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Why I don't like smartphones

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Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#231

Post by garrettgrimsley »

c0nducktr wrote: post #181
shpx wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You convieniently didnt mention that it also allows their government to know where they are and where they were and what they're saying and what they've said, and what they're reading, and glimpses of what they've seen, forever.

That's a government problem, not a smart phone problem.

As developers shouldn't we view it as a smart phone problem? When trying to reach Poitras and Greenwald Snowden turned to a technical solution, encryption, for what is a government problem, spying on private communications. Using a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall is certainly easier than tearing it down. A VPN isn't a permanent solution, you can see we play a cat and mouse game with the GFW, but we should use our talents in the most effective way possible. Whether or not developing technical solutions to government problems is the best use of our skills I do not know.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#232

Post by scott_s »

pdkl95 wrote: post #157
ordinary wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computers are just really fast calculators. Calculators are just weird abaci made out of sand. Modems are just phones for computers. Phones are just smoke signals through a wire. By reducing things to their absolute basics, it's easy to lose track of the fact that reductions in size or increases in speed are sometimes the driving force of progress, far more than the original concept ever was.

> Computers are just really fast calculators. In what way is a Universal Turing Machine equivalent, stored-program, probably Von Neumann architecture computer in any way "really just" a fast calculator? The computer may contain an ALU, but the ability to change the program makes the computer capable of far more that a fancy ALU (calculator). There are a lot of people that wish they could stuff the genie called "Turin…

When computers first became a thing, that's what people thought of them as. Many did not see their potential outside of raw number crunching. ordinary's position, which I share, is that the "smartphones are just portable computers" sentiment is repeating this mistake.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#233

Post by ggreer »

The content consumption/creation distinction is a useful one, and I agree that phones are definitely more geared toward consumption. Still, I think the author drastically underestimates the benefits of smartphones, especially when it comes to the non-technical crowd.

Let's see what's been using my phone's battery lately. In decreasing order of usage:

• Nike Running

• Strava (cycling app)

• Safari (mostly Hacker News)

• Mail

• Messages

• Notes

• Health

I also use imiwa (Japanese dictionary), Anki (spaced repetition), Maps, Dark Sky (an amazing weather app), and Kindle. Thanks to my phone, I take more photos. I read more books. I can summon an Uber. Yes, some of these uses are purely content consumption, but many are incredibly useful. While a dumb phone and some dedicated devices could do many of these things, they couldn't do them as well. For example, if someone texts, "Where are you?" I can reply with my GPS location and a map. That feature alone has saved me tons of time and frustration.

Even if all the issues raised by the author are valid (I don't think they are), there's still the fact that without my phone, I wouldn't be quite as knowledgeable, as cultured, or as healthy. Those are the criteria we should use when evaluating these devices, not idealogical ones.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#234

Post by ikeboy »

Aoyagi wrote: post #223
ikeboy wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

You can definitely share files to network, and install drivers (apps) for new hardware. Except new hardware often can't be installed directly, but that's more of a hardware limitation similar to laptops than an OS thing.

See https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hp.android... for an example of a "driver" for new hardware.

Editing hosts isn't possible without rooting, but you can get the same effect by running a DNS server on device and changing Android to use it.

I challenge your assumption that we should look at unrooted android versus Windows. Which of those things can you do on Windows without being an administrator? Unrooted stock is sandboxed, but so are Windows nonadmin accounts.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#235

Post by baddox »

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…

Would you happen to be CydeWeys from Sup Com Talk?

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#236

Post by Tempest1981 »

wangchow wrote: post #168

Consider that smart phones have only been around for a little more than a decade. It took several decades of development for general-purpose computers to become viable to the mainstream, so the smart-phone technology is just in its infancy. While the battery consumption issues are definitely a problem, progress is being made to curb them: http://news.mit.edu/2016/neural-chip-artificial-intelligence... Really we need…

> hardware manufacturers just want to sell units to satisfy shareholders.

Sure. Don't underestimate the importance of staying in business, or having enough market share to attract developers.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#237

Post by flogic »

ekianjo wrote: post #119
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…

> 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.

Phones are doomed by their UI restrictions to be primarily consumption devices. The primary restriction in computers has always been in how well they communicate with the user. Smartphone screens are limited to what will fit in our pocket so the bandwidth to the user is limited by that and halves once the on screen keyboard pops up. The situation is actually worse for user to computer bandwidth. You cannot do proper multi-finger touch typing on a smartphone. Your finger just can't approach the resolution of a mouse. Also you don't have multiple buttons like a mouse, the only action is touch. So the machine is stuck trying to separate a touch, swipe, and potentially a long touch. That's error prone so phones are often doing things people don't want them to.

That's not to say smart phones suck. I love mine. All the disadvantages have to be weighed against the value of having a network connected computer in your pocket wherever you go. There is quite a bit of latency involved in sitting down at computer compared with pulling a smartphone out of one's pocket.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#238

Post by Eridrus »

People keep yelling that smartphones are insecure, and I wouldn't necessarily say they are wrong when your adversary is a TLA, but they are much safer than desktop computers.

If you look at what a modern exploit kit is targeting, it is most certainly not mobile devices, it is very much desktop browsers and plugins.

They have far less malware than desktops, despite the scare tactics about how much malware has been in app stores in the past, this has largely been resolved in reputable app stores.

Partly because app stores actually let companies examine the software online before people install it, so now there is malware scanning for every single thing you install.

But mostly because these devices have enforced permissions models where users will get suspicious if a random app wants to read your SMS messages.

Sure, a determined adversary can hack your phone, but they can hack your desktop too, and that's exactly what they're doing.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#239

Post by jstimpfle »

qb45 wrote: post #224
jstimpfle wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Maybe you watched it on a huge screen, or on a mobile phone where responsive snaps. I'm on a 13" laptop, and in Firefox the title (2nd link I gave) begins at about 35% of my viewport measured from the top, and I have to fine-tune my scrolling for each next paragraph I want to read.

I have previously been complaining about the spacing in GNOME/GTK but this is another level.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#240

Post by thebaer »

digi_owl wrote: post #193
thebaer wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's a consumption device rather than both consumption and production, is just silly It's not just the fact that it's an underutilized general computing device; just look at the apps on your phone and tell me the percentage of them that open to a blank "canvas" rather than some kind of stream / feed. On the desktop, you have your text editors, word processors, photo editors, video editors, 3D modelers, IDEs, file s…

> On the desktop, you have your text editors, word processors, photo editors, video editors, 3D modelers, IDEs, file sharing utilities, digital audio workstations, etc. Could have sworn i have seen examples of all but 3D modeling in the Android Play store. That said, some of those uses can be very RAM demanding, and phones do not have much to offer there compared to a desktop.

Of course; my point wasn't that these don't exist. Each device has its own strengths, and smartphones are really good consumption devices. I'd never build an entire application on a touchscreen phone, but I'd absolutely apply a predetermined Instagram filter. I wouldn't whip out my laptop on the street to look for a good place to eat nearby, but would absolutely pull up Google Maps on my phone.
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