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Why I don't like smartphones

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Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#271

Post by mcphage »

jhasse wrote: post #108
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…

Hm ... Candy Crush Saga runs perfectly fine offline. So do SeriesGuide, MAPS.ME, and Podcast Addict to name a few apps on my phone. Can you show me an example of an app which is a thin client (and doesn't actually need Internet connection)?

AlphaBear, which is a single-player word game. (This is in no way to support the original article's point, but it did really annoy me about AlphaBear)

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#272

Post by thebaer »

hammock wrote: post #265
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…

>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. One of the best things about Snapchat is that it always opens on the camera. It orients the user immediately towards creation and sharing, rather than consuming.

Yes, Snapchat is a great example. I'd love to see more apps that work that way.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#273

Post by dozzie »

kayoone wrote: post #169
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…

Imo cloud connected apps are just an inevitable evolution from the technology advancements of recent years. It's just how things are now and will not go away because it has too many benefits, but of course also some downsides. But tell your argument of independent "non connected" software to administrators who have to manage installations for hundreds of workplaces and they will tell you what a godsend cloud applicat…

> But tell your argument of independent "non connected" software to administrators who have to manage installations for hundreds of workplaces and they will tell you what a godsend cloud applications are.

Only because desktop OS-es they have to manage are crappy. At my previous employer, we had Ubuntu desktops managed by CFEngine. Now guess how big trouble was to roll-out any software packages, updates or new installations, or how difficult was to configure (or preconfigure) the applications.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#274

Post by thebaer »

icebraining wrote: post #247
thebaer wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that most apps on the App Store / Google Play (and therefore most of the ones you probably have installed) are heavily consumption-focused -- not that these utilities don't exist.

I'd wager the same is true for personal laptops, though. There are certainly many more 3D games than 3D editors, and many more video players than video editors.

The point is that within these smartphone apps, there are often consumption and production elements. E.g. on Instagram, the app opens to a stream of activity (consumption). You have to tap a button to start to produce something. Compared to the Camera app or Photo Booth on my PC, both which exist to enable me to produce first, Instagram is focused on consumption first. That's what I find odd.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#275

Post by dozzie »

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.

We had it several years before the smartphone boom. Just a dumb phone that could talk Bluetooth (DUN profile anyone? or PAN), and a palmtop/handheld device that could talk Bluetooth (again, DUN or PAN).

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#276

Post by [deleted] »

thebaer wrote: post #253
jpindar wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself, I have Photoshop, AutoDesk Sketchbook, a python IDE, an audio editor and various text editors, spreadsheet editors, and terminals on my phone. If people don't have those on their phones, it's because they don't want to.

Do you use these tools more on your phone than your computer? Genuine question.

[deleted]

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#277

Post by scrollaway »

joonoro wrote: post #180
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…

>"No thanks." ? If you then showed them a real computer, nobody in their right mind would have said "yes." The thing about smartphones is, they don't actually do anything new. The only thing better about them is the form factor, they sacrifice everything else in comparison to a real computer. None of those things you listed are inherent to smartphones. >The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the…

> Oh yeah sure, nukes are pretty forgettable

Stop trolling. GP said "one of the most".

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#278

Post by jpindar »

thebaer wrote: post #253
jpindar wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself, I have Photoshop, AutoDesk Sketchbook, a python IDE, an audio editor and various text editors, spreadsheet editors, and terminals on my phone. If people don't have those on their phones, it's because they don't want to.

Do you use these tools more on your phone than your computer? Genuine question.

No, but then I'm never far from one of my laptops.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#280

Post by ekianjo »

msabalau wrote: post #129
ekianjo wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Smartphones outsell computers 5 to 1 and for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer. Dismissing them as mere refinement of what went before is to ignore the scale of their impact on the world. One may as well dismiss laptops with modems as "more fully featured telegraphs", or "smaller mainframes".

> Smartphones outsell computers 5 to 1 and for the next billion smartphone users a smartphone will be their first computer.

Nice strawman. This was not at all my point. It's not because something gets market recognition that it's fundamentally new in itself. Most of the time it's simply because the way it's packaged or marketed is more attractive.

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