So I have a smartphone, but it's not just a phone, it can do everything else as well as being a phone. The irony is that it's just not as good at its prime function - making phone calls - as, say, browsing the internet or running apps etc etc. It seems that these days, for a lot of people who want smartphones, making calls is one of the least of their considerations.
The phone has a clock so I shouldn't need a watch, an alarm so I shouldn't need an alarm clock, music software so I don't need a dedicated mp3 player, a GPS so I shouldn't need a sat nav, a camera so I don't need a compact, and a PDF reader so I shouldn't need... books.
All this would be well and good apart from that fact that having everything in one place is becoming a massive pain in the arse. If I want to know the time I have to dig for the phone in my pocket rather than glancing at my watch, if I want to listen to music I have to get the phone out, go to the album, scroll through the list and find the track. However, if I want to do the same with my mp3 player I reach into my pocket and press one button without even looking at the device. As well as that, a phone can never compete with a proper camera in the way that a laptop can't run most maxed-out games.
The upshot of this is that I have gone back to wearing a wristwatch and having a dedicated mp3 player. Not least because my phone seems to think it pertinent to turn the volume down for me every few tracks with a message coming up on the screen saying "warning, volume too loud can damage hearing!".
It seems that the simpler a device's task is, the better it is at doing it. Maybe one day this obsession with having everything on one device will diminish once we realise dedicated hardware is much better at it.
Who else has found the same or will we evermore strive to live our lives through one hand-held oblong?
The phone has a clock so I shouldn't need a watch, an alarm so I shouldn't need an alarm clock, music software so I don't need a dedicated mp3 player, a GPS so I shouldn't need a sat nav, a camera so I don't need a compact, and a PDF reader so I shouldn't need... books.
All this would be well and good apart from that fact that having everything in one place is becoming a massive pain in the arse. If I want to know the time I have to dig for the phone in my pocket rather than glancing at my watch, if I want to listen to music I have to get the phone out, go to the album, scroll through the list and find the track. However, if I want to do the same with my mp3 player I reach into my pocket and press one button without even looking at the device. As well as that, a phone can never compete with a proper camera in the way that a laptop can't run most maxed-out games.
The upshot of this is that I have gone back to wearing a wristwatch and having a dedicated mp3 player. Not least because my phone seems to think it pertinent to turn the volume down for me every few tracks with a message coming up on the screen saying "warning, volume too loud can damage hearing!".
It seems that the simpler a device's task is, the better it is at doing it. Maybe one day this obsession with having everything on one device will diminish once we realise dedicated hardware is much better at it.
Who else has found the same or will we evermore strive to live our lives through one hand-held oblong?