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Comment by guappa | Hacker News Reader

If a restaurant has no way to allow customers to not use their phone I normally just leave.

Generally speaking, I'm with you. However, there is one use case that's exceptional: when you're with a large group where every sub-party will be ordering & paying separately. It can be a godsend to have phone ordering when 25-50 people descend on a restaurant all at once (my typical use case being kids sports teams + family members). It's absolutely not ideal for experiential dining where you're going for ambience as much as the cuisine, but it definitely expedites the ordering process and the ability to keep a tab open is a huge benefit.

It's fine to have the options, there just needs to be a phone-free option as well.

I find that surprising because in my experience QR code ordering systems are almost always worse than paper menus and ordering at the bar.

The comment you replied to was in agreement with you. They're saying they don't want to be forced to order via a QR code.

Thank you for pointing this out! I think I missed a double negative.

Yes, if I cannot eat without pulling out my phone, then no thanks, I will leave my money elsewhere (which is what parent said).

Not a bad way to make a point locally, but wow are QR codes nice when you’re traveling and don’t speak the language. You get the menu, in a browser, with all of the translation and parsing tools on your phone.

(Offline) camera translation is the answer.

Having ended up in a situation where I attempted this:

no.

It is not the answer, it is a frustration where you wonder what "bean massacre pastry" is (chopped nut cookies, aka slivered almond cookies) or what they mean by "Surprise coriander special" described as "flavor of comatose with many spices in hot cow" as the translation. The accurate translation would be "mixed spice beef special" and "Beef with spice and vegetables."

Cameras are betterthan they were 10 years ago but machines are better when they have real sources in front of them

You know that you can scan/highlight the raw text and translate individual portions?

And sometimes, say in Chinese cuisine, the dishes are indeed using some flourished language. You get your translation and a peek into their culture. Win/win.

no, just looking at the properly translated menu on my phone is so much nicer

Waiting for Apple watch to have a camera.

And __not__ this one: https://wristcam.com

Seems unlikely. They day I can’t wear my watch in the changing room is the day I stop wearing it to the gym, and therefore stop wearing it altogether, and therefore stop buying new ones every 5ish years.

Why can't you wear a watch with a camera in the changing room?

It's normally forbidden because most people don't want to end up naked on some weird website without their consent.

But lots of people use their phones in the changing room ...

it's usually not allowed to have recording devices in places where people are naked.

I think what used to be considered "usually not allowed" is no longer true and a sign of one's age that you even remember not being able to use a camera any place/time. Someone could be using their phone without using their camera and they will look just like someone that is using their camera. People have become numb to it now.

> look just like

In my experience, there is usually an obvious difference between seeing a phone used as a camera versus not, based on whether it's aimed at an interesting subject or not. There are exceptions, like sitting with your elbow propped on the arm of a chair for a few minutes to avoid fatigue, which causes the phone to be at eye level and therefore perfectly vertical, but this is rare.

s/will/can/

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