Smartphones

[RobertArthur]

@ Blaze, bought it early 2021, already end of production cycle, for about € 200. Perhaps there is still New Old Stock somewhere. Good reviews, sometimes underestimating its excellent camera capabilities.

Charging the modern lithium-ion batteries: don't run them down, do not charge them up to 100 %. Start recharging at the 40 % level, stop around 80%. The last 20% to full level produces more heat, the ennemy of all batteries. Even my old very transportable 10 inch Samsung Netbook (2010, W7 LIte) already anticipated this long term life expectancy issue with two charge modes: go for the 100 % if you go out, travel, go for max 80% if you stay at home.

Trickle charging: the ASUS X53 notebook (2011) of the OH still has a good battery, so trickle charging is not always bad Perhaps a different story for the new production technologies, more power in smaller sizes.

[Polly]

Why do so many people use a phone GPS over one in a car ?

Maybe there are others like us - unfortunately, we bought a new car with all the safety and comfort stuff on our wish list earlier this year, only to find that there was no GPS on a trip up to Shropshire a few weeks later. It had never occurred to us that modern cars with supposedly all mod cons came without GPS systems.

We got lost in the wilds of Shropshire several times, eventually got used to using our phones to find ourselves and started arriving at our planned destinations! I know much-travelled people who swear by ‘Waze’, preferring it over their built-in GPS systems.

I bought my iphone several years ago from giff gaff very cheaply, knowing from reading reviews that the battery was poor at holding a charge, never dreaming how much I would use it. It’s always switched on but constantly on silent mode, with Whatsapp very much used in the family, so congenial. I recharge my phone overnight, every night, no bother.

I expect I’ll need to replace my phone before long, as it won’t continue to be supported for much longer, I guess, but will again buy a cheapie refurbished iphone after reading lots of reviews. I’m only on my second ever mobile phone in the UK - my first was an excellent, large print shell phone, which I was very sad about when it ground to a halt.

[Nomoss]

Not popular with everyone ............ https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr ... 1-1b2fba3b

[L Austin France]

About 1400 hrs yesterday we had a power cut.
An Enedis van was parked up near our house so my missus asked the driver if he knew when the power would be back on. "Tout à l'heure" was the reply as he drove off.
Two hours later there was still no leccy so having a non working VOIP phone we looked up Enedis web site on a smart phone.
All the info was there including a map showing where the work was being carried out & a note that power would be restored at 1730hrs. It actually came back on at 1715.
We'd never have found that info without the phone.

[DominicBest]

Oh, don't get me started on people with tickets on their phone!! There's nothing worse than being behind someone, usually a family, who are hunting on their smart phone for the QR code, then can't get it to scan, then have to repeat the operation ad infinatum. My paper ticket will beat the QR code on your phone every time. Doesn't need a battery either.

Not in my experience. You obviously haven’t used the system so you don’t know how good it is. I booked another show and by having electronic tickets I saved between €5 and €20, the additional cost of having bits of paper sent to me.

[DominicBest]

lack of a keyboard

One of the other reasons that I held out for so long was, like you, I wanted a keyboard. Back in the day I used to have a Psion which held my entire life on a couple of SSD's so I'd got quite used to using a minature keyboard. When I finally found a smart phone that had one, it was a bit of a no brainer.

A restaurant that expects me to order by smart phone wouldn't get my custom either

Having a smartphone doesn’t stop me using a keyboard. My smartphone is linked to my laptop and tablet so if I have a lot of typing to do I would always choose them first. Its a choice and if people don’t want to enjoy the technology they are free to do so but what I can’t stand is people who don’t use them telling those of us who do we are wrong. The world has moved on a long way from the days of paper and sms.

[demi]

You may not like the way things have gone & may not like the fact that it is becoming more & more necessary to have a smart phone, but you can't fight it. It is the way life has gone & you need to accept it.

My grandparents were apalled when the contraceptive pill arrived - they thought it would lead to total moral degeneration.

I was D E L I G H T E D!

[DaveW]

Oh, don't get me started on people with tickets on their phone!! There's nothing worse than being behind someone, usually a family, who are hunting on their smart phone for the QR code, then can't get it to scan, then have to repeat the operation ad infinatum. My paper ticket will beat the QR code on your phone every time. Doesn't need a battery either.

Not in my experience. You obviously haven’t used the system so you don’t know how good it is. I booked another show and by having electronic tickets I saved between €5 and €20, the additional cost of having bits of paper sent to me.

I find it useful having my boarding pass with QR code on my phone It really makes life simpler than having to worry about pieces of paper.

[RobertArthur]

Empty battery, no internet, not a problem for a piece of paper. And if I remember well, you can also ask a printer to make two copies (if enough paper in the tray). Your personal back-up, not in the cloud.

[DominicBest]

Empty battery, no internet, not a problem for a piece of paper. And if I remember well, you can also ask a printer to make two copies (if enough paper in the tray). Your personal back-up, not in the cloud.

The SNCF ticket inspectors claim that a flat battery is no problem, perhaps they have chargers. In my case I always travel with my iPad so I’ve got a backup on that.