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Comment by omnifischer | Hacker News Reader

Smartphone is a necessity. For example, without covid app you cannot go out in many countries. Yes, most people do not need Mercedes- agree.

You can live without mercedes but not without smartphone. Paying for services; employer; calling people; if you swap 3 jobs then you are informed by your boss through WhatsApp or fb (at least in parts of 3rd world - I went through that in the last years).

Of course, there is no obligation for anyone to care about others - let alone mega corporation. Agree to your point.

What about removing Google search from iPhone to demonstrate honesty about privacy?

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You are making 3 arguments, all not proven:

1. People cannot live without smartphones. I wonder how the past 10,000 were: how people made phone calls 100 years without smartphones, how they paid with card or cash, how to live without Facebook or WhatsApp. It must be terrible to be so entitled.

2. When people need smartphones, they should afford iPhones. Why a $100 Huawei is not enough?

3. When people have needs, someone is obligated to satisfy it. Oh, that sex maniac across the street ...

1. You could make the same argument about fridges, electricity, light bulbs, vehicles (yours or by proxy), houses, chairs, agriculture. The point is that not having a smartphone available to you puts you on the margins since at this point it's assumed that everyone has one. Every restaurant in our area is now doing virtual no-touch menus that require scanning a QR code and requiring online ordering for take-out. Like you can live without a smartphone but at this point you're only making life more difficult and annoying for yourself.

2. It's plenty enough. Phones have been plenty fast for years. The issue is finding a vendor that will support your software for long stretches of time which right now that is community Android distributions and Apple.

3. This is a bad-faith argument and you know it.

I don't think he's wrong. Society has expectations and throwing money to buy things works. I don't have Uber and Lyft and that puts me at margins with society. Does that mean they're essential apps? Making life difficult and annoying is just how many people without money live.

Being snarky doesn't help to the discussion and it actually goes against the guidelines of this site:

> Be kind. Don't be snarky.

Bullet point one: in the past 10 000 years no one had so such info and requirements to be online.

Calling someone is not even on the priority list of a smartphone. But I can't access easily half of services (including banks) without an internet-connected device. Which is almost invariably a smartphone.

Bullet point 2: older versions of iPhones can be had for that money

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