Smart Phones

[rufmeister]

Was laying in bed last night unable to sleep, remembering when I used to have a radio alarm clock, beaming brightly at me, religiously set for 6.45 every morning, and it got me thinking about what the smart phone has replaced, and the industries that will have suffered sales losses since the smart phones arrival.

Off the top of my head, the things I don’t own anymore:

Alarm Clock
Radio
Diary
Watch
Map/Sat Nav
Stopwatch
Home phone
Notepad
Camera
Video camera

There’s many more I am sure. What wonderful things these gadgets are, and must’ve changed the shape of so many industries.

[Sk00p]

Still have an alarm clock, We all leave our phones downstairs in the kitchen overnight.

[Rawwr]

"Jack of all trades, master of none but still better than a master of one."

[alorotom]

Some are seeing minor resurgence though

Watchmakers as an example - I know I only started wearing a watch about 2yrs ago now and it was so I can leave the phone behind and still know the time!

I wouldn’t be without Waze in the car though!

[wibble cb]

Still wear a watch, I can't not
still use torches when needed, though the phone one has come in handy sometimes
Still use an ipod (7th gen bluetooth) as using the phone for that kills the battery
Still use a proper level, can't say I ever used my phone for that!

[B'stard Child]

Filofax

[zygalski]

Torch

[Hoofy]

Alarm Clock - no, not loud enough
Radio - no, not loud enough
Diary - yes, well, replaced my PDA
Watch - no, don't be ridiculous
Map/Sat Nav - no, too slow and inconvenient compared to pressing the map button on my dashboard
Stopwatch - no, don't be ridiculous
Home phone - no, I have a nice number
Notepad - can do if no drawing; quicker to grab pen and paper
Camera - yes
Video camera - yes

Books - I read on my phone or rather get the phone to read a book to me
Games - has replaced the likes of GBAs

[sherbertdip]

I don't have a "Smart" phone, well i do, supplied by work but I work from home with no mobile signal so it remains turned off, and even then when i do have it turned on I can't use any of it's "smart" applications.

So I still have all the things listed that a "smart" phone can do in one form or another.

I can't stand the term "smart" either, they do not possess intelligence, they have comprehensive functionality, so should be called something that combines those words.

[Ultra Sound Guy]

Conversation.
Mental arithmetic.
Intelligence.
Awareness.
Knowledge.

All gone out of the window

[Patch1875]

B'stard Child said:

Filofax

Got my wife one for Christmas as she wanted to back to a written diary plenty to choose from so still must sell.

[JLLL]

Smartphones are like a Swiss army knife. Nice to have so many uses in a small portable format but if you want to do things properly, you need the specific individual items.

[Europa1]

Ultra Sound Guy said:

Conversation.
Mental arithmetic.
Intelligence.
Awareness.
Knowledge.

All gone out of the window

I would agree with the above, and add "manners". There seem to be a growing number of people who think it's acceptable to play games/watch videos/listen to music in a public place without earphones.

[captain_cynic]

JLLL said:

Smartphones are like a Swiss army knife. Nice to have so many uses in a small portable format but if you want to do things properly, you need the specific individual items.

This.

I used to carry a swiss army knife because when I did tech support, it was handy to have a screwdriver and what ever else when I needed it (back in those days you were taking apart PC's on a regular basis). However if I were to sit down to build a PC from parts, I'd use proper tools.

Its the same with cameras. Phone cameras produce bad shots, they cant handle movement, bad lighting, distance shots, there's no zoom, aperture and exposure times are artificial so you constantly get over and under exposed shots. I've got a cheap and old-ish Canon point and shoot that can do a far better job. When I go somewhere I want to take photographs, I take the Canon.

Of course I counter this with the fact most people take terrible photos. Good equipment cannot compensate for a lack of skill, but skill can suffer from a lack of good equipment.

[tankplanker]

Some of the functions of my smartphone has been replaced by Alexa as it is quicker to tell her what to do rather than drag the phone out of my pocket and then find the appropriate app to do whatever I was doing.

Alexa covers:
Basic smarthome stuff like lights, heating (although I rarely touch the settings on the Nest thermostat I do turn on a couple of space heaters in my gym/workroom by voice), turning on the TV/music
She covers the weather, news and my appointments for the day
Basic maths questions such as conversions between units
Simple fact checks like actors' ages

Smartphone covers:
More complex smarthome stuff
Works as the remote for the TVs
Controller for streaming both video and music, far far quicker than using an app on the TV to manage playlists, find what I want, etc.
More complex math stuff that needs either a scientific calculator or excel
To do list
Calendar
Sat Nav in the car - I can send the directions to the car so its ready to go when I get there. I can even start the car from my phone, great when its cold outside, the heated seats will even be turned on for me
Mobile banking
Sat Nav for walking/cycling/car/sailing - without a smartphone I'd technically need one per activity