So the inevitable conversation has finally arrived in my household, initiated by an innocent question by email:
I think we should get android phones.
Our phones are useless for anything other than calls, and everyone who has smartphones LOVES them. It really makes me wonder what we’re missing.
Ever the late adopter, I have to wonder whether I’m really missing anything at all… and it occurred to me that my own workplace, heavily populated as it is by smartphone devotees (and not a few outright Apple fangeeks), might be just the place to put such a question. And so I did:
Why do I need a smartphone?
I’m one of the most wired people I know. I live in front of computers and digital media devices. My work and home are festooned with screens. I never miss email, I can surf when I want – which is never while riding the metro or walking down the street or (qu’elle horreur!) while driving.
I have a small digital camera and the next one I get will be better, not smaller.
I will never join Foursquare. I don’t need experience points for living, and aspire to be the mayor of nothing. Devices are tools for me, not a lifestyle.
And really, I just don’t make a lot of phone calls.
So what the heck are these things for?
To which I received these replies, which run the normal gamut from light snark to simple pragmatism:
Other people.
Do you ever get lost?
Do you ever need help choosing a nearby bar/restaurant on the go?Those are my only reasons.
I had to convince myself too and here’s why I got a Droid just last week… Our clients are thinking mobile, they are thinking apps, and they are thinking social. I need to be an expert in all of the above and the best way to put myself in our clients’ customers shoes is to have a smartphone. Otherwise I would still have the simple, reliable cell phone I started with more than ten years ago.
Is your question really “what are they for?” or “why do I need one.”
If it is the former:
All the functionality you have on your home devices (albeit less powerful) on-the-go. You can respond quicker on email, listen to a small portion of your music collection, or get interrupted with a phone call. You can also be interrupted at any time, live under the assumption that you’re “always connected,” and be cast as a slacker when you don’t instantly respond to text, IM, email, or phone call. It’s great. Also, you don’t have to wait to Tweet things. That way, you can avoid having your better judgment kick in when you’re ticked off in traffic.
If it is the latter:
You don’t. But they’re novel. And I want one. Because I consume everything and I just want to consume it faster, more often, and with less thought behind it.
You don’t need one. But you do want one (even if you don’t realize it yet).
They’re great for settling drunken arguments among friends. Just google the disputed fact or point.
I actually use mine to browse my reader a lot, too. And yes, to check facebook and keep up with my personal email. More and more, I’m using it for Pandora and other music services. I plan to get a new phone soon (iPhone or that crazy new EVO) with the goal of better music integration. As for the camera, I find I snap a lot more random things I come across simply because the phone is always in my pocket — and you can upload pictures straight to social media from most phones. They’re getting closer and closer to being the all-in-one device I want: camera, music, video player, and phone.
None of this means you need one, though. I just like having one.
I’m still unconvinced. I really don’t need one. My “on the go” needs are simple, and met by more specific, straightforward devices; a reader, a tiny MP3 player, a japanese hand fan.
But while having a tool that is the baseline of new media expectations is part of being a professional, the real reason I’ll probably get one anyway is far more basic: I’m a monkey. I will not be able to keep my thumbs off one of these things for too much longer, as the “ooh, shiny” instinct kicks in a little further each day.
More than the convergence of a set of technologies, the modern smartphone is a tactile/sensory dream toy… something that combines gesture and light and sound to manipulate the bitstream in a flat, miniature crystal ball. A magic mirror made of plastic and data.
Who could resist?
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Nobody will ever convince you that you need a smartphone, because you don’t. Just like you don’t “need” a phone at all. I doubt anyone will convince you that you want something you don’t actually want either. If you’re considering a smartphone, you will not be able to appreciate what it can do until you have one. Note that you don’t have to use all of the features it offers; most people don’t. Most people don’t even realize the full potential of the devices they glue to the sides of their faces, and that’s fine. It is nice to know that they can do more than you want them to, instead of less.
Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned that a working professional should be expected to keep up with technological trends. When your customers have iPhone/Android/whatever phones and have expectations for your level of response/support, you have to throw away the 90′s Nokia brick and wake up. You can’t be cutting edge if you are… not cutting edge.
I never was an early adopter, but now that my Bberry is broken (literally, the screen looks like a cracked windshield), I’m wavering between a switch to the next-gen iPhone or the new HTC EVO. Ohh, shiny indeed.
It’s easy to go from skeptic to full-on geek quickly. Two years ago I had a phone that didn’t even include a camera.
You’ve probably already made up your mind, so its going to be hard to convince you.
Truth is you don’t “need” it at all. And you probably don’t want to be seen as a “fanboy” or a lemming following all the other people with their smartphone “fad”. I’m here to tell you, its okay to be with the “In” crowd.
I’ll leave with this comment: the more you are socially networked, the more important a smartphone becomes. Twitter, Facebook, etc. are enhanced with a handset because they are all about being in the now.
Actually, Sucktackular, one of the responses I got and part of my own conclusion reference the idea that “a working professional should be expected to keep up with technological trends.” Not that being cutting edge has ever made much difference to me. I’m more concerned with being effective.
I think most modern information technology could be described as difficult to appreciate until you actually have it. Which doesn’t strike me as a superlative selling point.
Being aware of what’s out there is one thing, adopting technology just because it exists can sometimes just be a sign of bad judgment.
I think there is a fine line in being on the “cutting edge” so you look smart to your clients, and being an obnoxious pre-maturely early adopter that gobbles up every piece of tech that comes out.
REALLY enjoyed this one!
@GR Morgan, And that’s fine, I’m not trying to sell this to you. You’re trying to sell this to yourself. I’m perfectly content basking in my own technological gadget geekdom.
While I do agree that the selling point of “you won’t appreciate it till you have one” isn’t great, don’t be so quick to dismiss it. I resisted the urge for a smart phone for a long time. Then a few years ago, when my contract was up, I looked around and decided to go with a crackberry. At first, I will be honest, I did not use it for much more than a phone. However, the lure of always having my email soon proved too much and I started tracking and replying to my email via my phone.
When we left T-Mobile when the contract expired, we just to Verizon for the Moto Droid. It was truly an eye opening experience. Having spent a year in The Netherlands, I learned to appreciate, even rely on, a GPS device. (The roads over there are small, curvy and it is easy to get lost) When I found out that Android would include not only google maps but turn-by-turn navigation, I was sold.
I am rarely seen without my droid these days. Even sitting outside at lunch, it is both my entertainment console and my communications lifeline. I listen to podcasts while lunching, audio books, catch up on my personal email and surf when I need to look something up. Recently on a trip to ATL, it helped us find a repair shop for our car. We simply typed in a few choice keywords, it showed us the matches on a map with our location, allowed us to select one and even highlighted the phone number so all we had to do was click to dial. There is comfort in knowing that most of the help and information I need can be carried in a leather holster upon my hip.
I didn’t set out to buy a GPS navigation device, an email client or a pod-catcher, I just felt I needed a phone. However, now that I have all of these devices in one nice and small package, I can’t see myself going back to just a phone. As it is, the phone app is the least used app I have.
=C=
An interesting tangent on the point that people don’t actually use the features that a device delivers, from Coding Horror:
Heidi Adkisson notes that features sell products, but the people buying those products often don’t use the very features they bought the product for in the first place.
I am of the same opinion. And yes, I did try out the Palm Treo when it first released, then some HTC model with Windows Mobile. I see how people let their devices control their lives and decided to conciously stay away from smartphones.
But I do see the need for very occassional need for directions, a store, social media, email. Very, very occassionally. So I got one of the dumb phones that is actually an excellent phone first, but with 3G and GPS chip. Nice thing is, the data plan is cheaper and input interface is the good old T9 (so I use it *only* when needed rather than tempted).
If it’s that important, they will pick up the phone and call.
“I find I snap a lot more random things I come across simply because the phone is always in my pocket ”
So. Damn. True.
I have to concur with the “you don’t know you need it until you’ve used it” crowd. I liken the smartphone “Do I need it?” debate to the broadband “Do I need it?” debate we had a few years ago. You probably still don’t need the extra megabits you get with your broadband connection, or the few moments you have saved from the always-on connection, but would you go back dial-up? I doubt very much that you would. Honestly, the idea of a smartphone isn’t quite so new and shiny anymore, they’re well into mainstream territory at this point. I think you’ve moved beyond ‘late adopter’ and into the “behind the times” and if you give it another year you’ll be deep into the ‘Luddite’ territory.
Oh, and your comment system doesn’t submit in Safari. Points off for that. :p
@Seth: I’ll let GR Morgan respond to your first comment.
For the second comment, sorry about that, your comment didn’t post because it went to a moderation queue and I was LATE to approve it. My bad. You should be good to comment freely now. Thanks for dropping by with the comment though. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of response you get.
@Seth: #11 Great point. I fully agree with you.
I remain unconvinced, and I have to say that my congenital resistance to “all the cool kids are doing it”-style evangelism makes the charge of near-Luddism on my part fall into the category of “points off.” But then, neither am I about to build all my new websites with MongoDB.
Neither do I think that the broadband analogy holds up. Broadband makes what I always used to do on the ‘net faster and richer. A smartphone changes what that device in my backpack actually *is*, and I prefer to make a clear decision about wanting or needing what that is, rather than falling into the same old consumer cycle that makes us all seem like crazed monkeys whacking away at that wire-into-the-pleasure-center button. Any techno/media addict (like myself) will of course “need” any such device that I eventually use.
I think the broadband analogy holds up fine. Before broadband you had barriers of time in between yourself and your content. Mobile is breaking down the barriers of space between yourself and your content. It is again something I don’t think you validly discredit until you’ve lived without that barrier in place.
I didn’t really expect to convince you. Honestly this article seems less about trying to be convinced than reassuring yourself you’re right about the decision you’ve made about the digital borders on your life. Post a response in a year (heck, 6 months) and we’ll see where you’re at then.
This year’s WWDC has shown where Apple has placed their money. They’ve obviously moved past the desktop. We’ll see if you (and the rest of the computing world) end up following..
Did anyone actually read the last two major paragraphs of my original entry, I wonder? Or is there a particular investment in making anyone who examines the motivations even as lightly as I did look backward?
As a tech-lover who also considers carefully personal context before making a tech purchase, I think ‘Luddite’ is a serious mischaracterization of that approach, and is laughable when applied to GR, so I’m going to presume some tongue-in-cheek goading was intended there. But even true technophobes have their place: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/st_thompson_technophobes/
Wait, you’re supposed to read before you comment? I thought this was the Internet!
I hear ya, GR. I bought a Blackberry only a few months ago, after my 3-year-old flip-phone started cracking. I only bought the Blackberry because, with the store special, it was cheaper than the “lesser” phones I really wanted. But of course now, I’m texting more, responding to email on the go and scanning the Facebook status updates while riding the train home. I remember when iPods first came out and my friend craved one. I asked him incredulously, “Why would you spend $400 just so you could carry your entire CD collection around with you?” It’s fascinating to watch technology leap forward so much in the last decade.
Why do I need a smartphone? very good question for everyone