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Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#51

Post by layer8 »

michaericalribo wrote: post #18
layer8 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much this. To get real work done (creative or not), you want a desktop OS and a big screen, keyboard and mouse.

Yeah, I want that, but if I’m standing in line at the grocery store, I’m not at my desk, I don’t have a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Those tools may be good for some situations. But what about all the other situations? Some of the best art is created under adversity. To be clear, the grocery line isn’t an adverse situation. But being in prison, working a physical / manual job, poverty—these are all adverse situations…

Agreed, though in such “adverse” situations I would probably stick to conventional nondigital art (drawing, painting, writing, playing music, woodworking, sculpting, origami, etc.), or maybe to photography. A phone is physically just not a very good (figurative) canvas to be creative on, and really not “frictionless” (as argued by another comment). You can still use it for inspiration, (minor) research, communication and distribution.

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#52

Post by l_t »

michaericalribo wrote: post #15

This is a great question! I think other commenters miss the basic point that mobile is frictionless and can be used anywhere. I think OP is thinking along the following lines: I’m on the bus / in the loo / waiting for my lunch to heat in the microwave. How can I use these moments to produce creatively? I already have a great tool that I know can deliver content efficiently and accessibly to me in these situations—I u…

w.r.t. long-form writing, two suggestions -- depending on whether you prefer keyboard or handwriting:

- Keyboard: With a phone that supports USB host mode, you can plug your keyboard of choice into the USB port and use that for input. With a small mechanical keyboard like [0], you can have a great mobile typing experience.

- Handwriting: E-ink tablets like the reMarkable 2 [1] are quite cool if you want a paper-like writing experience.

[0]: https://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/Ducky-One2-Mini-Pure-Whit... (Note -- this is just an example; I'm not familiar with this specific keyboard, but there are a lot like it out there.)

[1]: https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#53

Post by yorwba »

novosel wrote: post #41

I rather enjoy writing longhand, and closest in feel to it is Dasher[0]. Don't get me wrong, keyboard entry is, in my opinion, a superior option for moving across large amount of text; and Dasher is indeed an accessibility writing system, but I like it's single-handed interface and _ex tempore_ feel that I also get from writing by hand. And the fact that the right hand side of the GUI is in fact a Borges' Library of…

I tried the Dasher app available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/dasher.android/ Not updated since 2013, but I guess that just means it's in a stable state.

Trying to write with it was a trippy experience: just forging ahead without steering generated some interesting nonsense text, but even then it felt quite slow. Getting it to write exactly what I intended was rather challenging. (I did not have the patience to try writing this comment in Dasher.)

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#54

Post by Ldorigo »

All my idle phone time is spent creating (and answering) anki flashcards. I usually have wikipedia or a textbook open on half the screen, and anki on the other half. Whenever I find something I want to remember, I make a flashcard for it. Not sure if it fits your definition of "creating" content, but it's one of the best ways I found to optimize idle time on my phone.

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#55

Post by michaericalribo »

st1x7 wrote: post #28
michaericalribo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I want that, but if I’m standing in line at the grocery store, I’m not at my desk, I don’t have a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Those tools may be good for some situations. But what about all the other situations? Some of the best art is created under adversity. To be clear, the grocery line isn’t an adverse situation. But being in prison, working a physical / manual job, poverty—these are all adverse situations…

If you're in line in the grocery store, not taking out your phone to fill those 30 seconds and just being there by yourself might be better for your creativity than opening an app and pretending that you have accomplished something in that time.

My opinion is that you’re wrong—30 seconds in the grocery line _is_ enough time to “accomplish something,” and Einstein / Toni Morrison / William Carlos Williams / etc were not merely “pretending” to be creative!

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#56

Post by Normille »

A lot of the comments are looking to find ways to get around the fact that entering text on a phone is a pain. Others have suggested creating 'art' but, personally I find a phone screen far too small for drawing on.

If you want to 'create' with your phone, why not use the feature it has which is actually as good as [and in some aspects better than] the equivalent 'proper' equipment. ie. the camera.

I'm a keen amateur photographer and have actually sold my SLR and compact cameras and now use my phone for 100% of my photography. It may lack some of the capabilities of my proper cameras, but [like most modern phone cameras] it's very good indeed and light years ahead of the equipment many of history's greatest photographers had access to, in their time. And, as the famous quote says; "The best camera is the one you have with you"

[and who of us leaves the house without our phones, these days?]

Next time you're thumb-twiddling somewhere, why not set yourself a photography project to kill the time:

* Find and photograph 'faces' in everyday objects

* Pick a random word [for example off a billboard] and take photos on that 'theme'

* Pretend you're a news photographer and record 'stories' on your journey to wherever you're going

* Photograph some everyday objects from weird angles and see if your mates can recognise them

* Try and find some 'beauty' in decay; dilapidated buildings, rubbish, grafitti, etc.

....and so on.

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#57

Post by high_byte »

Phone, phone, phone, phone, phone... so many times this word is used here, yet nobody suggested LITERALLY USING THE PHONE? Example: I just discovered an app called DialUp(.com) which calls and connects you with people at predefined times. Used it twice so far and I'm loving it. I also think emailing is just perfect, so whenever you are comfortable (e.g. from bed) it's a great way to make good use of the time. Other plain-text (like commenting on Hacker News!) works great as well.

And lastly, consuming can work efficiently too - I would make the distinction between mindless- and mindful-tasks. Watching Netflix is mostly mindless, while viewing educational content could be mindful (could be video but better yet text)

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#58

Post by mrkwse »

Normille wrote: post #56

A lot of the comments are looking to find ways to get around the fact that entering text on a phone is a pain. Others have suggested creating 'art' but, personally I find a phone screen far too small for drawing on. If you want to 'create' with your phone, why not use the feature it has which is actually as good as [and in some aspects better than] the equivalent 'proper' equipment. ie. the camera. I'm a keen amateur…

Phone photography is brilliant nowadays. In recent years with the emergence of computational photography, smartphones present a fantastically accessible way of creating very decent images.

You'll have certain constraints caused by the lack of a zoom lens (or limited alternate zoom cameras), but such constraints often can lead to good creative challenges.

The single best thing about smartphone photography vs. a dedicated SLR/mirrorless camera, however, is the ease of editing images with the varied apps that provide all sorts of creative control (with degrees of involvement/automatic adjustment).

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#59

Post by nbzso »

Started shooting on my iPhone 4, yes its portable but lacks optics quality, moved to Leica M8, moved †hen to film. If you are film shooter and want small camera Rollei 35 is the tool. Of all the cameras that I own, I use Leica M3 and Leica M240 exclusively. Its ultimate photography experience and yes, the lenses are sublime and filled with artistic rendering. Mobile phones are devices with goal to replace all the devices, in reality they are good companion, device for quick capture of ideas.

Re: Ask HN: How can I use my phone to create things rather than consume them?

#60

Post by aesclepius »

michaericalribo wrote: post #15

This is a great question! I think other commenters miss the basic point that mobile is frictionless and can be used anywhere. I think OP is thinking along the following lines: I’m on the bus / in the loo / waiting for my lunch to heat in the microwave. How can I use these moments to produce creatively? I already have a great tool that I know can deliver content efficiently and accessibly to me in these situations—I u…

> Writing this on an iPad keyboard just now sucked—light years less efficient than on my computer keyboard. And my phone is even worse! But I often want to journal in bed or write fiction away from my desk. Are there better ways to input lots of text quickly?

I hate to suggest you buy things to improve your experience, but I had the same issue earlier this year. The Magic Keyboard really is just that, delivers a 95% equivalent of a computer keyboard that allows me to enter long-form text comfortably on an iPad Pro. My n of 1 and all that but I've found it to be a suitable quick-boot alternative when I just want to write a couple paragraphs down instantly.

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