[Discuss] [OT] Smart Phones

[mark at buttery.org (Shirley Márquez Dúlcey)]

I think that Rich Pieri has fallen into the trap of car-centric
thinking. If I were traveling by car I could carry an atlas, a GPS,
and a schedule, and get around without the smartphone. But I don't do
that; I have to carry everything with me because I move on foot, on a
bicycle, or on the T. Carrying all that stuff all the time isn't
practical. Taking the smartphone everywhere is.

I have gone places that I wouldn't have gone without the smartphone
because they would have been too much of a pain to find. I have made
spur of the moment trips that I wouldn't have made before (especially
when starting from somewhere other than home) because it would have
been too difficult to figure out how to get there from here in a
timely manner without the smartphone. I think that qualifies as life
changing.

Calling the organizer for those last minute changes doesn't always
work. For one thing, the organizer may already be enroute to the site,
or on-site inside a building with no cell service, and therefore not
callable. Getting directions on the phone is horribly inefficient and
error prone in any case; a device that can display text and maps works
much better.

I've also been known to read on my smartphone. But I usually reach for
the Nexus 7 tablet instead because the screen is bigger.