Mobile phones

[UncleEbenezer]

So what I'm saying is that the smartphone enables me to do things and in places that I could never do before, but it doesn't actually replace anything that I can think of.
- K

Replacing radio/walkman: the sound quality is determined by what headphones you have. Modern ones are a huge improvement on the past, partly in sound quality but even more in not leaking loud noises to disturb a whole carriage or cafe full of people.
Timepiece and alarm clock: by far the most convenient I've ever had at my disposal. At least since I started to find wristwatches physically troublesome.
Map: the addition of GPS makes it much easier to use than a paper map in many circumstances, above all when arriving in an unfamiliar city. Also a huge convenience not to have to go chasing maps, and finding yourself off the edge of that useless tourist map that was all you could get at the time ...
Diary and notebook: not something to use regularly, but a whole lot less inconvenient than paper versions to carry around.
Torch: great for emergencies (and why else would you want a torch)? Also serves as a safety device when occasionally out on a dark road.
Travel timetables and route maps: make train travel much less stressful than of old, and make buses a viable option even outside the range of ones local knowledge.
And not least, phone: nice to be liberated from reliance on phone boxes (can I find one, will it work, how filthy will it be, dammit, need the right coins), and have it integrated with a contact list.

But I really miss the lovely keyboard I had on the Nokia E71 - which had everything I use except torch. On-screen nonsense is no substitute.

[jackdaww]

But in virtually every case, the previous device does a better job, and often by a huge margin. Occasionally though, it does things that were not there before.
1. Camera is there all the time and video wasn't there, but I'd still use the old camera with a viewfinder for preference for photos.
2. Easier just to look at the clock or computer if I'm here (though I do use it for this).
3. Could be useful but the Big Ben is easier to set up if I ever needed it.
4. Haven't needed this function since I put the message on the answering machine all those years ago.
5. Extremely useful for when I'm not sitting here or when the computer packs up and going into a spare room to fire up the backup one (which takes forever) is not an attractive option.
6. Never used it for this. Need a proper keyboard.
7. Don't need one very often but it is usable for this twice a year.
8. Unusable for anything serious. Light probably 1000 times weaker than the real ones.
9. Sound quality so poor that I've hardly ever used it.
10. The same.
11. PC is so much better with the bigger screen.
12. Same or in many cases impossible.

So what I'm saying is that the smartphone enables me to do things and in places that I could never do before, but it doesn't actually replace anything that I can think of.

- K

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enlarging some points - mainly when out and about - which is quite often ..

1. fone camera is not in the same league as a compact , but still very adequate for many people . i no longer lug my camera around except when on a definite photography mission.

2. i dont wear a watch , often use the fone for the time.

3. we use the fone alarm when on holiday and at home .

4. the fone voice recorder is for recording thoughts etc - to replay later - i know people who do this.

5. internet - many people use this facility .

6. notebook - ive used this - as well as the recorder . smartfone keyboards have improved a lot .

7. calculator - i use it and no longer carry a calculator .

8. torch. i find this fine . ever seen a football stadium lit up by fone torches?

9. music player -- sound quality is as good as an MP3 player with good headphones.

10. radio is fine - see 9.

11. photo display is good for a small screen - PC is not portable .
this feature is in universal use .

12. documents - i dont know if its in common use.

13. phone . essential for emergency and when on holiday . i dont use contract bundles , just PAYG.

14. maps/ GPS -- i havnt tried these - sounds useful .

[Alaric]

14. maps/ GPS -- i havnt tried these - sounds useful .

You are in a strange town with potentially a walk to your ultimate destination. You see a bus stop, but does the bus go anywhere near your destination and how frequently does it run? Actually you can check where the bus stop is situated if it's not in plain view.

[UncleIan]

1. fone camera is not in the same league as a compact , but still very adequate for many people . i no longer lug my camera around except when on a definite photography mission.

When you say compact? My current phone camera is way better in most cases than any other sub £200 camera I've ever owned (ok, the phone wasn't sub £200, but that's what I think of when you say compact) , it's only beaten by my old SLR, but I'd need to spend £100s, possibly £1000s to get better. The only thing that lets it down a bit is its zoom. Hardly surprising. Of course, the old adage applies, the best camera is the one you have on you. I wouldn't lug around a DSLR and a couple of lenses just in case I saw something I liked the look of, so my phone wins hands down on a combination of convenience and quality.

14. maps/ GPS -- i havnt tried these - sounds useful .

Combined with search engines, this I have found to be really really useful on occasions. Away for the weekend in an unknown town or city. Where to have lunch? What's about? Any good? How do I get there from here?

On holidays I download the google map of the area, so I can use it offline, and use it as a satnav. What I find amazing is it's not just roads and addresses, it's almost *everything*, where's the nearest pharmacy? Supermarket? It's all in there. Magic.

[didds]

I presumed voice recorder meant ad hoc recording instances a la dictaphone. Not voicemail/answering machine.

I use voice recorder all the time for choir/musical theatre recording for practice.

didds

[vrdiver]

I use my phone for:

# substitute watch. I stopped wearing a watch when I started carrying a phone that also displayed the time.
# notepad. Typically things I need to buy (just added "tonic water" to the list) or do. Also for jotting down things I want to look up later.
# Phone. 'nuff said
# GPS. I love going off cycling on little country lanes. GPS lets me know where I've ended up. It lets me way-mark points of interest (such as a heavy crop of blackberries, damsons or a good wild plum tree, as well as the more obvious things like a nice pub or good view)
# Maps and route-planning. as for GPS, but for when I know where I want to go, but need to know how to get there.
# Alarm clock. Also as a timer, e.g. for cooking when I can leave the kitchen and come back when the timer goes off.
# Pulse checker (BPM, not yes/no!). I have an app which will measure my pulse if I hold my finger against the light.
# Spirit level. Seriously - used for levelling the motorhome when arriving on site.
# ISS alert. Tells me when the International Space Station is overhead so that I can look at the clouds in frustration again.
# Torch. Regular use - especially when padlocking an old shed with an awkward catch, or negotiating the side-gate with the dog
# Camera. Already discussed by others
# Calculator. Occasionally.
# Vehicle tracker. Tells me if one of my vehicles has moved without authority, or if an alarm has gone off.
# Security. I used secondary authentication to access certain online accounts. My phone provides either a security code or receives a text with a one-time code for the account.
# Music/radio
# Texting
# Kindle - for when I'm out and about and would like to read, but don't have my actual kindle on me.
# plus a fair few other app-based uses.

In reality, the phone has replaced my watch, alarm clock and map, whilst saving me the hassle of wishing I'd remembered to bring a pen+paper, torch, calculator, address book etc. It's enhanced, if not the quality of life, certainly the convenience of it.

I'm another plus.net sim-only customer. £5pcm for all of the above no strings attached. (I could probably save a quid or two by switching to PAYG, but with the contract, I don't have to worry about data usage, which used to be my achilles heel with a smartphone on PAYG.

VRD

[jackdaww]

I use my phone for:

# substitute watch. I stopped wearing a watch when I started carrying a phone that also displayed the time.
# notepad. Typically things I need to buy (just added "tonic water" to the list) or do. Also for jotting down things I want to look up later.
# Phone. 'nuff said
# GPS. I love going off cycling on little country lanes. GPS lets me know where I've ended up. It lets me way-mark points of interest (such as a heavy crop of blackberries, damsons or a good wild plum tree, as well as the more obvious things like a nice pub or good view)
# Maps and route-planning. as for GPS, but for when I know where I want to go, but need to know how to get there.
# Alarm clock. Also as a timer, e.g. for cooking when I can leave the kitchen and come back when the timer goes off.
# Pulse checker (BPM, not yes/no!). I have an app which will measure my pulse if I hold my finger against the light.
# Spirit level. Seriously - used for levelling the motorhome when arriving on site.
# ISS alert. Tells me when the International Space Station is overhead so that I can look at the clouds in frustration again.
# Torch. Regular use - especially when padlocking an old shed with an awkward catch, or negotiating the side-gate with the dog
# Camera. Already discussed by others
# Calculator. Occasionally.
# Vehicle tracker. Tells me if one of my vehicles has moved without authority, or if an alarm has gone off.
# Security. I used secondary authentication to access certain online accounts. My phone provides either a security code or receives a text with a one-time code for the account.
# Music/radio
# Texting
# Kindle - for when I'm out and about and would like to read, but don't have my actual kindle on me.
# plus a fair few other app-based uses.

In reality, the phone has replaced my watch, alarm clock and map, whilst saving me the hassle of wishing I'd remembered to bring a pen+paper, torch, calculator, address book etc. It's enhanced, if not the quality of life, certainly the convenience of it.

I'm another plus.net sim-only customer. £5pcm for all of the above no strings attached. (I could probably save a quid or two by switching to PAYG, but with the contract, I don't have to worry about data usage, which used to be my achilles heel with a smartphone on PAYG.

VRD

==================================================

spirit level ? really ? does this mean i can dump that as well? ( i tow a touring caravan ) .

how is it done please !

great post - pandoras box comes to mind !

[Alaric]

I'm another plus.net sim-only customer. £5pcm for all of the above no strings attached.

These £ 5 deals seem to be the way to go, the ID network offered something similar.

Couple that with a purchased phone from the cheaper end of the market and it's a cheaper option than a phone inclusive contract. If you've downloaded lots of apps, you don't necessarily want to be frequently replacing your phone as all the apps would need to be downloaded again and might not even work quite the same way, given that Android is constantly changing.

Back of envelope figures. Assume phone costs £ 96 and you keep it for 2 years. That's £ 4 a month. Add that to £ 5 a month for the sim only deal, a contract has to beat £ 9 a month. It all assumes you can afford the up front cost of course.

[melonfool]

I made good use of the torch last night, stumbling across a ski slope, drunk, at 2am.

I have also used the spirit level app (not last night.....)

Mel

[UncleIan]

spirit level ? really ? does this mean i can dump that as well? ( i tow a touring caravan ) .

how is it done please !

My app to do this is my Compass app. Not sure why exactly, but it has one page with the standard compass, and the next with a spirit level. I think it was one of the apps pre-installed on the phone, but I'd imagine there were loads out there.

[swill453]

spirit level ? really ? does this mean i can dump that as well? ( i tow a touring caravan ) .

how is it done please !

With a spirit level app of course!

There's an app called Army Knife for Android that has a bunch of useful mini-apps, including spirit level, compass etc.

Your smart phone needs the hardware to support the feature - most, but not all, do.

Scott.

[vrdiver]

spirit level ? really ? does this mean i can dump that as well? ( i tow a touring caravan ) .

how is it done please !

On Android, search for "spirit level". I use "Level & Ruler Pro (Softatics). If your phone has a "tilt" sensor, it will work.
In the 'van, just place the phone where you would normally put the spirit level.

If you have neither a spirit level nor an app handy, I've used a glass of water and just eyeballed it before - oh, and kitchen towel to mop up

VRD

[Watis]

spirit level ? really ? does this mean i can dump that as well? ( i tow a touring caravan ) .

how is it done please !

On Android, search for "spirit level". I use "Level & Ruler Pro (Softatics). If your phone has a "tilt" sensor, it will work.
In the 'van, just place the phone where you would normally put the spirit level.

If you have neither a spirit level nor an app handy, I've used a glass of water and just eyeballed it before - oh, and kitchen towel to mop up

VRD

Or use an orange (nothing to spill), or the kid's football?

Watis

[jackdaww]

many thanks for all suggestions re spirit level.

as yet i havnt been into APP's - perhaps a whole new world awaits !

i am still puzzled as to how the app knows the fone is level - presume gps is involved .

edit. - sorry just read about the tilt feature ..

[Alaric]

edit. - sorry just read about the tilt feature ..

Phones have had a "sense of direction" ever since they learned the trick of switching to a landscape display when you held them that way round.

[Itsallaguess]

I am still puzzled as to how the app knows the phone is level - presume gps is involved .

It's not GPS that helps with the level-sensing, but a tiny bit of hardware called an accelerometer.

As someone said earlier, most phones have them, and part of their job is normally sensing if you're looking at your phone or tablet in portrait or landscape, and the device will then normally adjust the screen to suit.

Some good information here for anyone interested in some details -

How Does An Accelerometer Work In A Smartphone?

Bill Hammack, The Engineer Guy, Explains -

We barely notice them, but they're one of the most important features buried in the everyday smartphone experience. Accelerometers are devices that can measure acceleration (the rate of change in velocity), but in smartphones, they're able to detect changes in orientation and tell the screen to rotate. Basically, it helps the phone know up from down.

Despite the accelerometer's regular use for games, videos, and other smartphone activities, few people know how the gadget actually works, or how engineers were able to cramp such a small but important piece of technology, which can detect motion in three directions, into a millimeters-thick smartphone.

That's where Bill Hammack comes in. Hammack, a.k.a. The Engineer Guy, is a professor at the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign...

http://www.ibtimes.com/how-does-acceler ... ext-699762

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[gryffron]

Photo-memos:- need to write down some details, take a copy of a menu for friends. Just take a quick snap and access the info later. It's something I would never have bothered to use a camera for, but the smartphone does it great.

Gryff

[AF62]

Photo-memos:- need to write down some details, take a copy of a menu for friends. Just take a quick snap and access the info later. It's something I would never have bothered to use a camera for, but the smartphone does it great.

Google Keep is a great app for that type of thing, allowing you to take written notes, photos, or even voice memos which you can refer to later.

A couple of nice things it does is it can remind you with the note either at a set time or when you arrive at a location. So it can remind you to 'buy milk' when you actually walk into the supermarket. It also allows you to share notes with others, so for example you can have a single shopping list between a family.

[vrdiver]

Google Keep is a great app for that type of thing, allowing you to take written notes, photos, or even voice memos which you can refer to later.

Never heard of it, but after your post, I downloaded it and had a play: brilliant bit of kit! I've just migrated my Notes app to Google Keep. Synchronises instantaneously between my PC, Chromebook and android phone, so I can make a note on any one of them and know it will be with me whichever device I'm using.

Also, being on the PC means I can review, edit and organise notes that were randomly entered via the phone. it's much easier to get an overview, see duplicates, combine similar topics and assign group labels etc, which then makes the phone version a lot easier to navigate as well.

Thank you for bringing Google Keep to my attention.

VRD

[jackdaww]

this thread gets more interesting by the day !