What are we going to do about mobile? [OT]

[Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa) via Digitalmars-d]

On 04/06/2017 08:52 AM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
>
> I don't even own a mobile device and don't see that changing any time
> soon (they are really expensive, slow, and just generally hard to use*).

That last point is so very true. Bugs me so much that 99.999% of mobile 
users never really understood the difference between "easy to learn" and 
"easy to use".

And frankly, if you ask me, the only real thing that ever made those 
hieroglyph-heavy, non-discoverable-gesture-reliant devices "easy to 
learn" was the fact that Steve Jobs was very insistent on making sure 
everyone called it a "phone" and that they were to NEVER be called 
"computers" - hence sidestepping the #1 roadblock in learning how to use 
a computer: epidemic knee-jerk intimidation at the mere mention of the 
work "computer". iPhones (and Android) were NEVER easy to learn (who in 
the world EVER learned how to switch between running applications on an 
iPhone without somebody having to explain it to them first? Nobody. 100% 
non-discoverable.). But unlike computers, people actually bothered to 
try, because they were told they were "phones" and "Oh, I know how to 
use a phone!". "Phone" isn't scary. "Computer" is scary. My PalmOS 
devices were VASTLY easier to get things done on. All they really needed 
was WiFi (which was expensive at the time) and a better camera.

I don't blame you. Only reason I eventually wound up getting a 
"smartphone" is so I could have basic internet connectivity while AFK. 
(And because both my watch and portable music player finally died, so I 
was like, meh, well, I can take care of all that at once.) But for most 
tasks, it's quicker and easier to just wait until I'm back at the PC.