Life without a smart phone

[napoleon_in_rags]

120. I don't think they pose a privacy risk beyond a regular cell phone.

So I have no problem with them from that regard.

I'm with you on questioning "life in the cloud". There's this idea floating around, you see it with the Google Chromebooks, that really seems to be based on fostering dependency to the network, not just adding value to old school computers through network connectivity. There's a natural dependency I think comes from an empowering product, but then there is also an engineered one, that didn't have to be there. They are on that line.

But I think the market will sort this one out. I'm not sure a smart phone is even what I want. I think what I want is a brushed steel, bullet proof phone with a small simple e-ink screen, driven by a battery that never dies and offers wifi connectivity to surrounding devices to manage it, and can serve out apps and such. So if I want to play angry birds or surf the net, I whip out a tablet and connect through the phone to the net. All the phone itself does on its own is calls, messages, alarms, and maybe mp3s. If I want to watch a video, surf the web, play games, its via a larger tablet that connects through the phone, which gives me a better experience. Or even through a nearby large screen TV.