johnchristopher 12y ago

The vast majority of people I know are buying top phones for things like: sending SMS, calls and camera. Only my brother uses it for Internet browsing. I know of only one guy who uses it for the agenda features (and it's a blackberry).

aceperry 12y ago
The top end smartphones have cameras that are at least good enough to replace casual point and shoot cameras. Their excellent quality is worlds apart from the new Nokia phone's camera. While the vast majority of people use smartphones for calls, sms, and the camera, there is huge growth in mobile based purchasing, gaming, and social network usage. There are lots of different things that people do with smartphones, maybe not everyone uses the same app or game, but the flexibility of the smartphone makes it possible.
- dogma1138 12y ago
  Top End smartphones might be able to replace a 8-10 year old P&S camera they still have respectively horrible cameras. But it doesn't really matter, no one prints photos any more, and with the amount of filters people stick on each photo it doesn't matter if you are making it with a 240p web cam or a 50MP DSLR it will all look the same.
  - SoftwareMaven 12y ago
    The best camera is the one you have with you. Sure, my Canon DSLR takes nearly infinitely better pictures than my iPhone, but it's the iPhone that takes most of the pictures because it's the one in my pocket. You are right, of course, that printing from a phone camera is futile, but printing from a P&S is much the same unless you've purchased something at the top of the line.
    - semi-extrinsic 12y ago
      I think you would be surprised at how much closer a $200 Canon P&S is to your DSLR than your iPhone both in terms of image quality and precision of operation. If you know how to use one. Example: this was taken with a Canon Powershot A610 that cost me $250 around seven years ago: http://folk.ntnu.no/asmunder/files/images/nudibranch.jpg http://folk.ntnu.no/asmunder/files/images/nudibranch.jpg
      - aceperry 12y ago
        Very nice pic from your Canon A610. Fully agree about P&S cameras today. I wouldn't run down the quality of today's top of the line phones, they're very good.
  - jmgtan 12y ago
    Me and my wife still do print a select number of photos. Whenever we travel we purposely take a couple of shots from her Lumix (a non DSLR but with replaceable lens) for the purpose of printing and putting it up on our "travel" wall. Not sure how it would look like if we used our phones to take those shots.
michaelt 12y ago
Facebook reports 78% of US daily users are mobile [1]; Twitter report 75% of monthly active users have used mobile [2]; and Amazon report 60% of customers shopped with a mobile device during the Christmas period [3]. Admittedly these headline figures appear to count users with any mobile activity, even if they have far more activity from other platforms. I prefer desktop too, but I think it's a mistake to underestimate mobile. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/13/facebook-mobile-user-count/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/13/facebook-mobile-user-count/ [2] http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/mobile-twitter-161m-access-from-handheld-devices-each-month-65-of-ad-revenues-coming-from-mobile/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/mobile-twitter-161m-access-... [3] http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/26/amazon-2014-holiday-sales/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/26/amazon-2014-holiday-sales/
personZ 12y ago
While this seems to be a battle of anecdotes, everyone I know who owns a smartphone uses it as their primary non-work email device, Facebook device, browsing device, LinkedIn device, etc. Many home personal computers no longer get turned on. It isn't a cell "phone" as much as it's simply a portal computing device.
- personZ 12y ago
  It seems that HN now automatically applies a -1 to my posts. Add this to the cowardly slowban and I'm done with this site: The users have gotten stupider, the administrators are halfwits (I'm talking about you, dang), and its utility is gone.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
totalrobe 12y ago
Do you know any professionals? Everyone I work with uses calendar/agenda features...
- stinos 12y ago
  Well then they are busy professionals. You almost make it sound like they are professional because they need a calendar :P That surely is not a criteria I'd use to consider one professional.
  - totalrobe 12y ago
    Well, that is not what I'm implying. If you work full time and aren't using email/calendar invites then I envy you. Many people in the corporate world have meetings with different people/departments/organizations on a frequent basis, even if you're not in a client facing role. Conference calls are also scheduled through calendar invites.
Rotten194 12y ago
To counter an anecdote with an anecdote, almost everyone I know uses their phone more for Facebook/Twitter/Hangouts/Snapchat/etcetcetc than for SMS (and I can count the actual calls I've received in the last month on... 2 fingers).