Ten Things Mobile Phones Will Make Obsolete 778
An anonymous reader writes "recombu.com has an article examining ten things mobile phones will make obsolete, including phone booths, wristwatches and handheld games consoles. It's interesting to see how many devices have been absorbed into mobile phone technology, and it raises the question: are we better off having everything in one device? The author poignantly concludes that while it's great to have so much power at our fingertips, it does mean that some of us will rely on mobile phones for even basic mental tasks, which is great until the battery runs out." See also Isaac Asimov's The Feeling of Power.
Re:I'll Keep My Wristwatch, Thanks (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:A load of BS (Score:5, Interesting)
That's because reading a flickering CRT with the Windows 95 Hot Dog Stand color scheme makes you want to claw your eyes out, and people don't have the sense to keep a document on disk until a final version is made. Also, in meetings, staring at a laptop is rather impolite. E-ink advances and will solve these problems; you only have to wait for the generation that is used to paper to retire.
Re:yep... (Score:5, Interesting)
Geeks should appreciate mechanical l33t (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd think any true geek out there would appreciate the mechanical complexity of a quality watch (read: not quartz). Granted they are more jewelry like than actual time reference objects, but when you get out of the low end you can appreciate a lot of fine horology!
Re:yep... (Score:5, Interesting)
Watches (Score:3, Interesting)
Either you get the watch, or you don't. I learned to tell time in the second grade and George actually gave me his watch because he didn't know how to tell time and I did (mom and dad made me give it back).
Had a digital watch as soon as they got cheap in the 70s (those of you born in the mid 60s will remember that well, I'm sure), an LCD watch when those got cheap. Bought a new Timex LCD in 1986 and wore it more or less continuously until 2007 when my wife gave me a Tag Heuer self-winding chronograph.
I'll never look back. This watch is a tank, keeps good time and looks fairly smart. Plus NO batteries.
Re:yep... (Score:5, Interesting)
My phone keeps the time just fine when out of reception. Likely better than an old pocket watch. What kind of brick-phone do you have?
I know that my phone doesn't keep accurate time even with reception and even though I'm just a few miles away from NIST. At the moment it's only off by 10 seconds, but it's been as bad as 3 minutes. My wristwatch, on the otherhand, is guaranteed to be accurate within a 5 second drift over a full year (and it's not a fancy watch). I wouldn't be surprised if the phone manufacturers know that they can get away with using crappy crystal oscillators and just re-syncing the time regularly.
Re:yep... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've seen some Blackberries with this problem. It happens when they lose contact with the network, and revert to a local clock. Settings have to be manually changed back to using the network.
Re:yep... (Score:3, Interesting)
The death of quality speciality devices is a bit premature at this point.
Yeah, my phone makes a terrible watch. It's in my pocket and you need to hit a button or open it to see the time. The battery lasts a few days at best, rather than years. It may be with me all of the time, but I still wear a watch.
This is also true of good cameras and mp3/media players.
Again you are right. I just bought a Canon S90, which is not even comparable to the cameras on phones. I can't really speak for MP3 players, but it's hard for me to imagine that a user of a iPod shuffle would be happy using a phone.
Re:yep... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wristwatches are just plain convenient (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:yep... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Wristwatches are just plain convenient (Score:2, Interesting)
My wife has dropped her Motorola Razr2 V9 in the loo twice. That and washing it under the tap did it no harm. The same phone also sat in a puddle of rain overnight and got driven over by a tractor. Needless to say, the front screen is cracked, but the device is still working fine.
I'd like to see an iPhone stand up to that sort of abuse...
Re:Wristwatches are just plain convenient (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny story. My dad's girlfriend had a good Seiko watch. It wasn't the proper dive watch but it had a bezel and was good to 100 metres depth or so. They were diving in (I think) Papua New Guinea and after they came to the surface the watch started to hiss and splutter, then the face flew off at high velocity. Good thing she wasn't looking right at it at the time.
Re:yep... (Score:3, Interesting)
OTH maybe a device on your wrist is a good place for a bluetooth display device.
Re:yep... (Score:4, Interesting)
I think there are basicly two types of phones (some are user configurable) Ones that get time from the network only, and ones that keep there own clock.
The nice thing about the network phones is the time is always accurate to the second and resets based on time zone when you power it up after a flight or when you cross a border. Every phone like this I have owned eventually looses track when out of range.
The other type seem to have an internal clock and have to be changed after flights and such.
My Kindle however, seems to use the network when in range but keeps track itself when out of range.
Re:yep... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, the problem that I have is not so much when out of service, it's when too close to the wrong tower...
I was out of town and in another highly populated area (Knoxville I believe) a while back. The city is right near the boarder of the next time zone and what I found that kept happening is that my cell phone would update it's time according to which tower it connected to, often times the one in the wrong timezone. I had to shut off it's auto syncing and let it drift on it's own during that period.
I've also found that there are certain towers that just don't sync time, or don't do it well. In these times I'm glad I've got a watch on. I'll also have to agree with the grandparent... I can flick my wrist and check the time in under a second. It takes a good 10 seconds to fish my phone out of my pocket and unlock it, esp if I'm in a car and the pocket isn't at a great angle for phone removal.
Re:12 ways watches are better than cell phones (Score:3, Interesting)
1. GBP 10 is not $10.
2. Your cell phone was probably subsidized by your cell phone company, if you bought it new. Try buying a new cell phone without a plan, and no subsidy. they'll be more than $10.
It doesn't matter, I already purchased it for use as a mobile communication device and I already carry it everywhere for means for mobile communication. It's cost is totally immaterial to whether or not I would want to use it as a time-keeping device.
3. I don't need to recharge my wrist watch every few days. How many days can you talk on your cell phone run without a recharge?
This is immaterial, as I keep my cell phone charged for use as a mobile communication device. Any other functions it also serves is simply one less battery I have to charge (or change annually, as it were with a watch)
4. Does your cell phone fit conveniently on your wrist like a watch? Or would you have to duct-tape it?
5. Is your cell phone as light as a watch?
I hate having things on my wrist, but since I keep my cell phone on my person at almost all times anyway, this is also immaterial.
6. Can you make calls on your cell phone without some sort of plan, even if it's pay-as-you-go? I can still tell time with my watch - no plan needed.
No, but I can still tell time on my phone without a plan. But I've had a cell phone plan uninterrupted for almost 10 years. You make a good argument for having a mobile timekeeping device around in case of nuclear winter or total economic collapse. I keep one in a drawer in my laundry room. Shouldn't this suffice in the unlikely event the world economy crumbles?
7. My watch doesn't have "dead zones" where it stops telling time. Does your cell phone have dead zones where you can't make calls?
My cell phone doesn't have "dead zones" where it stops telling time. It does have "dead zones" where it ceases to function as a mobile communication device. It is always more than adequate as a time-keeping device, however.
8. I don't have to worry about my watch interrupting an important meeting with an embarrassing ring-tone.
I'm glad hear that you choose to use an embarrassing ring-tone. I don't and I turn my phone on "silent" during meetings. I would continue to do this if I had a wrist watch. I would also continue to do this if I didn't have a wrist watch. Wait... when did ring tones have ANYTHING to do with this discussion about time-keeping? Are you telling me that you're fundamentally opposed to the concept of a telephone because you might be interrupted? Interesting......
9. If someone steals my watch, I don't have to worry that they have a lot of my contacts.
10. A thief can't run u a big bill for me on my watch.
11. I don't have to back up my watch.
And again... this has nothing to do with time-keeping. Are you fundamentally opposed to the concept of a mobile communication device? I find them quite useful. I imagine it's hard to conduct business these days with that attitude. How have you managed?
12. It's legal to look at my watch while driving.
This might be the only good point in this whole rant. But my car has an accurate clock and it IS separate from the radio and "always on" (even when the ignition is off--- even when the battery is too dead to start the car).
I have both a cell phone and a watch. Each one has its own place. Maybe you've heard of the concept - "right tool for the job."
A long time ago, there was this thing called a 'typewriter'. There was a different thing called a 'computer'. They served totally different purposes. A lot of people swore by both of them.
Then one day, someone created an attachment for the computer and some software that allowed it to do the work of a typewriter.
Re:I found an 11th thing... (Score:1, Interesting)
"Circular logic" is a much better phrase for the original meaning of "begging the question", so your fight is hopeless.
When you think of the phrase "begs the question" without attaching prior meaning, you immediately come to the conclusion of "the previous phrase had a hole in it that begged for attention to be called upon it"; fighting to keep the meaning of "begging the question" is is as likely as the RIAA returning to the days of Filler music and cocaine dunes.
Have fun fighting an already lost battle!
Re:yep... (Score:1, Interesting)
I don't care how well your phone keeps time. I had a Seiko something-or-other in 1980 but the strap broke in 1983 and I just did without one ever since. Actually, I don't often need to know the time but when I do I can tell you within half an hour or so just off the top of my head. Or, can check the phone in my pocket or the clock on the town tower, or at the railway station, or in any bank, or big digital at the shopping centre. Enjoy your wrist pain.
Re:yep... (Score:2, Interesting)