davidrb wrote:
"Smart" phone? The oxymoron of these times. Does "smart" identify the item or the user?
Yes on both counts. (Did you somehow miss Steve Jobs’ presentation at MacWorld in January, 2007? If so, YouTube has a copy.)
A dumb phone just makes calls and perhaps sends text messages.
Smartphones are very powerful computers that can do (quite literally!) millions of different things, just by downloading apps and connecting to the Internet.
I use mine as a:
Phone
Text messenger
Radio
TV
Movie player
Music player
Weather checker
Notepad
Reminder with alarms
Calendar
Compass
Level
Calculator
Internet browser
Email client
Network tester
Word processor
PDF reader
Kindle Reader
iBook reader
Camera/image editor
Video camera/editor
FAX
Barcode scanner
Regular document scanner
Clock, alarm clock, stop watch, timer
White noise generator for easier sleeping
Multi-track audio recorder
Ruler
Map/GPS with turn-by-turn audio guidance
Voice memo recorder
Video dialog recorder
Text to speech and speech to text converters
Travel agent (hotels, flights, rental cars, restaurant finder)
“Yellow Pages” (lookup anything or anyone)
Light meter
Depth of field calculator
MILC Camera remote control with live view
WiFi transfer of MILC camera media to the web
Unit of measurement conversions
Inflation calculator
Network router management
Skype and FaceTime video calls
List of contacts (rotary card file info)
Spreadsheets
Presentations
DropBox and iCloud access
WebEx and GoToMeeting clients
Online banking
Stock market monitor
News reader(s)
Internet shopping (Amazon, Walmart, Target, many others)
Dog whistle
Sound sweep generator
Car scanner
...and too many others to list.
The smartphone is arguably the single-most market-disruptive device ever invented. Its impact is felt in nearly everything that happens daily.
Examples from yesterday (context: I’m on vacation):
“Hey, Siri, get me directions to the nearest Walmart.” (Result: instant turn-by-turn audio guidance)
“Hey, Siri, what are popular things to see and do in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia?” (Result: lots of links)
(while driving) “Hey, Siri, read my texts.” (Result: text to speech conversion, with opportunity to reply with speech to text... all hands-free.)