An Ode to Smartphones

There might be some folks out there who don't have smart phones yet, and who fail to see any convincing argument as to why they should adapt to the new style of phones. Well, here's my list of reasons why they should, in a nutshell.

1.) Gadget consolidation. Consider the following: I think it's pretty typical for the average American to check email, make and receive phone calls, take pictures, listen to music, and to navigate from place to place with a GPS unit. If a person wanted to do any of those at any given time, they would need at least a netbook, a cell phone, a camera, an MP3 player, and a GPS unit in their car. Well, for much less than a third of the cost of buying all of those things, a person could buy a smartphone. It's just basic math. Plus, a smartphone is pretty convenient and easy to carry. I've lugged all of that stuff around at some point, so believe me when I say that a smartphone is much lighter.

2.) The Swiss army effect. Gadget consolidation covered this somewhat, but not completely. That is to say that a modern smartphone can do so much more than what I listed earlier. I can play games, watch videos, check the weather, set alarms, and manage my schedule all on my phone. Actually, I can do much more than that, but if I listed everything I'd be typing this for a while. Having a smartphone means having a lot of capabilities all at once.

3.) Economy. My big PC uses a lot of power, all to do some pretty basic stuff. I can do a lot of that on my smartphone. Web surfing, social media stuff, the likes of which don't require a huge screen, or massive amounts of power. Why turn on my PC when my phone will handle the same things, but much cheaper and more handily, and with damn near instant access? Let me put it another way; it probably costs something like half a cent to charge my phone over night, but something like four cents to run my PC for an hour. Might not sound like much, but I suspect that it adds up quick.

4.) Nerding out. Once upon a time, I programmed computers and designed web pages for my pocket change. I don't do that so much any more, so having a smartphone allows me to express some of my inner dork. I get to run custom roms, design my own interface, and make my phone run the way I want it to run. On that point alone I'd probably have a smartphone, just because I get to hack it a little. It's fun!

Oh, yeah, one more thing… I typed all of this on my phone. Not bad, eh? With a proper keyboard program, typing on a phone can be a much faster experience. Right now I'm using Keymonk, which is awesome!