Live data from Hacker News

Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

sirupsen.com

81–90 of 106 posts

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#81
post #13

Here are my observations: - No one reads (books) on buses/trains anymore. Its very rare to see someone reading a book in SF in public transport. - No one looks around anymore. I seem like the only person who is looking out the window, or observing fellow passengers. I would say around 80% of the people have their headphones on, and are engrossed in their smartphone. One funny incident stands out. I waked into Chipotl…

> No one reads (books) on buses/trains anymore. They do here (Tokyo area). What's interesting is that a few years ago, far fewer people seemed to be reading; everybody was staring at their phone. Lately (within the last couple of years), however, this seems to be changing, and I see many more people reading actual books [this is helped by the fact that Japanese paperbacks [文庫] are almost perfectly suited for train re…

I see lots of people with paper novels in NYC as well.

If I had to guess, I'd say that a third of the readers* on the subway are using paper.

*People I can positively identify as reading something, as opposed to playing a game - if they're using something like a Kindle, or if I see them looking at a screen swiping up or down at regular intervals.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#82
post #20
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? How is he supposed to know what the person is doing before calling them? Can't they just ignore the call if they want? Should we just never call anyone ever just in case they're really busy?

I don't ignore calls from people as they could be important. Someone may need help, or they may need to notify me of something immediately. This is a good use for interruptive voice calls. However, if someone keeps calling me for very unimportant issues, then I would ignore their calls, and check voice-mail later to confirm if it was important. I expect to get down-voted for this as it is a bit unfortunate, but if pe…

I regularly ignore phone calls, and I tell people - if it's an urgent matter and I don't pick up the phone, call me right back. Two calls in a row means "Pick up, this is important."

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#83
post #7

same happened to me. my nexus one broke several months ago and had to use a nokia brick that was lying there but i hate it. I do not call people more often, i use my laptop for communicating with people now. I'm still stuck with that nokia though because i think we live in a time of ugly phones. i was about to get a 4s until they introduced that elongated screen, not to mention the huge screens on the androids. Seems…

>i wish there was a minimalist phone out there that was still cool.

Well, you could always get a BlackBerry, you know. Or if you REALLY want minimalism, then buy a refurbished Razr V3 off of eBay. And this quote is a bit puzzling:

>i was about to get a 4s until they introduced that elongated screen

You can still buy the 4S -- Apple is still selling it.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#84
post #26

Try this - Leave home with nothing and go take a walk around. No bags, no phone, no keys, nothing. Just clothes and maybe $20 in your pocket for emergencies. Leave early and with no commitments later in the day. Eat on the road. Return when you feel like it. Walk at whatever pace you like. Go wherever your legs take you. It's an awesome feeling like nothing else. Helps if you live with someone so they can let you in…

> no keys

Yeah, every time I did this, I had to break into my own house through the window. :(

Never again.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#85
post #48

I am using on dailylife a smartphone, but i got the same issu: No camera; I don't take pics from my smartphone. No music; Not enought choice of music in the format required and anyway the player leak too much battery and it is lagging. No maps; 10 minutes to get a fix... I’ve started calling people more; taking 10 minutes for a fix on the agps built-in is too long I don’t care for my phone; it is so heavy that I got…

Not to be a detractor, but you really ought to try getting a smartphone that's halfway modern. The GTA02 is four and a half years old -- that's practically ancient history as far as smartphones are concerned -- and it doesn't help that it was always a pretty funky device.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#86
post #24

Here's my experience. It's not exactly the same, but it's worth a read. Currently I have a very basic Nokia model. There is a process called 'handing over' or 'hand shake' that happens when you move from one cell (a small region of an entire area) to another or when one cellphone tower 'hands over' the signal to another tower. This process is handled exceptionally well on most smartphones, but not so well on the basi…

2 weeks? I thought I should be proud of 25h of battery life. Incredible how energy efficient those old bricks are compared to modern smartphones, which even have a better battery.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#87
post #26

Try this - Leave home with nothing and go take a walk around. No bags, no phone, no keys, nothing. Just clothes and maybe $20 in your pocket for emergencies. Leave early and with no commitments later in the day. Eat on the road. Return when you feel like it. Walk at whatever pace you like. Go wherever your legs take you. It's an awesome feeling like nothing else. Helps if you live with someone so they can let you in…

Someone has a Kerouac fetish... Romanticizing this way of life is fine, but it's just that. Real life creeps back in and you remember why you needed those keys, and that you left your sunglasses in your bag, and wandering aimlessly makes you look a little strange!

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#88
post #29
post #26

Try this - Leave home with nothing and go take a walk around. No bags, no phone, no keys, nothing. Just clothes and maybe $20 in your pocket for emergencies. Leave early and with no commitments later in the day. Eat on the road. Return when you feel like it. Walk at whatever pace you like. Go wherever your legs take you. It's an awesome feeling like nothing else. Helps if you live with someone so they can let you in…

I'd add to that; try a day/weekend/week without any kind of watch or clock. If I plan on waking at a time, and I KNOW there is no clock to wake me, I nearly always wake on time. Holidays feel awesome when you just do what your body tells you - eat when you are hungry, go places when you feel like it, sleep when you are ready. I spent a few weeks in Thailand like this and I felt amazing - I'd wake naturally (feeling g…

"If I plan on waking at a time, and I KNOW there is no clock to wake me, I nearly always wake on time."

This makes no sense.

Yes, around the holidays if you don't have to go to work, it's fine to just wake up whenever your body decides to wake up in the morning. But if I consciously think "ok, body, you need to wake up at 7:30 am tomorrow" it's probably not going to happen without an alarm clock.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#89
post #10

I’ve started calling people more. ... It’s funny how little I called people on my iPhone, and how surprised parts of my generation is when they receive a call. ... improved arrangements and generally had more fun communicating. Did you ever think to ask the people you were phoning if they were busy with anything? Sure, it might have been great for you to break someones concentration with some basic question that coul…

I am a programmer myself, so I am aware of how incredibly annoying interruptions are. I loathe being thrown out of the zone. So yes, I am very aware of whatever others are doing at the time of calling. I only call, if I believe it will shorten the interaction on both ends and would add something meaningful, and I am certain I am not interrupting the other person. I largely prefer email though, as it is more async and…

Put your phone on silent mode, and work until you don't feel like working anymore. Then check your phone whenever you feel like it.

Your phone calls don't need to control you. You can just check your phone later and see if you have missed calls / voicemails.

Working on something, but it's not super important and you don't mind being interrupted for a little bit? Take phone back off of silent mode. Easy.

Well, easy for me at least. Judging my all the comments here, this is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for everyone else on Hacker News.

Re: Why I'm glad my iPhone broke

#90

I wonder why his first instinct was to just lay out $1000 instead of seeing if he could get his current one repaired or replaced on insurance?

I was wondering the same thing.... I was also wondering how he could NOT just get another iPhone for less than $1000? Seriously, if my iPhone died tomorrow, and I had no insurance, I could still easily buy one on ebay for like $300 or $400.
Post reply on HN