Good Thing Or Bad Thing To Have Cell Phones Replace Everything?


second exodous

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Today this article was posted on /. and I knew it was coming but it worries me a little bit. The main reason is I'm locked into one handset for each provider, Version it's the Droid, AT&T its the iphone, ect., so if I want the iPhone but AT&T doesn't cover my area I'm kinda screwed. I know that people want this changed but I doubt any organization can change this for the US in the foreseeable future. How are other countries about this?

You might think "well, I'll just have a cheap cell phone and but have a *blank* to do *blank* on. Consider Nintendo and it's wavering dominance of the handheld game market, how long until iPhone pulls ahead of them? Nintendo might just make a cell phone rather than a stand alone gaming handheld. Also, sooner or later there will be little reason to have a netbook or even a notebook as cell phones get more powerful. That might cut into netbook and notebook sales. So my point is cell phones might severely cut into profits of other areas.

So what does everyone else think?
 
I seriously doubt that cell phones will replace all of that. In fact there is a new trend going to phone-only devices. PocketPC/PDA have been replaced by smartphones but everything else is coexisting. I don't believe in one-fits-all devices. Too many compromises have to be made that cripple usability.
 
I personally just go for the cheapest cell phone because I have everything else but a few friends of mine that own smart phones that don't take their notebooks to as many places with them or have stopped playing their DSs. I hope what I said above doesn't happen but I think as smart phones get better and better more and more people might think their cell phone is all they need.
 
Of course cell phones will replace everything, just like cars replaced bicycles.

Likewise, I don't want to have my phone doing everything and making me the bitch of its operating system, and I can't legally drive a car, so I have a bike. (pedal bike in case the UK call motorcycles bikes or something)

If phones get more open software and programmability like the Android stuff is trying for, then I might get one of those.
But for now, I'm planning to have a cheap phone that I never use, and my Pandora will obsolete my MP3 player, my DS, and, to a lesser extent, my laptop.
 
I'm pretty sure the article is correct and there will be more of this in the future. Already I struggle to bother to start up my Wiz, when the phone is always on and generally nearby. Gaming sucks at the moment, but I just bought a Zeemote so that should sort that part. Hell, I think phones have a chance of replacing desktop machines, leaving those to be banks of screens and input devices, without the central box. That said there are nasty side-effects to this, mostly due to less open source options and the fact that cell phones are highly identifiable on the net (personal number, contract, IMEI etc.). I'd be happy if someone proves me wrong though.

Anyway, maybe I should post some experiences with the zeemote once it arrives, I've got picodrive and at least master system working on my phone and if the combination is playable, I might upgrade my phone and tweak more with it. (Might have to in any case since for a day it's been soft booting constantly)

Zeemote
 
second exodous said:
Consider Nintendo and it's wavering dominance of the handheld game market
What are you talking about?!


Cell phones don't replace anything besides other phones. What happens is that they are built into all sort of things. The iPhone is a media player and PDA first, it happens to include a cell phone as well. My Pre is first and foremost a Linux PC for my pocket. Sure, there's a phone in there as well, but that's only one of the functions.
There are a few problems that come with the cell phone component of a mobile device that are not usually attached to things like Wifi, GPS, Touchscreen etc.. The main thing is the contract. You have to pay for calls and data transfers and most people seem to choose to pay a monthly rate for at least two years for that. The two year contracts then make paying for your phone in hidden rates a standard procedure (dangerous, if you ask me), and for that to work, you have to give up a lot of your freedom. Flatrates are the next problem, they endanger net neutrality. That doesn't seem to be that bad at first, but as internet through cell phone networks gets more and more important, the internet will suffer some serious damage.
That's why I always take care to keep my freedom as best as possible. I only buy phones without a contract, use a prepaid SIM (which is actually way cheaper in Germany if you are not an excessive phone user) and try to get open systems instead of closed ones when they are available.

I don't think it would be a bad thing to see dedicated handheld gaming consoles go away. Instead of a very closed platform like the DS, I'd rather have an open market with options like in PC gaming. Get the device you need and then run the games you want on it. The Pandora is a part of this model. It's not for exclusive stuff but instead runs anything that can be emulated and ported. In turn, games created for the Pandora can usually easily be ported to other devices. That should be the future of handheld gaming. To make this easier, we still need a sort of standard framework for running the same game across devices, sort of like Java cell phone games, but with more hardware access. But if iPhone, Pre, Pandora, N900 etc. run the same games, we can indeed punch Sony in the face. Maybe not Nintendo 'cause they still got Mario. :p
 
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