I know this is a shitpost, but I honestly think that was better. In the past couple years I've bought an mp3 player, and dslr camera, and a pocket sized e-reader, and a retro gaming handheld, and it feels so much better swapping between them when I'm doing something than just staring at the little hell rectangle for 12 hours a day.
Well, yeah, if you do one thing good, that's gonna be better than doing a million things halfass.
It's almost like "a cheap, right tool is better than an expensive, wrong tool".
I don't think we'll see phones that are as good of a camera as an actual (read: not toy-tier) digital camera. A lot just has to do with the quality of the optics you can pack into a small lens, and how much to expect out of that lens when it's being touched and shoved into and out of a pocket all the time.
Portable audio players...the only leg up they really have are tactile interfaces and usually expandable storage...both of which increasingly uncommon on phones. But that's largely because the phones have nailed that job, and physical media is pretty much dead (albeit at the hands of phones).
Watch? It depends what you want out of it... As a fashion item/jewelery, point goes to legacy tech. As a utilitarian gizmo? That also kinda depends on your needs...because both camps have merit.
It's more like a Swiss army knife, really. The phone is now just technological EDC in and of itself.
Idk Technology Connections said that minivans are the swiss-army knife of cars and I wouldn't disagree...and that many car buyers don't really evaluate their needs when car shopping, it's largely emotion-driven.
The lack of expandable storage on my phone really hurts the audio player experience for me. I would really like to have all my music just on my phone.
And the lack of headphone jack is really annoying too. I've spent over 160€ on headphone DACs since I replaced my old LG G6 with Samsung S22. Before that I just had the phone, which had a really nice sound quality. Now I've lost some DACs and another one is starting to malfunction since I dropped it.
Young people today are increasingly choosing to have separate dedicated-purpose devices. And that's probably a good thing. It decreases distractions, lets you focus on what you're actually trying to do, and makes you less addicted to your phone, and avoids the always-connected evils that come with it
Plus, a single-purpose device is often better at that purpose than a combined device ... especially when compared at the same price-for-price level.
A decent standalone digital camera will take far better pictures than any phone camera ever made ... while still costing less than the best phone cameras.
A standalone mp3 player is smaller, cheaper, and has longer battery life than a phone, and it still plays music just as well.
Yes, there are ones that are only USB 2, also some can deliver more power than others. If you want to charge a USB-C notebook for example, you need 100 W rated cables.
They do not all behave the same. I have many of them that are supplied as a charging cable in small electronic devices. These ubiquitous USB-C cables will not perform a data connection with your phone. At all. I have to search for that one cable that I know works for data since it moves around the house.
Mapquest was how we used to do it. Essentially, you would have a list of directions. If you get lost, you go backwards a bit and then… ask someone where to go lol. You can even like, read a map and decide the directions yourself, I know this sounds crazy.
Paper maps and map books still exist, and they're pretty useful for navigation. If you stay at hotels, they usually give you some simple maps of the area with the most important features highlighted.
If you still want to use online maps, OSM (Open Street Maps) is a great project that doesn't depend on any big tech maps. It also works completely offline if your frontend allows downloading maps. CoMaps is a good client for phones. You can contribute to OSM yourself if you miss anything.
I second comaps. Sucks for public transport tbh but works great for walking/cycling/cars. For public transport I use Offi Directions, but it mostly just supports the APIs of German and Austrian public transport companies
Ah yes, Lightning headphones. Or USB-C, can't tell. Either way, none of the iPods accept these. Meanwhile late keypad phones all have headphone jacks...
EDIT: yup, USB-C. Also, the phone has a clock. And a camera, not a good one but a camera. It's a ~2008-2010s Samsung.
I literally remember this. I was living in the US in circa 2000. I remember standing outside my apartment with a mobile phone, a GPS system, an iPod, and a digital camera, and thinking 'these should all be one thing'!
And here we are, 26 years later, and all of these things are deeply infected with unnecessary LLM bullshit. Progress!
I still prefer this and carry almost all these kinds of separate use items, with the exception that I only carry a camera under certain circumstances. Otherwise, my phone doubles as a quick use camera.
I'm always surprised I these conversations that almost no one mentions always having a useful, generally charged, decent close range flashlight.
I'm old enough to ha e experienced that having a zippo was the most reliable way to see close range stuff. Flashlights were basically dead battery containers.
I carry with me a small rechargeable flashlight everywhere and use it almost every day. I do not think I could have spent that money better.
It has a low light mode so I can see at night in the bedroom without waking up my partner and it's really powerful at the same time. It even has a magnet and baseball cap clip so the hands can be free to do other stuff.
Having a flashlight in the phone is really nice, but I don't think I will use it again.
I still do. And it's your choice to do. For example, I use my old LG ThinQ V40 for music, because it has audio jack, and I still buy CDs and I listen to them. I still use my 9 years old DSLR.
Its your choice.
I now have a Bluetooth DAC, but it's not as easy as just plugging headphones directly into the phone, and I need to remember to charge it or not to loose it (I already lost one)
It was better and the price of the slight convenience now is that the next generation, and your aunt and uncle, are openly cheering on nazis and pedophiles with no idea what's actually happening in the world.
Shut up and carry the cassette tape thin digital camera already.
I'm honestly surprised that isn't more of a thing already.
Especially for high magnification scopes, it would have some big advantages. No parallax. No more worries about the size of the eye relief box. The scope can be mounted lower, closer to the bore (or really anywhere on the gun you want) without having to worry about messing up your ergonomics or cheek weld. Could potentially include software aids to adjust point of aim to compensate for distance ... or even wind and other factors.
Of course, it would only really be good for hunting or target/sport shooting. Because in any tactical situation, none of that makes up for the downsides: it relies on a fragile screen and fragile electronics, the scope (and perhaps the entire gun) becomes useless if the batteries run out, and the glow from the screen could give away your position to enemies -- especially in the dark. Also, unless you fit it with some really fancy night vision camera system, it's not going to work well in low light or darkness.
guys the headphones aren't supposed to be "headphones built into a phone". they are more representative of speakers. cassette players, cd players, and MP3 players didn't have built in speakers, you had to have headphones to listen to music. in no way am i advocating that anyone should listen to music or their shitty social media short videos, or have a phone call on speaker in public. im just saying you don't need headphones anymore because phones have a built in speaker
(big boomboxes had big speakers yes but those were very cumbersome to carry around, i'm talking more Walkman's)
but also i still have all those separate. i have a cell phone, a separate MP3/FLACC player, bluetooth headphones (which connect to both my phone and mp3 player), a smartwatch, an actual wallet, and a mirrorless camera.
That's me, today. Different brands and models, but pretty much the same items. If I have the space (inner coat pockets, for example), I also add a small notepad and pencil, and a calculator. I ain't gonna pay for a HP-12C calculator app, when I have the fully functional hardware.
Ear plugs are now included in phones as well? Please don't promote people to play their horrible music on speaker. Also, you forgot to include a laptop and modem. We have internet now. And we can watch television in the form of YouTube and streaming services, so maybe also include a TV.
I still would rather at least have a dedicated camera because A) They're offline devices so you don't have to worry about a hostile megacorp spying on your snaps, and B) they tend to either have better glass, including true optical zooms, bigger sensors, or both, or even swappable lenses in the case of things like SLRs or mirrorless ILCs.
Also, separate music players benefit from being offline too and some of them still have nice analog sections even by modern standards, such as the iPod Video and iPod Classic, plus both those DAPs can be flash-retrofitted and can have Rockbox installed on them.
85 Comments
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 77 pts · 107d
And a time where 3rd party companies had no access to any of them
fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip · 20 pts · 106d
us and our 735 partners care about your privacy
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 106d
Only 735?
Damn990099@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
Well each of them and their 735 parters, so... 540,255 partners at most. 😀
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 105d
What about their partners' partners?
awmwrites@lemmy.cafe · 39 pts · 107d
I know this is a shitpost, but I honestly think that was better. In the past couple years I've bought an mp3 player, and dslr camera, and a pocket sized e-reader, and a retro gaming handheld, and it feels so much better swapping between them when I'm doing something than just staring at the little hell rectangle for 12 hours a day.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 107d
Well, yeah, if you do one thing good, that's gonna be better than doing a million things halfass.
It's almost like "a cheap, right tool is better than an expensive, wrong tool".
I don't think we'll see phones that are as good of a camera as an actual (read: not toy-tier) digital camera. A lot just has to do with the quality of the optics you can pack into a small lens, and how much to expect out of that lens when it's being touched and shoved into and out of a pocket all the time.
Portable audio players...the only leg up they really have are tactile interfaces and usually expandable storage...both of which increasingly uncommon on phones. But that's largely because the phones have nailed that job, and physical media is pretty much dead (albeit at the hands of phones).
Watch? It depends what you want out of it... As a fashion item/jewelery, point goes to legacy tech. As a utilitarian gizmo? That also kinda depends on your needs...because both camps have merit.
It's more like a Swiss army knife, really. The phone is now just technological EDC in and of itself.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 4 pts · 107d
Any multi-tool will always be inferior to the single-use tools it replaces. That's the cost you pay for being compact and convenient.
Sure, every multi-tool has a screwdriver on it somewhere ... but it will never be as good as a real screwdriver for driving screws.
Then again, it would be a pain in the ass to carry around 30 different individual tools. So it really depends what your needs are.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 106d
Idk Technology Connections said that minivans are the swiss-army knife of cars and I wouldn't disagree...and that many car buyers don't really evaluate their needs when car shopping, it's largely emotion-driven.
I miss my minivan.
los0220@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 106d
The lack of expandable storage on my phone really hurts the audio player experience for me. I would really like to have all my music just on my phone.
And the lack of headphone jack is really annoying too. I've spent over 160€ on headphone DACs since I replaced my old LG G6 with Samsung S22. Before that I just had the phone, which had a really nice sound quality. Now I've lost some DACs and another one is starting to malfunction since I dropped it.
I'm really starting to consider an mp3 player rn.
axh@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 107d
Well, the headphones are still a separate thing. They are even more separate now, than they ever were (each one earphone is separate now)
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net · 6 pts · 106d
No if you just play music on your phone speaker loudly.
rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 106d
There's our perp, boys! Move! Move!
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net · 4 pts · 106d
I'm sure everyone enjoys a little bit of music in public places. And I'm sure everyone likes the type of music I'm listening to. Wat's the problem?
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 105d
Yes, your honor. This comment right here is why we’re seeking a conviction.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net · 2 pts · 105d
(I was kidding BTW)
MisterD@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 105d
I bet there are people drooling at the idea of making those headphones part of people's heads
Beacon@fedia.io · 18 pts · 107d
Young people today are increasingly choosing to have separate dedicated-purpose devices. And that's probably a good thing. It decreases distractions, lets you focus on what you're actually trying to do, and makes you less addicted to your phone, and avoids the always-connected evils that come with it
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 10 pts · 107d
Plus, a single-purpose device is often better at that purpose than a combined device ... especially when compared at the same price-for-price level.
A decent standalone digital camera will take far better pictures than any phone camera ever made ... while still costing less than the best phone cameras.
A standalone mp3 player is smaller, cheaper, and has longer battery life than a phone, and it still plays music just as well.
Seaguy05@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 107d
Don't you remember the joy of carrying around a dozen proprietary cables. Oh dads cable drawer was great.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 1 pts · 107d
Now you need to carry around a dozen USB-C cables that all look identical, but can do different things.
This one can do video, this one can do fast charging but no data at all, this one has fast data transfer...
ddplf@szmer.info · 5 pts · 107d
Huh what? Is this a thing with USB-C cables? I always used the same cable for everything and I'm fine
Mac@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 107d
Same. That's the whole point of USB C. You buy one good cable and use it for everything.
llii@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 107d
Yes, there are ones that are only USB 2, also some can deliver more power than others. If you want to charge a USB-C notebook for example, you need 100 W rated cables.
PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 107d
They do not all behave the same. I have many of them that are supplied as a charging cable in small electronic devices. These ubiquitous USB-C cables will not perform a data connection with your phone. At all. I have to search for that one cable that I know works for data since it moves around the house.
Mac@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 107d
Are you aware you can buy a 240W/40Gps cable?
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 2 pts · 107d
Honestly, the idea of pushing 240W through a USB-C cable kind of terrifies me. That's a lot of power for such little wires...
Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip · 15 pts · 107d
And it was awesome.
spacehulk@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 106d
And some of us are returning to this simplicity and privacy
laranis@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 106d
Serious question: What do you do about maps/navigation? I travel a bit and that's the one thing I can't find out of the big tech ecosystem.
MintyFresh@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 106d
We used to have bits of paper with lines representing geography
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 106d
There's still standalone GPS units.
cevn@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 106d
Mapquest was how we used to do it. Essentially, you would have a list of directions. If you get lost, you go backwards a bit and then… ask someone where to go lol. You can even like, read a map and decide the directions yourself, I know this sounds crazy.
spacehulk@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 105d
You can buy a small gps (bunch on amazon) to stick to your windshield or dash. Its what i had before android, and they still apply.
black0ut@pawb.social · 3 pts · 106d
Paper maps and map books still exist, and they're pretty useful for navigation. If you stay at hotels, they usually give you some simple maps of the area with the most important features highlighted.
If you still want to use online maps, OSM (Open Street Maps) is a great project that doesn't depend on any big tech maps. It also works completely offline if your frontend allows downloading maps. CoMaps is a good client for phones. You can contribute to OSM yourself if you miss anything.
meekah@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 106d
I second comaps. Sucks for public transport tbh but works great for walking/cycling/cars. For public transport I use Offi Directions, but it mostly just supports the APIs of German and Austrian public transport companies
certified_expert@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 105d
And it was beautiful
FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 12 pts · 106d
Yes, please bring it back.
aesthelete@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 106d
I don't remember having to deal with USB-C earbuds before the iPhone.
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de · 11 pts · 107d
Ah yes, Lightning headphones. Or USB-C, can't tell. Either way, none of the iPods accept these. Meanwhile late keypad phones all have headphone jacks...
EDIT: yup, USB-C. Also, the phone has a clock. And a camera, not a good one but a camera. It's a ~2008-2010s Samsung.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 107d
That's definitely USB-C on the headphones in the pic, lightning has the little white connectors visible on the flat sides.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 106d
That's today if you're looking for quality for any of them.
Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 105d
I literally remember this. I was living in the US in circa 2000. I remember standing outside my apartment with a mobile phone, a GPS system, an iPod, and a digital camera, and thinking 'these should all be one thing'!
And here we are, 26 years later, and all of these things are deeply infected with unnecessary LLM bullshit. Progress!
BrickEater@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 106d
And that's was a good thing too.
noxypaws@pawb.social · 7 pts · 107d
I literally have all of these things separate today.
Smartphone, mechanical watch, wallet, wireless headphones but also a Fiio portable audio player that can drive my good wired headphones.
These things all do their job very well. Combining them makes everything worse for me.
Exception maybe is camera, I have a good Fuji digital mirrorless but I do actually enjoy using the very good cameras in my phone as well.
sudo_shinespark@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 107d
I don’t miss all the different cables but fuck, do I miss being able to listen to a song without having to silence a spam call in the middle of it
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org · 6 pts · 107d
I still prefer this and carry almost all these kinds of separate use items, with the exception that I only carry a camera under certain circumstances. Otherwise, my phone doubles as a quick use camera.
shweddy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 106d
The time is now. Fuck relying on a tech giant for all my cloud storage and "convenience"
los0220@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 106d
Do it! Selfhosting is a great hobby
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 106d
I'm always surprised I these conversations that almost no one mentions always having a useful, generally charged, decent close range flashlight.
I'm old enough to ha e experienced that having a zippo was the most reliable way to see close range stuff. Flashlights were basically dead battery containers.
los0220@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 106d
I carry with me a small rechargeable flashlight everywhere and use it almost every day. I do not think I could have spent that money better.
It has a low light mode so I can see at night in the bedroom without waking up my partner and it's really powerful at the same time. It even has a magnet and baseball cap clip so the hands can be free to do other stuff.
Having a flashlight in the phone is really nice, but I don't think I will use it again.
tamal3@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
How do you clip a flashlight to your baseball cap? It must not dangle at all?
los0220@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
The clip is designed to hold the cap quite firmly. It's very handy, but not as good as actual headlamp
It's an Olight Baton 3, you can look up better pictures on the internet if you want
roserose56@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 107d
I still do. And it's your choice to do. For example, I use my old LG ThinQ V40 for music, because it has audio jack, and I still buy CDs and I listen to them. I still use my 9 years old DSLR. Its your choice.
los0220@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 106d
RIP my old LG G6, really miss that headphone jack
roserose56@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 106d
Thats what I was missing, the audio jack and this hifi quality, amazing.
los0220@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
I now have a Bluetooth DAC, but it's not as easy as just plugging headphones directly into the phone, and I need to remember to charge it or not to loose it (I already lost one)
Snapz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 106d
It was better and the price of the slight convenience now is that the next generation, and your aunt and uncle, are openly cheering on nazis and pedophiles with no idea what's actually happening in the world.
Shut up and carry the cassette tape thin digital camera already.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 5 pts · 107d
I'm surprised American smartphones are not also firearms.
HeHoXa@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 107d
Shut UP!
Gdi... this is definitely coming
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 2 pts · 107d
Down with GDI!
One vision, one purpose!
HeHoXa@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 106d
Insufficient funds.
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 2 pts · 106d
Low power.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 2 pts · 107d
I'm honestly surprised that isn't more of a thing already.
Especially for high magnification scopes, it would have some big advantages. No parallax. No more worries about the size of the eye relief box. The scope can be mounted lower, closer to the bore (or really anywhere on the gun you want) without having to worry about messing up your ergonomics or cheek weld. Could potentially include software aids to adjust point of aim to compensate for distance ... or even wind and other factors.
Of course, it would only really be good for hunting or target/sport shooting. Because in any tactical situation, none of that makes up for the downsides: it relies on a fragile screen and fragile electronics, the scope (and perhaps the entire gun) becomes useless if the batteries run out, and the glow from the screen could give away your position to enemies -- especially in the dark. Also, unless you fit it with some really fancy night vision camera system, it's not going to work well in low light or darkness.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 107d
Headphones are built into your phone?
idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 107d
My phone has a speaker, but I’ve never had an mp3 player with one.
It doesn’t work in public, but it’s fine for when I’m at home
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 107d
My 2012 DLSR still takes better photos than the phone does. Admittedly, I don’t use it as often given its cumbersome nature.
green_link@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 107d
guys the headphones aren't supposed to be "headphones built into a phone". they are more representative of speakers. cassette players, cd players, and MP3 players didn't have built in speakers, you had to have headphones to listen to music. in no way am i advocating that anyone should listen to music or their shitty social media short videos, or have a phone call on speaker in public. im just saying you don't need headphones anymore because phones have a built in speaker
(big boomboxes had big speakers yes but those were very cumbersome to carry around, i'm talking more Walkman's)
but also i still have all those separate. i have a cell phone, a separate MP3/FLACC player, bluetooth headphones (which connect to both my phone and mp3 player), a smartwatch, an actual wallet, and a mirrorless camera.
ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 106d
I feel like this is a shitpost because they’re all weird or anachronistic in some way
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 2 pts · 107d
And it was Or still is pretty cool. Dedicated purposeful gadgets that dont distract you.
Bruncvik@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
That's me, today. Different brands and models, but pretty much the same items. If I have the space (inner coat pockets, for example), I also add a small notepad and pencil, and a calculator. I ain't gonna pay for a HP-12C calculator app, when I have the fully functional hardware.
NONE_dc@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 107d
Good times
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 107d
Ear plugs are now included in phones as well? Please don't promote people to play their horrible music on speaker. Also, you forgot to include a laptop and modem. We have internet now. And we can watch television in the form of YouTube and streaming services, so maybe also include a TV.
csolisr@hub.azkware.net · 1 pts · 107d
And the pocket bags were large enough to fit all of that inside, sometimes with spare space for a charger or two. Ah the times
Drusas@fedia.io · 1 pts · 107d
I don't even know what to think on the bottom left is, and I am the target audience of this post.
ddplf@szmer.info · 3 pts · 107d
Cards holder
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 107d
You don't know how the edges of a dollar bill and credit cards look like?
Drusas@fedia.io · 1 pts · 106d
Apparently not in a small picture on my phone's screen. I see it now.
DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf · 1 pts · 107d
I still would rather at least have a dedicated camera because A) They're offline devices so you don't have to worry about a hostile megacorp spying on your snaps, and B) they tend to either have better glass, including true optical zooms, bigger sensors, or both, or even swappable lenses in the case of things like SLRs or mirrorless ILCs.
Also, separate music players benefit from being offline too and some of them still have nice analog sections even by modern standards, such as the iPod Video and iPod Classic, plus both those DAPs can be flash-retrofitted and can have Rockbox installed on them.
DrSleepless@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 107d
altphoto@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 106d
Is there a docker or podman yaml for this?
pigup@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 104d
We were all very excited to do so.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 0 pts · 107d
Eh, even in that day, it was stupid to carry a watch in addition to your phone. Even those primitive phones could tell the time just fine.
RedMari@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 107d
At that point the watch was for swag not telling time
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 1 pts · 106d
'Swag' and 'stupid' are not mutually exclusive.
Starik@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 106d
We didn’t carry cameras around all the time.