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Why I don't like smartphones

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Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#221

Post by 300bps »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #24

I don't really see how some of his points support his position. e.g. I don't own a smartphone, because it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly. So is a photoalbum, so is a book, so is a TV, so is a music player. A smartphone is all in one and it's incredibly useful. Beyond that, it is in ways a production device. It's a messaging device, a photo and video taking device, it…

e.g. I don't own a smartphone, because it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly. So is a photoalbum, so is a book, so is a TV, so is a music player.

It's not actually silly because of the mindset some people have. I know many people who bought an iPad or an iPhone with the mindset of, "GREAT! Now I don't need a computer." They went into it thinking that an iPad or an iPhone was a replacement for a computer and then were basically transformed into someone who could easily produce content to someone who could only produce content with difficulty.

Your argument from analogy is not apt because nobody buys a photoalbum thinking, "GREAT! Now I don't need a camera."

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#222

Post by throwawayaway »

icebraining wrote: post #206
Laforet wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who are born in such a regime usually don't get a (easy) opt-out but I digress. My feelings towards AAPL was pretty mixed from day 1 and has changed surprisingly little over the past few years. I genuinely applaud their take on many issues such as strong encryption and the ability to side-load your own apps from source. On the other hand I am very alarmed by the fact that backing up apps from iOS device is no…

People who are born in such a regime usually don't get a (easy) opt-out but I digress. That's my point - it's not useful to compare the loss of rights in states to the loss of rights in smartphone platforms, because the latter are easily opted-out.

The point people are making is that if it's the only thing on the shelf it's not easy to opt out.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#223

Post by Aoyagi »

ikeboy wrote: post #150
Aoyagi wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows provides incomperably more control than any of the stock mobile OSes.

Than iOS, sure, but more control than stock android, given the inherent limitations of the hardware? I think not. You can make your own programs and install outside apks without rooting, just need to change a setting. There's slightly more control in that programs can modify other programs when running as root on Windows, but not on Android. But I don't think that can be described as "incomparable". What specific fea…

Can you, on stock Android, just go and delete system files? Or even do something as simple as editing hosts? Kill system processes? Make multiple users with various rights? Set file/folder permissions? Share files over local network? Install drivers for new hardware?

And just for the record, I'm talking about 7, not 10.

Comparing the amount of (sub)items listed in control panels with what you get in the settings of most stock Androids should give enough of a hint ^^

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#224

Post by qb45 »

jstimpfle wrote: post #202
ant6n wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern web sites look like crap and don't work. My banking website recently switched to a mobile first website ('responsive' is a lie). Now the UI is so giant that it cannot show a list of 6 account names with a balance next to it on a single desktop screen with a resolution of 3360 x 2100 pixels.

> Now the UI is so giant that it cannot show a list of 6 account names with a balance next to it Yep."Our 2015 default theme is clean, blog-focused, and designed for clarity." https://twentyfifteendemo.wordpress.com/ https://twentyfifteendemo.wordpress.com/about-twenty-fifteen... https://twentyfifteendemo.wordpress.com/image-alignment-and-... "Ruined" is an understatement.

This doesn't look too bad, certainly not that kind of bad your parent complained about.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#225

Post by loup-vaillant »

bigtones wrote: post #158
ekianjo wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly. Because it could be something else than just a consumption device (unlike a book or a photo album), as it's technically a general purpose computer. His point makes perfect sense.

It's still a silly distinction and pedantic. A modern car is a consumption device, but it also contains several computers, input and output devices, and significant computing power. But everyone is fine with just driving around in them. A smart phone is way more of a production device with camera and video shooting and editing than a car.

> It's still a silly distinction and pedantic.

No, it's a crucial one, for a simple reason: you're not supposed to change the firmware of your car, but you change the software in your palmtop computer quite often. Car firmware is special purpose (let's ignore some high-end multimedia stuff), while your palmtop computer can and does run any program.

Nothing technically prevents you from tethering a keyboard, mouse, and big screen to your palmtop computer —just like you do with some laptops when you dock them. Heck, it would be damn useful, to centralise all your computing in the palm of your hand.

The fact that your computer fits in the palm of your hand and can hook up to a phone network is not a good reason to have its usage restricted. The only reason people got tricked into thinking this is somehow okay, is because those computers are misnamed "smartphones".

No. They're networked computers. "Phone" is a distant second by now.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#226

Post by [deleted] »

throwawayaway wrote: post #222
icebraining wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who are born in such a regime usually don't get a (easy) opt-out but I digress. That's my point - it's not useful to compare the loss of rights in states to the loss of rights in smartphone platforms, because the latter are easily opted-out.

The point people are making is that if it's the only thing on the shelf it's not easy to opt out.

[deleted]

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#227

Post by icebraining »

throwawayaway wrote: post #222
icebraining wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who are born in such a regime usually don't get a (easy) opt-out but I digress. That's my point - it's not useful to compare the loss of rights in states to the loss of rights in smartphone platforms, because the latter are easily opted-out.

The point people are making is that if it's the only thing on the shelf it's not easy to opt out.

http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/devices

https://shop.goldelico.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%20Complete

(soon?) http://neo900.org/

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#228

Post by matuszeg »

CydeWeys wrote: post #136
cableshaft wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every app (and many games) being made nowadays are thin clients making api calls where all the work is done on the server. I don't like it. I like having games from decades ago and still being able to play them long after the companies are dead and its employees working on other things. On my own time I try to come up with software that can run entirely without the need to communicate with servers, or even wit…

> Almost every app (and many games) being made nowadays are thin clients making api calls where all the work is done on the server. This is not true of games. Can you name any? Yes, multiplayer games require a server component, but they're not thin clients. And games that are not multiplayer generally don't require a server at all except possibly for DRM. People don't like wasting their data plan unnecessarily and th…

Over the past few years Square Enix has be re-releasing the old Final Fantasy games (I - IV and maybe more) for mobile (iOS & android) and as far as I remember all of them require always active internet connections to play. I tried to play on a plane recently and could not unless i paid for the wifi. For a single player game that originally had no network connectivity. Or you can download an android emulator and rom and play without needing internet. Now this is not ideal because the input is not the best. The native apps have built for mobile controls, but require internet.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#229

Post by scott_s »

ekianjo wrote: post #121
jvandonsel wrote: post #98

If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap into a large fraction of the world's knowledge base, read books, navigate across the country, take photographs and movies, and play almost any song ever written, what do you think that person would say? "No thanks." ? The smartphone is one of the most signific…

Smartphones are just portable computers. There is nothing new to them apart from the fact that 1) they have internet mobile connection 2) their form factor makes them very practical to carry. Technology-wise, we already had about everything when we had laptops and modems attached to them. It's just become much more convenient but it's still the same concept.

That's one way of looking at it. Smartphones are portable computers! is another way. The portability and usability changes everything.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#230

Post by loup-vaillant »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #24

I don't really see how some of his points support his position. e.g. I don't own a smartphone, because it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly. So is a photoalbum, so is a book, so is a TV, so is a music player. A smartphone is all in one and it's incredibly useful. Beyond that, it is in ways a production device. It's a messaging device, a photo and video taking device, it…

> I don't own a smartphone, because it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly. So is a photoalbum, so is a book, so is a TV, so is a music player. A smartphone is all in one

A palmtop computer (I insist on this more accurate name) is even more than you say. It's something that you use to run arbitrary programs.

Now I have a couple questions: why can't I tether my computer to a docking station with a big screen, a keyboard, and a mouse? Laptops can do that, why not palmtops? Why do I have to use a separate desktop computer to develops software for my palmtop? Why so many palmtop computers don't even let me have root access? Aren't they supposed to be mine? Why can't I use my computer as a freaking computer?

Because my computer fits in the palm of my hand? Because my computer can talk to the phone network? Because my computer has a camera and a GPS sensor attached?

The only way this is not utterly ridiculous is because we fail to call those devices properly. No one would ever restrict your "computer" thus (Just imagine Microsoft trying to enforce a "Windows store" in 2005). But a "smartphone"? Sure!

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