# Infographic: The Gadgets Being Killed off by Smartphones



## Canon Rumors Guy (Apr 15, 2017)

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<p><a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cellphonekiller0304.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-29110" src="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cellphonekiller0304-73x1024.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="10159" srcset="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cellphonekiller0304-768x10717.jpg 768w, http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cellphonekiller0304-610x8513.jpg 610w, http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cellphonekiller0304.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /></a></p>
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## Chaitanya (Apr 15, 2017)

I dont trust smartphones due to stupidly low battery lives. Also being a hardcore trekker, I still own and trust paper maps, compass and standalone gps. Also cannot love without my wrist watch and alarm clock. As far as mp3 players are concerned they were killed off much earlier by arrival of feature phones like Nokia N-series and Sony walkman phones.


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## Talys (Apr 15, 2017)

For me:

Alarm clock - Yes, I use my phone's alarm a lot, but no, I still have a Sony alarm clock by my bed, because its soft light in the dark is a lot nicer. Plus it's always there: I don't have to look for it. But who regularly buys alarm clocks?

Watch - I haven't used a watch to check the time for a very long time: ever since PCs and cars all had clocks on them. But I still wear them as jewelry. No smartphone or smartwatch in the foreseeable future is going to replace a Cartier.

Fitness Tracker - Got me. Never liked them. I don't really need a band to tell me that I'm not exercising enough. 

MP3 Player - The last MP3 player I bought was an original iPod. But the number of times I've listened to music on my smartphone in the last 5 years is zero. Not a fan of headsets, preferring car, PC or home stereo.

P&S Camera - Last P&S I bought was a S110, and before that some other Canon about 7-8 years before it. I doubt I will replace the S110 any time soon. So yeah, probably, smartphone has killed this for me. Though, who knows. If canon makes a small enough superzoom, anything's possible.

Camcorder - Haven't bought one for 15 years. Last one was a sony that took DVD recordable. But DSLR probably killed camcorder for me more than smartphone. The storage and media portability on a smartphone makes it so that short clips are fine, but real-length recordings (like filling a tape or disc on camcorder), not so much.

Payphones - Yup, got me there. Cell phones have largely killed the need for these, though I wish there were a few more around for emergencies.

Landline phones - No, I still have TWO at home. You don't need to charge them, they continue working in an emergency, and I haven't yet found a way to have like, 10 smartphones with the same number littered all over the house. Plus, two, three people can pick up handsets and join the same call; much harder on a cell phone. Also, my mom likes the giant buttons on her phone.

Newspapers - A little bit. But mostly, it's the Internet. I do not read my smartphone on my toilet. There are tablets for that! Ok, TMI.

Gameboys - Yeah, these have faded for me. But mostly because I like pixel-graphic RPGs and TBS games, of which there are very few new releases. And the latest 3D Gameboys did nothing for me. Nintendo Switch is doing well!! I am not a big fan of games on my smartphone, not because I don't like the smartphone as a gaming platform, but because I don't like being out of juice to take or make a phone call.

Flashlights - Not at all. I have real flashlights from small size to huge. It would be more accurate to say that LED flashlights have largely replaced all other flashlights (though I still have a a Xenon searchlight).

Address Book - Yup. But the PocketPC had killed that already. So technically, it killed the PocketPC.

Personal Video Players / Portable TV - No, these were killed off by the tablet for me. I never watch videos or TV on my smartphone, again, because doing so just depletes the already pathetic battery.

Voice Recorders / Dictaphone - Absolutely not. A voice recorder is superior to a smartphone for recording audio in every meaningful way, other than being one more device. Batteries is a huge one, but microphone quality is like... massive.

Notepad - Sure. But not by smartphone. Tablet.

Photo Album - Sure, prints are not nearly as common now, and books of prints are nearly extinct, and I often show photos on my phone, so smartphones are certainly a contributor. The real culprit, though, is digital photography, because even when I had a Motorola RAZR, I didn't keep photo albums any more.

Thermostat - No >.< I do not use my smartphone as a thermostat, especially the type pictured - to control the temperature of my home. I can't imagine how this would be a good idea.

Dumb Phones - Yeah, definitely, I've replaced my dumb phone with smartphone.

Birds - Who leaves their cell phone, CONNECTED TO A CALL, by a beehive by accident again?

Birds - Who leaves their cell phone, CONNECTED TO A CALL, inside a bird's nest?! But I call bullS___. Connect a call and put your phone beside an egg for 2 minutes. Put another egg in a microwave and punch in 2 minutes. Compare.

Sperm - I call bullS___ to that one too. Cell phones are not proven to have any negative health effects. In any case, they emit very little electromagnetic radiation. Those people who don't carry cellphones because they think these devices emit too much electromagnetic radiation need to get rid of nearly all technology, and move into a cabin in the mountains, because anywhere there's civilization, and most of the highways connecting cities, the airwaves are blanketed with artificial electromagnetic radiation. And everywhere on Earth other than a deep cave or an underground bunker, there's plenty of natural electromagnetic radiation of the same sorts.


How about this.... victim of smartphones: CONVERSATION at the lunch and dinner table!


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## LDS (Apr 16, 2017)

Alarm clock: I don't like a radio transmitter near to my head for hours. Also, sometimes the alarm clock falls when I try to silence it when I slept too little or too bad  Anyway, usually they have some large button to silence them.

Watches: I like them, and it's much faster to give a look to the time without the need to reach out for a phone. Especially when I'm at home, doing sports (try to swim with a smartphone....) and hate to carry a phone around.

MP3: never liked to listen to music on portable devices, still you may need to save your phone battery if you know you won't be able to recharge it soon. While at the beach, I may prefer a cheap MP3 player nobody will steal (and even if it happens, little loss), than an expensive smartphone with a lot of sensitive and private data.

GPS/Navigator: I by far prefer the car "embedded" navigator - it gets data from other car sensors (i.e. distance when the GPS signal is lost), and it is far easier to control it using the car controls than having to fight with a touch interface while driving. Google Maps is so-so, free, but not that good. Especially, it's not easy to have full maps stored of the device, which is very useful when you're abroad and roaming fees can kill you, or there's little or no mobile coverage. Remember Google Maps is a tracking device to let Google know wherever you go...

Landline phones: my house is large enough I can't hear the phone from everywhere, and I don't like to carry it around when at home (especially when I have no pockets!). So home phones are useful to be found anyway, and also they double as internal comm systems, instead of shouting around. Also, there are times when I need to talk to someone at home, whoever is there. And a telephone number assigned to the house and not a given people is also often useful. And they are self-powered.

Dumb (feature) phones: with their outstanding battery life, they are very useful as emergency devices. Always has one with me when out alone in the wild. Also useful when you don't want to leave your expensive smartphone alone (i.e. at some beaches, or the like).

Gameboy: the latest Nintendo Switch is selling very well. It has better controls to play more complex games than a phone allows. 

Notepads: I still use them even if I have a Surface Pro with its pen (far better than any other device without built-in pen support) . But for very quick and short notes, a paper notepad still works well, and it's faster. OneNote comes very close, but writing on a screen requires some training. When I'm out taking photos, I have a small Moleskine in the bag to take notes. It's much faster than using a phone, and allows for quick sketches as well.

Photo albums: for whom those print centers work? Sure, most of the photos never leave the digital realm, but there are still people who likes albums for special occasions - weddings. children, etc. Why Fuji sells so well its Instax?

Etc etc.

Most of this articles have a very narrow view of the world - which is actually far more complicated and very different needs and whims have to be addressed. For example, after some trials with e-books, I reverted to printed ones, but for novels you read top to bottom, and some books with a very short useful life. For others, especially book about photography and photographers, the e-book were just very uncomfortable to read, and some, to be appreciated, need sizes well beyond the largest tablet.


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## scyrene (Apr 16, 2017)

LDS said:


> Alarm clock: I don't like a radio transmitter near to my head for hours.



Put the phone in airplane mode then.


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## lion rock (Apr 16, 2017)

Fast "note" taking with camera on smartphone. Don't have to spent time doodling or later on deciphering my handwriting. That's learnt from student here.
-r


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## NancyP (Apr 16, 2017)

I am a fan of having paper maps and compass on hikes, but I grew up with these. Cell phone can be turned off to conserve power. I have made the habit of photographing the current maps posted at the trailheads, just to have it on hand if paper one gets lost. 

Address book, calculator, alarm clock, calendar schedule, to-do list, all get used on the phone. Camera, sometimes. 
I haven't gotten used to listening to mp3 music on phone, though I could rip from my existing CD collection, 99% pre-file-rip-prevention. Part of the reason is that when I am stationary, I can use other music sources, and when I am out hiking, walking, whatever, I pay attention to my surroundings.

Phone program has replaced my manual star identification resources for casual star-gazing. The Photographer's Ephemeris has been on the phone forever, and is very useful.


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## MrFotoFool (May 11, 2017)

Here is a picture of my one and only phone. I bought it in 1997 at (I think) Radio Shack and it works as well today as it did then. It uses no electricity and has no charger - just plug in the phone line and voila!

Seeing people walk around with their faces glued to a mobile phone screen is one of the biggest annoyances of modern society. And that is not even going into the increase in car accidents and deaths resulting from using them while driving. They are just plain obnoxious.

So yes I wear a real (analog, not digital) watch and use a real alarm clock and carry a real point-and-shoot camera for snapshots.


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## neuroanatomist (May 11, 2017)

A couple of years ago, one of my kids came to me with a question while doing her kindergarten homework. It was one of those 'circle the objects that start with this letter' pages, in this case the letter was 'T' and the object graphic looked like this:







I explained to her that that was a telephone, but I wasn't sure she believed me. Honestly, it bears no resemblance to any phone she would have seen in her lifetime, and even if she recognized it as a phone, well...that object starts with a 'P' (or in kindergarten, maybe an 'F').


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## kaihp (May 11, 2017)

MrFotoFool said:


> Here is a picture of my one and only phone. I bought it in 1997 at (I think) Radio Shack and it works as well today as it did then. It uses no electricity and has no charger - just plug in the phone line and voila!



Technically, that's not true. Your telephone _do_ use power: it draws the power from the line voltage provided by the telephone central (~50V in these necks of the woods, I'm not sure if it's different in the US).


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