Hacker News Reader

Comment by sjwright | Hacker News Reader

Which is great, if you view your phone as a computer.

I'm a programmer and webmaster by trade, but I consider my phone to be an appliance. I want an appliance, not another computer to manage. I already have two desktops, two laptops, and a pile of VM servers...

View on HN

Why own a smartphone, then? You can buy a prepaid Tracphone or whatever that's a non-smartphone and requires absolutely none of that. No apps, no anything.

Why pay $700 for stuff you won't even use?

I can't speak for the OP, but I imagine he wants some of the traits traditionally associated with an appliance (extremely low maintenance primarily) combined with some of those associated with general purpose computers (running software not provided by the manufacturer, customisability).

The reality is there is a tension between these two, and we are lucky enough to have two high quality platforms where the line is drawn in different places.

It is incorrect to assume you can have more of one without compromising the other though.

Yeah, you can't let someone else manage everything and just expect them to be acting in your best interests. But if you just want something that's a phone and only a phone, that's both readily available and very, very cheap.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. If by acting in my best interests I mean 'checking available applications for security issues and API compliance such that they won't use my resources (battery, data) in unexpected ways', then I think you can expect someone else to do that.

Certainly I could use the device without that service, but then I would have to do it myself - as I do with other platforms.

I think the OP wants a smartphone, not only a phone.

I'm a Tracphone user. They're great! I spend about $100 per YEAR on my phone. Not per month, per YEAR.

  > Why own a smartphone, then?
  > Why pay $700 for stuff you won't even use?

I use it for calls, music, podcasts, mapping, email, browsing the web, calendars, messaging, weather, banking, and occasional light gaming. My smartphone is an utterly indispensable part of daily life.

But I still don't view my phone as a computer.

Your phone has a programmable cpu, so it is a computer. What you want is just very restrictive software.

That's a programmer-centric view of matters.

I want software that works so well that I don't feel the need to worry about how "restrictive" it might be. If I want more power, I'll pull out my laptop.

This quote from Steve Jobs is relevant:

  "We’re getting to the point where everything’s a computer
  in a different form factor. So what, right? So what if
  it’s built with a computer inside it -- it doesn’t matter.
  [What matters is,] what *is* it, how do you use it?"

> That'a a programmer-centric view of the matters.

If every device is a computer, every device user is a programmer.

> I want software that works so well that I don't feel the need to worry about how "restrictive" it might be.

You should always worry about the arbitrary restrictions imposed on the devices you own. The demand of software that works is just as legitimate, but orthogonal.

> If I want more power, I'll pull out my laptop.

It's not about power, it's about freedom. Why a phone company has root access to my phone and I do not?

> So what if it’s built with a computer inside it -- it doesn’t matter. [What matters is,] what is it, how do you use it?

That's a terrible, myopic, consumer centric (as opposed to producer), point of view. It does't matter only if you have to sell it, covered in bells & whistles. I don't have to sell it, I have to use it.

That's just sad.

I'm not sjwright, but I'm in agreement with him. I wouldn't call it "sad", so much... more like "convenient".

If I ever change my mind, I know where to buy an Android device.

You know what's really sad? Installing a virus checker on your phone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com