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Why I don't like smartphones

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Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#281

Post by secstate »

petra wrote: post #177
secstate wrote: post #151

As an Android user with a fairly vanilla Moto X install of L, I'm pretty satisfied with my ability to change the OS. F-Droid is a big victory here too, with regards to being able to find F/OSS mobile apps. I can't say anything nice about iOS's app ecosystem. All that aside, this is a hilariously misdirected rant on par with Stallman. The purity of the vision of freedom advanced by RMS (or the OP) is to be admired for…

What's your usecase for f-droid ? For most apps there,except ad-blocking, you can find nicer versions in the play store.

Because F-Droid only indexes open source software and lists the license. On the play store, who knows what state the source is in for a given app.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#282

Post by cognivore »

eddieroger wrote: post #144
cognivore wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but you didn't mention the most egregious aspect of a smart phone - a device that they could put in their pocket that would let nearly anyone on the planet instantly communicate with them. That is one Hell of a lot of people I have no interest in talking to.

So what? Don't answer. Set up VIP email lists, or SMS. The tool isn't the problem, it's how you use it. I get more email that I don't care about than I do care, so I don't let email distract me, in that I silence it's notifications. But that isn't enough to keep a smartphone out of my pocket.

Email has the advantage of white lists. Until phones have the same you'll always be looking at a ringing phone trying to decide if it's a call you want to take - in of itself annoying and time-wasting.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#283

Post by jakobegger »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #268
jakobegger wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can connect a bluetooth keyboard to an iPhone, and attach an external display using an adapter, or even wirelessly by connecting to an Apple TV. Then you can use it like a desktop, for writing or coding or whatever. But people don't do that. Because the experience is shit. Smartphone apps are great because they are specifically made for a very specific use case (eg. passive browsing on a small touchscreeen, or me…

> Because the experience is shit. And whose fault is it exactly? Those things have more than enough power to run a full GNU/Linux distribution, complete with IDE and all. There are a few easy (yet deal-breaking) problems. We don't have docking stations like laptops do, and I bet the driver support for GNU/Linux is crap. Then there's the mismatch between desktop peripherals and a tiny touch screen. The hard problem is…

I don't see the point. If your docking station needs a coprocessor, why not just use a desktop? I think that mobile use vs. desktop use cases are so different, that two devices make sense.

> Don't everyone is supposed to pay something like 99$ a year for the privilege?

Developer Program Membership is no longer required. As of XCode 7, all you need is a (free) Apple ID to sign software for your device. You do need a paid membership for access to App Store distribution and for integrating services like Apple Pay.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#284

Post by Aoyagi »

ikeboy wrote: post #254
Aoyagi wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously I mean sharing (and everything else) without installing some 3rd party application from who knows where. I remember looking into that when I was testing an Xperia for some security system. See, this is why I bloody hate when people call everything "app". There's a distinct difference between "a driver" and "an application". A driver can interface with applications or it can be bundled with one, but they're…

It's a bit weird to complain about a missing default feature as a "freedom" problem. How would you define the difference between driver and app without mentioning any OS details? >And really, having an own DNS server is not only different effect (because it works only if you use that server, plus it can be circumvented more easily), but it's also a completely new element. Not very practical. You can set up a DNS serv…

I've never said anything about "freedom"...

Driver is used by applications as an interface between the OS and the hardware.

It's not just that it's default. The OS was clearly designed with that in mind, whilst Android makes it pretty clear that rooting it is undesirable.

If you root it and if you get access to the shell, then you can probably do everything I asked about. But you have to go through hoops and loops to achieve that state.

Or, of course, you can use 3rd party solution, but that doesn't count as a capability of the OS.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#285

Post by legulere »

logicrook wrote: post #68
barnabee wrote: post #23

Most people don't want or need root access to their smartphone but will complain (no matter how much you tell them security is their responsibility when acting as root) when installing random software they found on the internet results in their banking details being stolen followed swiftly by all their money. There are products you can buy in pretty much every category if you need a general purpose computing device,…

I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…

You're equalling basic human rights with the freedom to modify a tool (which the computer is). If you step back a bit you'll recognize that computers aren't the only important thing in your life.

Many people own cars and there's lots of proprietary things about them. Does that mean car owners are living in an authoritarian world? If those people just didn't ride cars they would be so much more free! It's the power to tinker with the cars, not the power to use that makes them free!

Electronics generally contain chips that are proprietary and that we can't change. And we usually can't change the firmware of those devices. Nobody seems to be complaining about that (except firmware in computers because that's supposed to be software again or something). Apparently we don't see how we're living in such an authoritarian world.

Computers and smartphones are also tools. Just like with the stuff before, the most important thing is that they do their job in a good way. Being a toy to tinker around with isn't one of them, at least for me. And that's the only thing your so called freedoms really give you.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#286

Post by legulere »

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.

They're used quite differently and that should be the characteristic defining them. A hairdryer and a car are both things built around a motor - yet they are hardly the same.

Lots of general purpose computing chips exist in all kind of devices, yet that doesn't make them computers. The great majority of people uses smartphones still mainly a communications device, just like they used phones before.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#287

Post by cableshaft »

baddox wrote: post #235
CydeWeys wrote: post #136

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. 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?

No, sorry. I'm pretty much a nobody online, I just have a few games I've worked on that most people haven't heard of.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#288

Post by ekianjo »

scott_s wrote: post #229
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.

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

It changes everything for consumers. I don't know about people around you, but around me 99% of people just use their smartphone to either 1) play such silly games that they make 80's Pacman look like a piece of Art, 2) use Facebook messaging/email 3) use it as a (poor) camera 4) consulting news/weather 5) use it as GPS for maps/directions.

I see about no productive work happening on smartphones. It's a leisure device at best, or something convenient, but not something that will ever replace a PC with a proper OS and full keyboard.

Sure, there will always be the 1% of folks who does something else with their smartphone, but that's a very, very small minority.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#289

Post by wlesieutre »

stephengillie wrote: post #263
CydeWeys wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was asking for examples of mobile apps. There are lots of reasons that the "thin client even for singleplayer" strategy is less feasible for mobile games than for PC games. But still, I didn't buy Diablo 3, and this was one of the reasons why.

Some examples that come to mind are Candy Crush, Marvel Puzzle Quest, Farmville, and Angry Birds. But these aren't mobile-exclusive, and they phone home to retrieve your saved game state from a database. I'm not aware of an Android-exclusive or iOS-exclusive game that is immersive and not casual. Certainly nothing on even a Diablo-level. Anything close is multi-platform effort.

I just downloaded Angry Birds and it works fine in Airplane Mode. If Rovio goes out of business and it fails to sync my saved game to a new phone, I won't be that sad. I wouldn't say it falls under the "thin client making API calls" style software that cableshaft mentioned.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#290

Post by shaftway »

CydeWeys wrote: post #164
soared wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Modern smartphones do not Excluding so many apps and web apps that enable you to write and test code on mobile/tablet? Excluding all the content writing and note taking apps? Excluding 'game builder' apps? I don't agree with your point. Android lets you run android sdk anyways.

Can you link me to some of these apps that let you write code on the phone itself? (Preferably Android, as that's what I have.) I haven't actually used any, and I'm curious. But the important point is -- the phones don't come with them. The TI-82 literally had a button that you'd press to access programs, and the submenu within was "Run" or "Edit". That discoverability was very important. The kinds of people who woul…

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui
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