Ask HN: What would you miss the most without a smartphone? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What would you miss the most without a smartphone?

1 pointtoto4445 comments

I have never had a smartphone and the more time passes the more I realize how much better my life is without one. I believe there is very few things that you can not do without a smartphone. (I have a small tablet that I carry with me very often but since I need to connect a the wifi to use it I do not consider it to be exactly like a smartphone).

Basically the main reactions when people learn that I do not own a smart is : - how do you do without google map ? (hint : I draw a map beforehand) - what! you don't have Whatsapp (No I use SMS and I do not get group notifications every 5 minutes)

View on HN

Being able to look stuff up on the go. (Turns out this laundromat is closed because COVID; where’s the next nearest one? What time does that plane land, again? And what color was the sweater I bought my mom last year, so I can get her a sweater than matches?)

I used to get similar confused questions about not having a facebook / twitter / instagram account but now it seems pretty normal. I think for me though the utility of a smartphone outweighs the downsides, you can always just not install all those annoying social media apps you don't want. Having a portable computer with a cellular connection and web browser, maps, a music player and decent camera is really handy.

Mostly WhatsApp and maps. I think your personal experience is skewed here:

- You don't need to have any group notifications enabled to use WhatsApp. You don't even need to be in any groups. A quick message / photo / video call is still useful.

- Preparing maps beforehand only works if there are no changes on the way, you know all the places you want to go to, and you're familiar with the transport options and schedule.

Sure, you may not find those useful in your daily usage. Just keep in mind that your view on limitations and benefits of those solutions may be skewed.

I would miss my music apps (I really am happy I don’t have to download music anymore), automatic backup of photos and files with cloud providers and last, the ability to read and listen to books (same reason as to why I like music apps)

The browser on the smartphone to look up adhoc stuff on the go.

Google maps.

That’s about it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com