There's knowing and _knowing_.

[vakkotaur]

Last year Eric Raymond posted Smartphone, the Eater-of-Gadgets in which he mentions all the things phones can do now and wonders what else they might do in the future. I've recently experienced this firsthand. For some time I used a phone as a(n alarm) clock and watch and sometimes calculator, but that was about it.

With the form factor of the HTC Inspire 4G, it might replace a pocket watch but not a wristwatch (the previous phone was an easy flip-it-open to read while still on the belt thing, this the new phone would require being removed from a holder, I think) but that is about the only limitation:

* I've used the new phone as phone, of course. And gotten myself a Google Voice number that works well with the Google-Android integration.

* I've used it as a GPS - the time estimate in walking mode was about right.

* I've used it as an FM broadcast receiver and it impressed me with selectivity and sensitivity I don't get even in larger, dedicated radios.

* I have yet to see it against a clear night sky, but I have Google Sky so it's also an electronic planisphere.

* I've used it as a flashlight (nothing fancy, and not good on battery, but it works).

* I've used it as the portable computer it is and browsed with Opera, logged into another machine over ssh, and even been on IRC for a few minutes (for the first time, I can see a use for a bluetooth keyboard - though I doubt I'll get one just for that.)

* I've used it not merely as a simple calculator, but even have it emulate an HP48.

* I've used it, even if only testing the features, as camera[1] and a video recorder.

- There are e-book reader applications (I have yet to install any) that are meant to work like a Nook or a Kindle.

All that is impressive, but what really brought it home to me was that when I needed to make a shopping list for a rather long trip a couple days ago I didn't look for a bit of paper. I installed a note application and put a shortcut on the 'desktop' to my list. I know that's a PDA sort of thing that's been around since at least the late 1980s. But I never really saw the point of using a PDA - it would just have been carrying around some extra thing. But I carry the phone anyway, so it may as well "eat" other gadgets - even something as mundane as paper.

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[1] The thinness of the phone means the optics aren't as nice as a proper camera, but two things make up for that. 1. I'll almost always have the phone (and thus the camera) with me and 2. The 8 Megapixel sensor means I can reduce the image and likely retain sufficient quality for most purposes.

Comments

[setsu-p.livejournal.com]

Your phone and mine both. Having the G1 for three years straight brought it home to me. The rep at T-Mo said most of the people who'd gotten G1s loved the things. I had to agree, with only a few minor niggly little complaints. The G2, now...is a thing of beauty as far as gadget-eating goes.

I still scribble down shopping lists on paper scraps, though. Mostly because when grocery-ing I don't carry my whole wallet unless I have to, just stick the card and the list in the butt-pocket and go. Phone, he no fit in butt-pocket =p

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I don't expect to do everything on the phone by any means. There are some places I simply can't use it and for a good many things paper is faster, easier, more portable still - and paper won't run out of battery.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I'm something of a Luddite, I'm behind the curve on smart phones and other hand-held wonder gadgets. Anything I can do on the computer, I do on the computer. I still use paper notes for shopping lists. I don't really like portable video games, I want to play them on the big screen. I just use my cell phone for calls and text messages.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

As I replied above, there are and will be times when paper wins as I cannot always have the phone with me, and paper won't run into battery issues. I agree a large screen and a proper keyboard mean quite a bit -- yet the above reply was done at the local mall while waiting for a place to open. I hadn't planned on that, but I found an open wireless network and used it. And also decided one reply was quite enough on a tiny virtual keyboard.

I can see things like the Atrix (a phone with a larger screen & keyboard laptop-iod thing it can dock to) taking over the low end of computing, however.

[thecanuckguy.livejournal.com]

I still technically lack a smartphone, but I do have an iPod touch. Before that a Clie, before that a Palm Pilot - you can see where this is going. ANyways, on all of them I liked the notepad feature because, while I still jot things down on paper, this is handy and with me all the time. (Plus, after having put many notepads through the wash after keeping them on me to jot down comedy ideas, this was when I started to get the PDAs since I wouldn't put that through the wash. (I know what you're thinking, but really, I haven't yet!))

[ginafae.livejournal.com]

Yup- I do all that, and DO use my phone as an e-book reader. That has come in particularly useful when friends send me large articles they have written in .pdf or .doc, I pull them up in the ebook reader and have access to them wherever I am. Very good on planes, long car rides, etc. I wouldn't ever print out these articles to review, so having them handy on my phone when I have a few minutes has been great.

Also reading novels without the need for a book light (which wakes my husband up) is wonderful. Not quite as easy on the eyes as a kindle or real book, but when in night mode, not bad at all.