My car has an excellent satnav and my Nikon takes far, far better photos than the phone does.

Smart phones are ok if you want the one size fits all type of equipment but it's not suitable for my needs other than checking emails and text messages.

Aside from wondering how on earth we ever managed without having our music with us all the time...


I can see the subliminal message there! You have become enslaved by the machines and have to disguise the desperate pleas for help


Disgraceful consumerism aside this is the means by which the machines confirm you are well and truly still one of 'theirs'...

Well with a 20.7 megapixel camera I don't think I'm going to need a Nikon, and my phones waterproof as well which for someone as clumsy as me is fantastic

Good point, I've done that a few times as well. Did it when I got my last job and needed to navigate around Birmingham. It was impressive how many pedestrian walkways and snickets it knew about.

https://goo.gl/maps/eiaFY

Although I'd recommend using headphones. I was anyway because I was listening to music as I walked but I think having a woman's voice talking from your pocket might make other people look at you a bit odd. Standing in a queue is not a good time for your pocket to say "Please turn around"

But not everybody wears Y-fronts

ew Yfronts! give me a man in a nice snug pair of boxers anyday

I am not happy with the quality of photographs taken on my phone. I have a blog and need very good quality pictures. I've tried both and the camera wins by a large margin.

I do use my phone to take photos if they aren't important. Daft fun ones. But it just doesn't do for the photos I need for my blog.

I can't say I've ever dropped it in water!

Sounds like the batteries were faulty. I use mine quite heavily and just charge it overnight whilst I'm asleep.

Unless you're carrying your 21" desktop monitor around with you then I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

There's so much more to it than web-browsing, although, that's quite useful if you're out and about and need to look something up.

It's also:

Sat Nav and maps, not only used when driving but if I'm in a strange city I've often used it to walk to restaurants or pubs.

Instant messaging whilst out and about.

A camera that's always on your person.

Twitter and Facebook. Always useful to have mobile, just the other day I went to a gig and when I left the house the stage-times hadn't been announced. I found these on Twitter when I got there so could spend a while in a nice pub before as I knew exactly when I needed to get to the venue.

Mobile sports results.

Mobile betting (granted, not everyones cup of tea but quite useful).

Mobile train times. Quite handy if you're sat in the pub to just be able to click "next train home" and see when it is.

Mobile music player (I don't use that myself as it's not big enough for my music so have an iPod but very useful to a lot of people).

Games to pass the time if on a train or even on the toilet!

Mobile email is very valuable to my work.

Mobile recording with the Sky+ app.

There are also lots of things that can relate to various hobbies. For example I use an app that logs different beers that I have, I add them, the venue I had them and rate them. It then offers recommendations too based on location and your tastes. My father-in-law used to enjoy bird watching and had an app for that.

To be honest the list of positives is pretty much endless.

I've never been good enough with a camera to take decent photographs so my phone has this on it : (copied this from google as couldn't remember all the correct technology lol) ..

Slim, light and waterproof
Battery that lasts up to two days
Take clear pictures anywhere

With a 20.7 megapixel camera, a 25mm wide angle lens and the best Sony Cyber-shot and Handycam technology, the Xperia Z3+ gives you professional looking photos every time. Superior Auto mode automatically adjusts your camera settings to give you the best possible pictures. Even in low light conditions.

Nah. I'm waiting for the brain implant

Not for most people though. It will be a bit more flexible (but the gap closes every year) and allows for better composition (by for instance manipulating depth of field) but for most casual photographers, most of the time there's not much in it.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/...era-vs-dslr/3/

Surely that is a description of 'hotpants' rather than 'boxers'...?

I have a nokia 1020 and I love it! Got it last year because of the camera on it, I'm pleased I did get it because the screen on my Samsung F210 is broken now so I would have been left without a phone

Ooh, yes forgot that. Back when I was commuting to Birmingham the Chiltern Railways app could be a Godsend. Want to know where the train is - launch the app. You can follow its progress in real time. And my colleagues at the time told me there was an that could locate the nearest smart car and reserve it for you. Sadly though it seems the service is being withdrawn :-

https://www.car2go.com/en/birmingham/

Hah, yes. In fact it handles program clashes better than the box itself now

I'm not arguing against smartphones. I have one. It's my work phone and I do use some of it's functions however it's not something I'd ever pay for myself, not because I don't like them but just because I don't use the functions with the type of life I have.

I don't use Facebook or Twitter. I don't want to be checking websites when I'm out of the house.

I have a disability and can't walk far so I'm never walking about someone and get lost.

If I need to pass the time somewhere I have my Kindle or some crochet/patchwork.

There is honestly nothing they can offer that I am interested in.

My husband has one and loves it though so each to their own!

Sorry Starpuss didn't think of it as arguing was just saying as someone who is awful with cameras my smartphone with such a good one is a godsend. That's one of the reasons I choose it along with it being waterproof having the bigger 5inch screen and all sorts of hi rez stuff regarding music as well which means it sounds great.

My husband listens to music with his too (if we are in the car we use it as well for example) but again I don't really listen to music as a background thing. It distracts me away from what I am doing and I don't like earphones.

But I agree they are wonderful inventions. Just not for me I am afraid. I actually work for a very well known global technology company so am inundated weekly with new designs and concepts. I've learned to look at whatever the new technology is, assess what it can do for me and only take up the benefits. Smartphones have minimal benefit for me so I'd not bother with one if it was up to me to fork out the cash

I can't use in ear phones as I had a burst ear drum once from a really really bad infection was in hospital for 5nights which was a nightmare in itself. Never realised an ear could cause so many probkems! so now I use Beats over ear phones, can't put anything in my ear its too painful.

I bought one after ignoring their existence for a long time, it lives in the drawer. Mobiles were fun for a while, then they got too clever... bring back the 5110, that's what I say.

I keep my shopping list on mine as well as various other notes. That and real-time train and bus times/availability makes it very useful. Rarely use the phone part, though. I should investigate this sat nav thing that people are talking about. Sounds good.

I haven't got any kind of mobile phone or device

Pretty early on I decided they weren't for me with the small screen that I could hardly see and the little buttons that looked too fiddly

Here you go (can you tell I'm bored, can't wait to get back to work tomo)

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/g...-apps-3505720/

I put off getting a smart phone for years, I finally gave in when my old slide phone started to suffer from it's battery dying, and some buttons going dodgy.

I went with a Nokia/MS model that cost all of £45 (about half what my old phone cost), and so far it appears that with the use I give it the battery lasts about 5-7 days between charges.

Thank you - lucky for me that you're bored!

I'm supposed to be off all week but I can't take it ! I need to be working I've resorted to reading the politics thread

I feel your pain - I was off last week and for the few days I was at home, I did housework. More pleasant than the politics thread, but weird.

in the interests of the topic, used my phone a lot.