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Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

Tech worker here. I discarded my smartphone in favor of a brick dumbphone. I have a car GPS unit that I use sometimes, and I also use Google Maps, but I am starting to use paper maps quite frequently. Both for the backcountry, and driving around in the backcountry.

Personally, I am trying to be selective about the technology I employ, based on what I get out of it. Vacuums? Check. Digital cameras? Check. Smartphones? Not sold on it, and I had one for a few years.

There's more of us than you think, and we don't appreciate the jab at the quality of our work.

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Google Maps is quite useless for navigating in the backcountry, especially now that they appear to be dropping the "terrain" maps. But that doesn't mean all digital maps are useless.

Luddites among us! Run for the hills...

A smart phone is a digital camera.

Paper maps are like horse drawn carriages - sure they still work, but they are outdated, inaccurate and a relic of the past. It's like saying you still pull out an encyclopedia.

You can argue all you want about how hipster it is to use a dumb phone, and you're entitled to reject any technology you want, but I'm still highly suspicious of your work, out of band Luddite tendencies are a red flag.

A smart phone is a digital camera.

You show me a smart phone with a telephoto lens, and I'll show you a smart phone that is a camera.

they are outdated, inaccurate and a relic of the past

Paper maps don't run out of batteries at the least opportune moment. At the very least, they are a good backup for your tech in the backcountry.

ou can argue all you want about how hipster it is to use a dumb phone

You make this much too complicated. A smartphone costs more money, and offers me no added value that I care about. Is that Luddite-ism? Or is the Luddite-ism the part where I don't feel compelled to tweet or "check in" every where I go?

I lost my smartphone about a month ago. I bought a cheap 20 euro dumb phone as a quick replacement until I decided to buy a new iPhone. To be honest, I'm loving the dumbphone. And the fact the battery lasts more than a week in a single charge is just the icing on the cake.

I'll probably end up buying a new iPhone as I develop for it, but for now, I'm quite happy with it.

Why must a camera have a telephoto lens specifically? Maybe you meant to say "interchangeable lenses" but that would still ignore the vast majority of cameras, point-and-shoot cameras with a built-in zoom or fixed lens.

Maybe a cell phone camera would not be useful to you but I reject your snobbish assertion that a "camera" is defined by anything beyond its ability to capture and store photon information.

Btw they make lots of clamp-on lenses for iPhones et al. Some are even telephoto. I suppose it's still not a camera because it doesn't have a prism or a hot shoe or some other nonsensical thing you want to fixate on.

Hah, you are really feeling quite insulted aren't you!

I suppose I should clarify; a camera I can use. I didn't mean to say "interchangeable lenses", although I like those too. Certainly other people get by with smartphone cameras, but they do not meet my needs. Is that so hard for you to accept?

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