Giving Up On Smartphones

[MrPin]

There is a company in France called lekki that sell new (dead stock) and refurbished top line phones from the late 90's, worth a look if you really can't get on with a cheap smartphone.

Merde Alors! I need a Citroen DS, trenchcoat, and some Gitanes!

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

There is a company in France called lekki that sell new (dead stock) and refurbished top line phones from the late 90's, worth a look if you really can't get on with a cheap smartphone.

Why would you want a late 90s mobile?

It'll fry your brain and the battery will be almost as bad as a smartphone.

[Dorkins]

Why would you want a late 90s mobile?

It'll fry your brain and the battery will be almost as bad as a smartphone.

Agreed. There are new versions of 2G basic mobiles that are far superior to 90s technology. Buying old phones because they are old is silly, you can get a higher quality phone with the same functionality if you buy a new basic phone.

[Rave]

When I read a prediction in maybe 2008/9 that within 5 years more people would be accessing the internet through phones than through PCs I got a severe case of cognitive dissonance, having been a PC enthusiast / hobbyist for many years (building my own, overclocking, gaming etc.). I got my first smartphone a year later (T-Mobile Pulse running Android 1.6) and it was O.K., did a few cool things, but not really usable for anything more than a bit of gaming and the most basic web browsing. I got an Orange San Fransisco a year later and that was a big improvement, especially with a custom rom.

A Year after that I got an Orange Monte Carlo and that was it then- big (for the time) 4.2" screen and a fast enough processor to make internet browsing work properly. I was happy as larry with it (again custom rommed it, this time to 4.0). For some reason that died a year later, refusing to charge the battery for some reason. Happily my brother had just got an upgrade to a Sony Z1 and gave me his Xperia Arc, a bit battered but still fine. I jumped through a lot of hoops to get another 4.0 custom ROM on that and it was perfect. I'd probably still be using it now had my best mate who runs two smartphones at a time not given me his Galaxy S3 when he upgraded me to a Note 3.

I haven't even rooted or custom rommed the S3, it's good enough as it is- all I did was put on LauncherPro and TouchPal, which I've been using since the San Francisco, and I was right at home. I'll not upgrade now until matey gives me his Note 3 or I can buy something demonstrably better brand new for under 100 quid.

I gave my wife the Xperia Arc and no more than a month later she dropped it into a cup of coffee (in a stupidly large mug). So I got her a 'refurbished' (basically new) ZTE Blade V off ebay for 54 quid and that's been great too- quad core, nice bright sharp screen, does everything she wants perfectly.

The one app on android that can make me a bit antisocial is Twitter- I started slowly, but once I realised it was an ideal platform for abusing politicians and seeing countless funny vines / cat pics I got stuck in. If I unfollowed all the comedy accounts I'd get less amusement from it but probably be a bit less antisocial at dinner time, so perhaps that's the way forward.

The thing is, the data capability of the smartphone saves me loads of money on network charges. I'm still using the sim I got with my very first one, which came with a deal that gives you unlimited texts and internet every time you top up 10 quid. So I do that twice, and then I use the accumulated £20 credit to buy 6 months of internet, which I then use to communicate via email and WhatsApp. I still have to make the odd phone call and text which I pay for at usurious PAYG rates but it costs me well under £50 a year still- if I made no calls or texts at all then £20 would last me 8 months. And I could get away with using the odd bit off VOIP on my data if strictly necessary.

TL:DR? I think smartphones are brilliant and I'm a total convert. They needn't be expensive to buy or run, I have one even though I'm a massive tightwad. I'm thinking of getting my 62 y/o mum one for Christmas as I reckon the ability to do email without needing to find a PC would be brilliant for her.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

I find it funny there seems to be some sort of general opinion that posting on facebook/twitter via a smartphone is intellectually inferior to posting on a forum like this from a desktop.

Posting on here from a desktop : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

Posting on facebook from a smartphone : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

I think if you examined both cases for the cause of why people post, the reasons would be pretty similar.

Anyway, at least I can feel part of the HPC intellectually superior crowd, because I have neither a facebook or a twitter account and have no interest in either. Take that you intellectual peasants.

[Frank Hovis]

Smartphones are cheap as chips and do loads of stuff.

Don't really see the difference between sitting on a train and being on a smartphone and sitting on a train and reading a book. But some people seem to want to take some sort of highbrow attitude against the smartphone. Basically if you spend a lot of time waiting around, commuting etc they are great for something interesting to do while you wait.

if you don't go out much then yes, I can see they are more limited in their usefulness as people can get access to the net and stuff via desktops. Only you know whether you are getting value for money. But in my mind there is no difference between a smartphone and a desktop in terms of the activity.

I can understand someone saying, I'm going to access the net less as a whole, and that kind of makes sense to me as a lifestyle choice that a person makes and if that's making them happy and improving the quality of life then fine. But something along the lines of I'm not going to use the smartphone, because I can use the desktop all the time instead ! - that comes across as a bit ridiculous in terms of quality of life improvement, it only works in terms of financial benefit.

I find it funny there seems to be some sort of general opinion that posting on facebook/twitter via a smartphone is intellectually inferior to posting on a forum like this from a desktop.

Posting on here from a desktop : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

Posting on facebook from a smartphone : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

I think if you examined both cases for the cause of why people post, the reasons would be pretty similar.

Anyway, at least I can feel part of the HPC intellectually superior crowd, because I have neither a facebook or a twitter account and have no interest in either. Take that you intellectual peasants.

If you seriously can't see the difference I suggest that you haven't spent much time on Facebook or Twitter.

On Facebook / Twitter most conversations are the written equivalent of a grunt (LOL / Like) to a funny picture. The level of intellectual involvement is that of a toddler watching You've Been Framed.

[sPinwheel]

If you seriously can't see the difference I suggest that you haven't spent much time on Facebook or Twitter.

On Facebook / Twitter most conversations are the written equivalent of a grunt (LOL / Like) to a funny picture. The level of intellectual involvement is that of a toddler watching You've Been Framed.

Yes, it's a lotta like HPC Off Topic.... Lulz!!!

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

If you seriously can't see the difference I suggest that you haven't spent much time on Facebook or Twitter.

On Facebook / Twitter most conversations are the written equivalent of a grunt (LOL / Like) to a funny picture. The level of intellectual involvement is that of a toddler watching You've Been Framed.

Correct - I haven't spent any time on them and have no need to. All my crap gets posted here.

[Habeas Domus]

Posting on here from a desktop : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

Posting on facebook from a smartphone : Posting crap on the internet that 99% of people aren't interested in.

There is a key difference, when you post on a forum, everyone can see what you post, when you post on facebook only a subset of followers will see any particular post (sometimes no-one will see it) - based on some dubious facebook 'popularity' algorithm.

If everyone on facebook saw every post a typical user would be overwhelmed with hundreds of posts every day, so they cleverly drip feed both the news feed and the top posts.

[Habeas Domus]

If you seriously can't see the difference I suggest that you haven't spent much time on Facebook or Twitter.

On Facebook / Twitter most conversations are the written equivalent of a grunt (LOL / Like) to a funny picture. The level of intellectual involvement is that of a toddler watching You've Been Framed.

I used to think this was because my facebook friends were somehow all a bit retarded, but the same people post deep intellectual things on LiveJournal, so I dont know what the cause of this is, maybe its just that people have low expectations of Facebook, or maybe more intellectual posts get auto-filtered out - "not likely to attract good advertising clickthrough = doesnt appear on news feed"

[Frank Hovis]

Correct - I haven't spent any time on them and have no need to. All my crap gets posted here.

There's your explanantion. I went from "I don't understand Twitter" to having a bit of a read and fidning out it was incredibly shallow as the text character limit would suggest.

I know two adults who to my knowlegde have not read a book for years. You can tell when they do reports as they are something a 12 year old would be embarrassed to produce; and these are not thick people. Their written language skills are on the floor through not reading books but instead watching and listening to things and only reading Facebook-type superficiality.

There is of course inane rubbish on here, but there is a lot of quality debate and information.

[Frank Hovis]

I used to think this was because my facebook friends were somehow all a bit retarded, but the same people post deep intellectual things on LiveJournal, so I dont know what the cause of this is, maybe its just that people have low expectations of Facebook, or maybe more intellectual posts get auto-filtered out - "not likely to attract good advertising clickthrough = doesnt appear on news feed"

IMO it's because Facebook is primarily accessed via Smartphones. It is a total fag to type a sentence of decent length or to edit anything on a smart phone, so you keep it short and usually pointless. Hence the Like function, no need to peoperly reply just press one button.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

IMO it's because Facebook is primarily accessed via Smartphones. It is a total fag to type a sentence of decent length or to edit anything on a smart phone, so you keep it short and usually pointless. Hence the Like function, no need to peoperly reply just press one button.

it sounds like you're saying then it has a completely different purpose and not a valid comparison.

Maybe I should get an account. I do like pictures of dogs with hats on and scared cats etc.

[Frank Hovis]

it sounds like you're saying then it has a completely different purpose and not a valid comparison.

Maybe I should get an account. I do like pictures of dogs with hats on and scared cats etc.

Yes, I am saying that although I would say usage rather than purpose. I am on two football forums, one has a strong moderation policy so has, as well as the inane posts, the well thought out analyses. The other forum allows all swearing and pcitures of porn so you attract the knuckle-draggers and it's usually a waste of time posting a long post because people won't read it properly.

Facebook software, being image-heavy and only showing the first dozen or so words of any post, is a primarily visual and instant response medium, made even less verbal by the fact that most people are accessing it via smartphones which makes typing anything lengthy an ordeal.

So I'm not saying that Facebook is full of morons, but rather that it is populated by normal people appearing to be morons because of its lay-out and the means of access to it.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

Yes, I am saying that although I would say usage rather than purpose. I am on two football forums, one has a strong moderation policy so has, as well as the inane posts, the well thought out analyses. The other forum allows all swearing and pcitures of porn so you attract the knuckle-draggers and it's usually a waste of time posting a long post because people won't read it properly.

Facebook software, being image-heavy and only showing the first dozen or so words of any post, is a primarily visual and instant response medium, made even less verbal by the fact that most people are accessing it via smartphones which makes typing anything lengthy an ordeal.

So I'm not saying that Facebook is full of morons, but rather that it is populated by normal people appearing to be morons because of its lay-out and the means of access to it.

I would like a like button on hpc. There are lots of posts that I would like to agree with or make me laugh, but I can't be bothered to do a +1 to show my appreciation, and also it would make the htread less readable.

[Frank Hovis]

I would like a like button on hpc. There are lots of posts that I would like to agree with or make me laugh, but I can't be bothered to do a +1 to show my appreciation, and also it would make the htread less readable.

As would I. There are some outstanding posts but if a couple of people have already done a +1 then it seems daft just doing that again so I don't.

[Steppenpig]

The thing is, the data capability of the smartphone saves me loads of money on network charges. I'm still using the sim I got with my very first one, which came with a deal...

Can you not just use the sim in a bongle or whatever with a laptop?

[Hail the Tripod]

On Facebook / Twitter most conversations are the written equivalent of a grunt (LOL / Like) to a funny picture. The level of intellectual involvement is that of a toddler watching You've Been Framed.

Yeah, but women in my social circle so rarely post photos of themselves in bikinis anywhere else.

[Shamus]

I couldn't make it through the working day without my old phone - Iphone 3gs (probably too old to be classed as a real smart-phone !)

Almost got ran over tonight in the dark by a cyclist on the pavement using their smartphone. Seems like the world is going by when

everyone has their head into the damm things - really bad on public transport.

Life was less demanding in the 90's and I have fond memories of my first phone - the Motorola Star-Tac:

[MrPin]

There is of course inane rubbish on here, but there is a lot of quality debate and information.

Good Lord! I never knew this!

[Frank Hovis]

I was only saying to someone the other week that when my contract is up next year I'm going to just get something for texting and making calls. Infact I've toyed with the idea of getting rid of a mobile altogether.

I had an HTC one, my first upgrade for 5 years, about 18 months ago and I hate it. I get cufuddled when I go to the home page just to find my list of contacts. The only really useful app on there for checking my bank balance.

Like you, I've noticed you can't go anywhere now without seeing people staring down at their phones, even when they're in company. My biggest gripe is when I see mums more interested in dealing with their status update than engaging with their children.

My children have just been run over! I need HUGZ. Then I'm going to text emergency services. Then walk over and take a picture then see if they're ok.

Good Lord! I never knew this!

It's on the Deep Web HPC, invitation only.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

Good Lord! I never knew this!

Check out Errantas posts.

Whatever happened to him (or her) ?

[Frank Hovis]

Check out Errantas posts.

Whatever happened to him (or her) ?

According to Oracle: Erranta was a government shill, posting to discredit any conspiracy theorists by making tenuous connections between nicely coloured letters in the middle of words.

If this is correct then I guess they would have pulled off of HPC on the grounds that's it's not a hotbed of lizard people conspiracists.

[MrPin]

Check out Errantas posts.

Whatever happened to him (or her) ?

I quite like Erranta. One minute he is obscure/confused like thePin, and the next he is talking sensibly.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

According to Oracle: Erranta was a government shill, posting to discredit any conspiracy theorists by making tenuous connections between nicely coloured letters in the middle of words.

If this is correct then I guess they would have pulled off of HPC on the grounds that's it's not a hotbed of lizard people conspiracists.

I think it's reasonable to suspect he was a government shill, simply on the basis that his posts must have taken loads of time to compose and rarely seemed to say anything useful (at least to me).