10 Things That Are Practically Obsolete Now that We Have Smartphones

PJ Media ^ | 13 Nov 2018 | Chirs Queen

[Rummyfan]

We’re living in an age of unprecedented technology. It’s not the future that our elders promised to us when we were kids – I mean, where are the flying cars? – but technology has made our lives exponentially easier.

Take the smartphone for example. What used to take a computer, a Walkman, an atlas, and more now fits in the palm of your hand. In fact, the advent of the smartphone has rendered obsolete some things that we used for years.

Here’s a list of ten things that our smartphones have replaced. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means, but I think you’ll get an idea of what revolutionary technology our phones have become. Enjoy!

10. Landlines and payphones

9. Flashlights

8. Calculators

...

[TomGuy]

Turns out all your data is actually replicated "up in the cloud".

Google thanks you.

Amazon thanks you.

Microsoft thanks you.

NSA thanks you.

etc.

[Vermont Lt]

I remember buying it because all of the controllers and the VPs would have them in monthly P&L reviews. They would play those things like they were musical instruments. I felt like “one of the boys” when I finally got it.

[noiseman]

I worked in the electronics department of my college bookstore when I was in college. Sold tons of HP 12Cs. The most common “problem” that students would come back to ask about was how to change the decimal separator from a comma to a decimal point (if I remember right for some reason out of the box it was set to default to comma). It took all of one second to hold down the decimal key, change it back, and leave them feeling foolish for not having read the manual (no one ever did).

Also had a homeless guy who would come in and browse once in a while. One time he showed me the HP-41C he said he had found in the trash (never knew if that was true), along with a slew of program cartridges and other accessories for it. Funny thing was, he knew all about it and knew how to use it. If I remember right, he said he had once been an engineer, before whatever happened (likely alcohol) that drove him to the streets. The 41C was an amazing device; it was like the Swiss Army knife of calculators.

[Larry Lucido]

I still use my Willard tip calculator. Left a $5.00 tip for a grilled cheese sandwich the other day but it's usually close to accurate.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

RPN forever! I still use my HP-15C every day, and dread the day it dies.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

I used mine to calculate the stopping distances for subway trains. I wrote a program to do it. It was slick.

That Reverse Polish Notation and the 4-variable stack was all I needed.

[patro]

Despite the opinions of some luddites:

Landlines/payphones: I can order parts on the job and on the fly

Flashlights: Works well inside of mechanical compartments

Calculators: Great for running through and crunching job related data quickly

Timers: Good for when I’m performing pressure and leakdown tests

Guitar tuners: I don’t use such

Cameras: I use to take pics of parts, labels, placards, et cetera

Photos: Refer to previous job related pics

Alarm clocks: For timing out when things need to be done

Maps/GPS: When stuff is broken 60 miles away and I have to stop at places to get parts between here and there quickly

Address books: Storing new supplier contacts, et cetera

[Sgt_Schultze]

Except maybe for those 15” woofers.

[apillar]

I would definitely disagree with the flashlight as well. While my smartphone flashlight is certainly useful if I drop my keys or something, I’m certainly not going to use it while crawling around in the muck under the house working on a pipe.

[Sirius Lee]

Conversation.

[null and void]

I still have my HP 45.

Could use a new battery, though...

[null and void]

Call me a geek (or worse), but I find Reverse Polish Notation to be soothing.

You're a geek.

I find RPN soothing (or at least better!) too...

[RagtimeCowboyJoe]

I think it was 78 or 9, this was his personal one. he had several IBMs at work, i remember a 286 and 386... he wrote code for system 36 from IBM as well...

[apillar]

I think about growing up in the 1970's and what we thought the "future" would look like. (flying cars, robot butlers, etc.) If someone would have said, "You will have this thing about the size of a pocket calculator which you can make phone calls anywhere, take pictures better than the best cameras, send instant messages or video chat with anyone, have access to every song, movie, book or source of information on earth. Have instant maps that show your location and give directions. And oh by the way, it also has a clock, timer, flashlight, health monitoring and pretty much any other application you could desire."

We would have laughed and told them to get serious, maybe in 500 years something like that would exist, but certainly not in our lifetimes.

[Ransomed]

Yeah, not sure how many watts per channel a cell phone is able to pump out.

Freegards

[HotHunt]

I've used an HP-12C calculator since the late 70s when I was a mortgage broker. I could run circles around the advocates of the Texas Instrument counterpart.

I even taught classes to mortgage and real estate employees on how to use the 12C.

I still use it to this day. Old habits are hard to break.

[MayflowerMadam]

I have, and use, all of those things except an address book. (Unless my MS Outlook 2003 “Contacts” tab counts as an address book.)

[null and void]

3. Clock. Still have a clock radio. It wakes me up to weather and local road conditions.

I have an alarm bladder.

It never fails me!

[Mears]

“I was very surprised to see a bank of pay phones while walking in Manhattan last week.”

—

They are used by people who make obscene or threatening calls.

.

[null and void]

Are you saying RPN is without equal?