Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
nytimes.com
Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
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Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#2Phones are pretty boring now. I'd write another iPhone app if I thought there was any chance in hell I could make a living on it without a million dollar marketing budget.
I intentionally went without a cell phone for 2-3 years in the early aughts. That's still an option.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#3The phone is not smart or dumb. The user is.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#4The phone is not smart or dumb. The user is.
Considering that the darker edges of "app engagement" are trying to replicate gambling addiction, I hesitate to call users dumb when they don't act in their best self interest.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#5Phones are pretty boring now. I'd write another iPhone app if I thought there was any chance in hell I could make a living on it without a million dollar marketing budget. I intentionally went without a cell phone for 2-3 years in the early aughts. That's still an option.
Not just boring but inflexible and a pain to hack on. I'd really like something more like a PDA with a straightforward scripting language that lets me build primitive GUIs for my own tasks.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#6I've just abandoned using a smartphone in favor of a $20 dumb Alcatel phone that can only do three things: calls, alarms, and an FM radio. It doesn't even vibrate.
I offloaded every other functional use into my tablet, in this case an iPad Pro.
The phone battery lasts for days on standby; I can drain my tablet battery without concern. I can leave the tablet at home if I want to stay light or if I want to stay focused on my activity.
I've been doing this for two weeks now, and I most likely will not change back.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#7The phone is not smart or dumb. The user is.
I just moved to Android this week, after 9 years on Windows Phone. Android is making me feel very, very stupid indeed.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#8I've just abandoned using a smartphone in favor of a $20 dumb Alcatel phone that can only do three things: calls, alarms, and an FM radio. It doesn't even vibrate. I offloaded every other functional use into my tablet, in this case an iPad Pro. The phone battery lasts for days on standby; I can drain my tablet battery without concern. I can leave the tablet at home if I want to stay light or if I want to stay focused…
What do you do for navigation? (Thats literally the only feature keeping me with a smart phone right now).
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#9I've just abandoned using a smartphone in favor of a $20 dumb Alcatel phone that can only do three things: calls, alarms, and an FM radio. It doesn't even vibrate. I offloaded every other functional use into my tablet, in this case an iPad Pro. The phone battery lasts for days on standby; I can drain my tablet battery without concern. I can leave the tablet at home if I want to stay light or if I want to stay focused…
What do you do for navigation? (Thats literally the only feature keeping me with a smart phone right now).
Not OP, but can answer. What everyone used to do.
Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?
#10The phone is not smart or dumb. The user is.
Considering that the darker edges of "app engagement" are trying to replicate gambling addiction, I hesitate to call users dumb when they don't act in their best self interest.
Removing the insult of "dumb" users vs "smart" users, gambling addiction is an interesting parallel since it's not something that everyone is equally prone to. Lots of people out there who can play poker, slots, blackjack, whatever, and not damage their life as a result.
So I'll keep my ability to pick and choose how "smart" my phone is. I think there's room for people to advertise that no, you don't lose much if you turn off notifications for Facebook or whatever, but I don't want Apple to change anything.