Six technologies endangered by smartphones

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by Crowl

One point that shouldn't be overlooked is the boost that the all-in-one devices can produce for some dedicated devices such as cameras or ereaders, somebody gets into the feature a lot more due to using it on their phone and ends up buying the dedicated device that is better for that purpose.

Good point, especially in this forum. Lots of us started reading e-books on PDAs or PCs before getting a dedicated device.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Such devices could be set to do one thing. I think that this is a feature that will come. I already sometimes use my ipod as an alarm clock, but if I do, I need to remember to turn off notifications and pump up the volume. Otherwise I either get a notification in the middle of the night, which is unwelcome, or it doesn't make much noise and I sleep through.

But the devices are perfectly capable of, say, defining "modes", so you could have alarm clock mode, gaming mode, meeting mode, funeral mode etc. - and reading mode.

I'm not that familiar with iPhone apps but Android has the Tasker app which allows you to do just that.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Good point, especially in this forum. Lots of us started reading e-books on PDAs or PCs before getting a dedicated device.

I was actually thinking of a couple of friends who have just recently bought new dslr cameras, but a closer to home example would be myself as I went from reading ebooks on my phone to buying a sony reader.

[Xerxes]

I can see a good Tablet doing more than a smartphone. I don't mean a media tablet like the ipad, but a real computer tablet. Although even a media tablet has legs. Netbooks and readers could slide into a nice tablet.

GPS on phones is something I like though. I wouldn't buy a GPS unit.

Camera - No. Not for people who want a real camera. If I was Sony though I'd sure as hell would try it. Just walk in and throw a Evo 4G and one of those nice Cybershots on the table. Tell them to merge it. Sure you'd get a $800 phone. Come up with some nice Cybershot Software. Get one of those nice Carl Zeiss lens.

Gaming - As a gamer I doubt it. On a tablet however I sure would love something like WoW or AOE. I think a good rts or god game would do nice with the touch functions.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

And I get that, I really do.

My circumstance, though, is that I'm responsible for my 89 year old mother, and the only reason that I'm able to leave her alone at all is knowing that she can contact me at any time if she has an emergency. (She keeps her cell phone in her pocket, with my number on speed dial.) If I am unable to be the one on call, we specifically assign someone else in the family to be available, and I set my phone to "funeral."

It has given me SO much more freedom this way. I try not to be annoying to people around me with it -- keep it on vibrate most of the time, and if I need to take a call I slip out of the room. But it's worked for us so far, and the times I've had to call 911 I've been able to get there before the EMT's do. It gives her a feeling of security, too, and allows her to keep a little independence.

THAT I can understand.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

...the fact that nearly every gadget incorporates a clock feat, wristwatches are about to be heavily diminished - i'll buy that

About to? Honey, it's already happened. Very few people wear wrist watches anymore. People either ask someone what time it is or they look at their cell phones. Of course, I'm the strange one who doesn't keep her cell phone on so I need a watch.

[brecklundin]

actually it is the dedicated cell phone that has died off...the cell phone itself is the victim of convergence not the other way around. Even throw away cell phones have cameras, GPS and mp3 built-in anymore. This is because a simple basic cell phone is worth about $5...no more...

BTW, what is the whole obsession with a GPS? I rank them right up there with needing a full size 4wd to navigate the 3-degree incline of your driveway on a moist morning...

These articles are not 100% pointless. However, there is a point where it's kinda silly. As in the case of the cell phone it's the mfg's who decided to combine these various "features" into the phone. The only purpose of this is to maintain profit levels while creating a sense of loss and inadequacy for the 99% of people who never use anything but the phone and fail to realize they are paying for a laundry list of "features" they will never ever use or will use a handful of times at most before they are convinced they need something new and "better" to just make and receive phone calls on.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

actually it is the dedicated cell phone that has died off...the cell phone itself is the victim of convergence not the other way around. Even throw away cell phones have cameras, GPS and mp3 built-in anymore. This is because a simple basic cell phone is worth about $5...no more...

BTW, what is the whole obsession with a GPS? I rank them right up there with needing a full size 4wd to navigate the 3-degree incline of your driveway on a moist morning...

These articles are not 100% pointless. However, there is a point where it's kinda silly. As in the case of the cell phone it's the mfg's who decided to combine these various "features" into the phone. The only purpose of this is to maintain profit levels while creating a sense of loss and inadequacy for the 99% of people who never use anything but the phone and fail to realize they are paying for a laundry list of "features" they will never ever use or will use a handful of times at most before they are convinced they need something new and "better" to just make and receive phone calls on.

Not quite dead but definitely on the endangered species list. My old Oystr is still making like a Timex (takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'). Cell phones aimed at Seniors (such as the ones with the rip-off plans pushed by AARP) frequently do even less than my Oystr.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Xerxes

I can see a good Tablet doing more than a smartphone. I don't mean a media tablet like the ipad, but a real computer tablet. Although even a media tablet has legs. Netbooks and readers could slide into a nice tablet.

GPS on phones is something I like though. I wouldn't buy a GPS unit.

Camera - No. Not for people who want a real camera. If I was Sony though I'd sure as hell would try it. Just walk in and throw a Evo 4G and one of those nice Cybershots on the table. Tell them to merge it. Sure you'd get a $800 phone. Come up with some nice Cybershot Software. Get one of those nice Carl Zeiss lens.

Gaming - As a gamer I doubt it. On a tablet however I sure would love something like WoW or AOE. I think a good rts or god game would do nice with the touch functions.

Something interesting about the Cybershots...now my info on PnS cameras and the Cybershots is a few years out of date but on most of the Cybershots you have to read the specs very closely and ensure the specs specifically state a GLASS Zeiss lense otherwise it's likely an optical grade plastic/lexan lense with Zeiss coatings and that is it...in other words ya ain't getting the real Zeiss optics they name would seem to imply.

Yeah, I was shocked when I learned about his sleight of hand. A number of years before I bought my first digital, a DSC-S70 because it was one of the few digitals, in 1999, that used glass optics plus they were real Zeiss options. It was sometime after then when there was a change. Hopefully they went back to glass again.

Just another case of having to read what the spec sheet is not, or has stopped, detailing...as in they were stating something like "Carl Zeiss coated optics" of something along those lines rather than "Genuine Carl Zeiss Glass Lens"...and people wonder why I rank marketing folks below attorneys...

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Not quite dead but definitely on the endangered species list. My old Oystr is still making like a Timex (takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'). Cell phones aimed at Seniors (such as the ones with the rip-off plans pushed by AARP) frequently do even less than my Oystr.

Yeah, maybe better called endangered. I haven't kept up on the AARP offerings. But I do have some sort of decade old disposable Nokia that still works if I need it for travel. I miss my original c1993 Sony candy-bar phone I had on my Sprint account. Super easy to use, nice battery life and not built for a hand the size of a 9-year old to handle.

[MikeFromHC]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

One of the reasons the iPad has done so well is that there is no comparable competition. A laptop/netbook simply isn't the same form-factor as the iPad.

Apple has always sold sizzle and the iPad is no exception. Tablet PC's were around for a long time before the iPad, both as a pure tablet and as a convertible device.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Yeah, maybe better called endangered. I haven't kept up on the AARP offerings. But I do have some sort of decade old disposable Nokia that still works if I need it for travel. I miss my original c1993 Sony candy-bar phone I had on my Sprint account. Super easy to use, nice battery life and not built for a hand the size of a 9-year old to handle.

I had a bad experience with a Nokia phone (and their so called customer service) and won't touch them anymore. I've investigated many of AARP's endorsed products and services and found them all to be ripoffs. Their lobbying has actually cost me money because they didn't like new laws that would have benefitted me. The only reason I maintain my membership with them is for the motel discounts I get.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

About to? Honey, it's already happened. Very few people wear wrist watches anymore. People either ask someone what time it is or they look at their cell phones. Of course, I'm the strange one who doesn't keep her cell phone on so I need a watch.

I'd like to see some statistics on that. It's amazing how different statistical reality can be from perception. We tend to focus on exceptions and "abnormal" behavior and give them much more importance than they have in reality.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

I had a bad experience with a Nokia phone (and their so called customer service) and won't touch them anymore. I've investigated many of AARP's endorsed products and services and found them all to be ripoffs. Their lobbying has actually cost me money because they didn't like new laws that would have benefitted me. The only reason I maintain my membership with them is for the motel discounts I get.

Can't blame you about Nokia phones...the one I have I bought years back because I had zero need for a contract plan and was going to be on the road for business for a few weeks. It was OK and nothing special at the same time.

As for AARP, that is sorta how I feel about them in general also...not sure which is going to be a better option AAA or AARP next year...we'll see which is worth the membership fee. I like my AAA card because I get 10% off parts and repair at their AAA authorized service centers and places like NAPA. Plus any work I have done on my vehicles, and I have 'retired' from a lot of DIY auto repair/maintenance, but it also gets me a 12-month warranty on the work done. So, I dunno if AARP gives me even that much value...sad because once upon a time the org was actually of a true value. I know my grandmother has a supplemental insurance plan through them that covered her Rx's and medicare deductibles and picked up where medicare left off and was a very reasonable price of about $130/mo...easily with $500 to her over the time it was still in effect, then then CA laws changes allowing them to just dump anyone on that plan...just based on the county you lived in within CA...better not keep going because I just get cranky over it all...hehehehe...

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I'd like to see some statistics on that. It's amazing how different statistical reality can be from perception. We tend to focus on exceptions and "abnormal" behavior and give them much more importance than they have in reality.

Just do some people watching where there are a lot people (such asa mall)and see just how many are wearing watches. I used to work in a convenience store and was amazed by the number of people who would pop their heads in the door to ask what time it was. Since I would see so many people on the job it was easy to observe how many didn't have watches on.