For basic communications with the benefit of being wireless and mobile, they make some sense. But when I have nice big monitors, pointing devices and keyboards made for large human hands, as well as a hell of a lot more computing power in my PCs, I cannot fathom why I'd ever want to piss around with such a contrary device. My thumb tip covers half the damn on-screen keyboard, FFS! And forget speech to text, my diction might not be the greatest but that damn thing makes me look like a shit salesman with a mouthful of samples when it translates. No thanks, not helpful.
Aside from a GPS for whatever vehicle I'm in, the Torque app for OBDII and a construction calculator (a very well written app with excellent support, cheap fee for lifetime use and upgrades, which I happily paid after using the free version for less than 5 minutes), I actually use mine as a phone...which seems to blow many people's minds for some reason.
Seem like everything now comes with a companion app so you can "conveniently" adjust settings. Seems to me it would be more convenient if it were on the actual device, but where it really gets me is when the app is the only way to access settings and features.
The industry sells these things with everything turned on, and I suspect many users never bother to investigate and turn things off...and I also suspect the industry is banking on that fact as well. I feel like they're seriously compromised out of the box and most folks either aren't aware or don't care....either way, it just contributes to more things being done that way. There's little to no push back, people just accept whatever, and without much if any consideration.
I stopped by my local bank branch a month or so ago to deposit a check. First thing the teller says is, "You no longer need a paper deposit slip, we're doing away with them. All you need is your ATM card or our banking app." I replied that I had a big stack of paper deposit slips at home and fully intended to use them all before considering the alternative. The teller then said, "You know you can deposit this check via our app?" I replied that I no longer use their app and uninstalled it from my phone months ago. She looked at me as if I had a dick growing out of my forehead.
I figure if no one goes to the bank branch anymore to do banking , it shouldn't come as a surprised to anyone when someday bank branch offices no longer exist. I like the fact that I can go there and talk to humans face to face if I have a problem with my accounts or to do other banking business. Rue the day when I have to talk to "Connie" or "Steve" somewhere in southeast Asia to sort shit out with my account or, worse yet, do it through an Ai powered assistant app...
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