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I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

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Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#61

Post by burningChrome »

dave78 wrote: post #29
burningChrome wrote: post #18

I have a motorola smartphone. I don't have google play installed. I mainly use obtainium for app installation. Its a bare bones phone and it drives my business partner crazy. "Just log into our instagram account and. . .right, you don't have insta installed on your phone." "Can you log into our scheduling app and. . . right, you don't have that installed on your phone either." Some of the more painful things you have…

> The open source weather apps are not very accurate. Usually with a few degrees, and the radar is hit or miss. If you are in the US, check out wX: https://f-droid.org/packages/joshuatee.wx/ It's fairly technical and it is very configurable (so it can take some fussing to get it set up the way you like), but it pulls data directly from NWS and has been very accurate for my family.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out today!

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#63

Post by taude »

cfeduke wrote: post #47
eddieroger wrote: post #9

I do have a smartphone, but I don't seem to feel the pain the author feels about being inundated by QR codes and apps. Maybe I have all the apps I need already? Maybe I just don't mind having an app on my phone because I know that I can set it to basically never bother me. Most of my apps have notifications silenced. My home screen is empty, save the handful of apps I do want. And for the little bit of effort I put f…

Depending on where I park in the city, I have to install a different parking app. And create an account, and pay with a credit card via the app. There was a time, however brief, when some of the parking meters just accepted credit cards, or get this, coins. This is what happens when a large number of people claim they "don't seem to feel the pain" and comply with the data broker's wishes. We all get stuck in the data…

100% this, and it is annoying. I pay for street parking (i'm ok with it, it's a tax base for the city I live in), but i'm not Ok with having to pay .50 per transaction. And i used to carry a stack of quarters in my car. And then you add all the vendors with their proprietary apps in this space, the tracking of the data of what car parked where, when, etc.

I'm suprised they were allowed to remove the coins from the meters, but they were. So people who don't have a premiere phone, because the apps don't work on your old crappy phone, or people who don't have a credit card to feed into the app on the phone, are SOL.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#64

Post by senderista »

bufordsharkley wrote: post #56

I've still never had a smartphone (technically my flip phone, a Kyocera Dura, is an android device, but it can't install apps so I'll consider it suitably "dumb") Occasionally I need to tote along a tablet because several places (some MLB venues, for one thing) will either require a smartphone, or impose a severe surcharge for the convenience of not using it. Anyway, I really regret that we didn't impose dumbphone pr…

I tried to remove the browser from my smartphone and it was impossible because of all these stupid QR scanning requirements everywhere.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#65

Post by libria »

sgt wrote: post #38

> 1. That person owns a smartphone (which is at least a couple hundred dollars). I live in South Africa, and even the poor townships are full of smartphones these days. My gardener has a fairly recent Samsung. They literally borrow money to buy these things. So if they can afford it, so can you. It's not that I don't get your point though - it could easily be seen as unnecessary spending when you have all kinds of ex…

I don't disagree with you main point but thought this was funny:

> They literally borrow money to buy these things. So if they can afford it,

Borrowing money would indicate they can't afford it. But I think you mean "afford the risk in order to achieve a societal norm".

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#67

Post by mixmastamyk »

hi41 wrote: post #4

I went back to a old Motorola phone not once but twice. Both attempts were unsuccessful. For directions I got a Garmin potable gos navigator. Once I was coming back from somewhere with my kids and it was 10:30 pm. They were hungry and wanted pizza. I used the Garmin gps and went to the restaurant but it was closed. That happened because the gps unit did not have the latest information. My family was mad and I went ba…

Doing the “right thing” has come with inconvenience since time immemorial. It takes a strong personality to persevere.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#68

Post by b112 »

cfeduke wrote: post #55
no_input wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem is that things that once did not require and realistically shouldn't require apps (like the toilet example - which I can't tell if hyperbole or not) are now "app enabled" by default. Sure, you have taken the time to curate your mobile experience and silence things but a majority of the people in the world don't do that as it takes more time and effort than they are willing or able to give (why sil…

The example could be hyperbole, but Home Depot and Lowes both offer a wide selection of "smart toilets" and if we think "oh this is just a weird niche thing that will never catch on" let's remember how difficult it is to not purchase a Smart TV when television shopping these days.

I cannot envision what a traditional, but smart toilet may do.

By traditional, not Japanese or anything of the sort. I'm sure it's also not taking medical samples.

So what on earth could it do?! Report the flushes!?! Why? Are you going to magically decide not to crap as much?

Just baffling.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#69

Post by stronglikedan »

senderista wrote: post #64
bufordsharkley wrote: post #56

I've still never had a smartphone (technically my flip phone, a Kyocera Dura, is an android device, but it can't install apps so I'll consider it suitably "dumb") Occasionally I need to tote along a tablet because several places (some MLB venues, for one thing) will either require a smartphone, or impose a severe surcharge for the convenience of not using it. Anyway, I really regret that we didn't impose dumbphone pr…

I tried to remove the browser from my smartphone and it was impossible because of all these stupid QR scanning requirements everywhere.

The word "requirements" is doing a lot of work there. I've never met a QR code where scanning it was required of me.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#70

Post by juleiie »

Cider9986 wrote: post #43
juleiie wrote: post #14

Not having a smartphone is a new status symbol flex. The poorer you are, the more of your life you must waste looking at a screen instead of gazing upon beautiful landscapes and friendly faces. Still it’s a step up as usual. Next stage will be probably those too poor to afford anti aging vs the muti centenarians that can. And yet those that can’t afford multi centenarian lifestyle will live super well compared to tod…

> The poorer you are, the more of your life you must waste looking at a screen instead of gazing upon beautiful landscapes and friendly faces. "Must", perhaps. But plenty of people of any wealth are addicted

It’s also easier to be addicted when you can’t afford any alternatives and thinking about the future makes you anxious.
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