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Why I don't like smartphones

devever.net

11–20 of 294 posts

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#11
Off topic (sorry): Can someone explain to me why firefox's "readable view" is randomly not available on some pages, such as this one? I had to manually add "max-width: 700px" to the html element to read this without straining my eyes.

[And funnily enough, author complains about ruining web design when his page is far more readable on a vertical-layout smartphone browser than a 1680x1050 resolution monitor...]

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#12
post #7

I'm not sure that this article is that contentious. Modern smartphones are unabashedly consumer devices made for the mass market and several of the criticisms in this article are features that most people don't want/need. What most people want/need from a smartphone is a device that lets them do things (e.g. send messages, keep up with friends, make phonecalls, browse the Internet) without getting in their way. They'…

> "Mom I have told you thousands of times! Configure, make and make install, not configure and make install!"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11086290

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#13
post #5

> They have ruined web design. Ironically, the site itself looks super good on a smartphone. I didn't check the source (because I'm on a smartphone...), but it doesn't seem to have any CSS styling applied to it.

I had to resize my browser window in order to read this article in my PC. I don't get this kind of "geeky" designs, is there a technical reason why they don't even add basic CSS? I'm not talking about making the articles look "good", but making them readable.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#14
>They have ruined web design. But I should probably write a whole article on that. Suffice to say however that I am very, very tired of the epidemic of (often massive) position: fixed headers on websites nowadays.

I have a blackberry, these bars eat up a lot of screen space on small devices break the page-down functionality. Can't stand them.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#15
post #7

I'm not sure that this article is that contentious. Modern smartphones are unabashedly consumer devices made for the mass market and several of the criticisms in this article are features that most people don't want/need. What most people want/need from a smartphone is a device that lets them do things (e.g. send messages, keep up with friends, make phonecalls, browse the Internet) without getting in their way. They'…

But I am neither getting freedom nor security with smart phones. My 2 year old smart phone have never received a security update. It has become a piece of crap just within 2 years.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#17

>They have ruined web design. But I should probably write a whole article on that. Suffice to say however that I am very, very tired of the epidemic of (often massive) position: fixed headers on websites nowadays. I have a blackberry, these bars eat up a lot of screen space on small devices break the page-down functionality. Can't stand them.

I agree, fixed headers are terrible on mobile devices, But I think it's a little far to say that they have "ruined web design".

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#18
Why "smartphones"? If he uses mobile phone which he does not consider "smartphone", he is hypocrite because most of the listed problems apply to them ever more than to so-called "smartphones". If he does not use any mobile phone, he just should name the article "Why I don't like mobile phones".

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#19
>With a PC, I don't have to perform some arcane operation to actually have control of the device. Moreover, it seems to be common to discriminate against people who have the gall to “root” their device, or to disable some functionality of the device if such “rooting” is performed.

Guess what? Most computers come with unfree operating systems, you need to perform an arcane operation (install Linux) to regain control, and many sites actively discriminate against Linux, including bank sites. (First result I find is http://stealcode.blogspot.com/2008/07/citibank-doesnt-like-l..., it's admittedly old but still proves a point.)

Edit: also, much of my internet commenting, including this one, is done from smartphones. Does that count as creating?

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#20
post #6
post #2

"Smartphones are unapologetically devices for consumption" I see. The author has never noticed anyone taking pictures with their smartphones. And Snapchat is also pure consumption. Except that users are taking pictures (and videos). And modifying them. And transforming them.

Fair point regarding creation, specifically A/V content. What are your thoughts on the rest of the argument beyond that point?

nothing I do on my smartphone relies on the cloud more than what I did on my PC.

I've been told Facebook is the most popular iPhone app by time open. Facebook did not become more cloud-centric with the smartphone, it was always a web site. Its place in the cloud has nothing to do with battery life.

The only apps I can think of that used cloud computing instead of local computing are voice recognition. And that was likely driven by the desire to have a huge corpus of data for learning rather than on-device battery life.

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