Always had a cheap desktop computer and never thought a phone was worth it. Is there a reason people like me should reconsider?
It generally does everything your desktop computer does, but you can do it while you’re on the shitter.
I’m not even kidding.
This. It’s basically a pocket PC. It’s useful for all the reasons a computer is, but it’s more portable than a laptop.
Convenient distraction
So many uses. They are a convenience and not really necessary when I really drill down into it, but the convenience factor is significant.
Maps and navigation. I can change plans on the fly and still confidently navigate cities I have never been to before, with a good estimate of when I will get somewhere. Could I plan from home or use paper maps/atlases? Sure, but a smartphone is way easier and more flexible.
Communication. It simplifies keeping in touch with people and maintaining relationships. Could I call them from my home landline once a month? Sure, but a smartphone allows me to send them a quick text or a dumb meme anytime from anywhere. Smaller, more frequent communication to supplement the less frequent larger effort helps a lot with relationship maintenance.
Having a computer in my pocket any time I am away from home and my home PC.
People who eschew basic modern technology are weird. It’s just a fact. Could I move to a remote mountain cabin and throw out all electronics and let my inner, introverted, weirdo quirks run rampant? Sure. But I don’t really want that. I want to have friends and to be generally well thought of by my community. I want people to text me to invite me to go out. I want to pull up the latest artist I’m excited about to share with someone when we’re out and about. Smartphones are so ubiquitous, it is a radical statement not to have one and I simply don’t want to be a radical.
If you’re satisfied with what you have, by all means stick with it.
If your current setup is stopping you from doing something you want to do, or is holding you back from progress in something you care about, look around for solutions. Many other pieces of tech can fill in what a smartphone does, but in separate pieces. I think there is some value in having those separate pieces.
Like a smoker telling you not to smoke, I encourage you to find alternatives to the smart phone for daily life while typing to you from a smartphone.
I’m a smoker and I take offense to your comment. Winners never quit and quitters never win! Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! /s
Currently in a country I don’t speak the language. You can just talk to your phone and it’ll translate it and play their language over the speaker. Then they respond, it translates it to English and says it.
For menus in restaurants just take a picture and now it’s English. Shits wild
Google Lens is definitely a real lifesaver when you want to instantly translate the menus.
I can do spreadsheets lying down
Well, if you think that a cheap desktop computer is enough, think of phones as a portable desktop in your pockets powered by a battery.
Plus, with the right combination of applications (more preferably, a few, and some with no active internet permission at all) and power settings tweaked both for better battery mileage and longer, more focused on-the-go sessions (e.g. editing documents, playing that one dungeon crawler roguelike, and planning important events, etc.) you could count on it more.
Portable web browser to read books on. That’s all I use mine for, except for the occasional text message / phone call. I got by fine for a long while with just my laptop, but reading on my phone is just a lot more convenient in a lot of cases. Like when you’re walking, or running, or standing, or laying down. It’s a pain in the ass to read from a laptop while walking, I’ve almost dropped the poor thing too many times to count.
A phone I can use almost anywhere.
Access to most of mankind’s knowledge at my fingertips.
Weather and radar in seconds.
Now that I think about it, instantaneous access to information from anywhere with an internet connection is a big one for me.
The more sensors the better. I want a motherfucking tricorder.
I mean it does everything really, mp3 player, GPS, Internet, compass (maps), communication even games. That said I am a little disappointed because they have been removing things like headphone Jack’s, Sd cards and I really thought at this point we would all have flir cams etc on every phone.
It’s nice to be able to stay connected while out and about. Having features like maps helps when lost somewhere. You can keep store cards and such in your phone to scan instead of having to physically carry everything. I went to a conference for work a week ago that required use of an app in order to register for labs.
No. Do what works for you.
I live in a foreign country. So international communication is free and pretty simple.
How does this work? If you live in a country then it isn’t foreign… it’s your country. I guess you mean you don’t live in the USA or whatever country OP is in? Just curious how a person could state that.
I’m not from this country so it’s foreign to me.
You could say you have a foreign friend, but does he stop being foreign once your friends or when he comes to visit? Or is he always a foreign friend?
Well, sure. I’m not trying to start an argument or trying to talk down to you or anything. I just mean that once you are living in a country then it’s no longer foreign? If you are there on vacation then sure. But if you live there then it is your country. Sorry if it sounds like I’m splitting hairs, but at some point the store down the street or your neighbors aren’t “foreign” any longer, but home. That’s all, just my thought process.
Well I do refer to it as my neighborhood. But I do not speak the local language and I do not know all of the customs.
Even the style of speech in English is different than it is in America. I’ve been here for about 6 years, but you never really know a country and culture the way you know your own.
Just last week, my wife brought home a cheap snack from 7/11. OMG! It was so good, I’ve walked passed them for years only to discover they are my new favorite snack. I have been buying so many bags of them. This is the kind of stuff which makes me feel that this is a foreign country.
In addition to that, there are a number of things I am not able to do here that a citizen can. So in some ways, I can never fit in here. One example, is I cannot hold any professional positions, like lawyer, doctor, or any government position. I can also never own land here.
Ok, I get it. Again, I wasn’t trying to bust your chops, just couldn’t figure out how the country you are living in is foreign. If the country puts barriers to entry like that ( you have been there for 6 years and they still consider you foreign? That doesn’t make sense to me) then I understand why you consider it foreign. Just curious, and you don’t have to answer this, is your wife a native there? Does not marring a native not give a person some standing?
Yeah, my wife’s a citizen of this country. I just recently got residency, but those restrictions still apply.
I just don’t have to renew my tourist visa anymore and I don’t have to fly out and back into the country trying to every 3 years.
It also lets me get employed by a private company without the need of a work visa.
But I still can’t hold professional jobs. I actually was looking into going to med school at one point to be a doctor here.
School is cheap here, then I found out that even if I go to med school here I’m not allowed to practice medicine.
It’s actually a bit annoying, but now there is one less doctor in this country.
