I've been thining a lot lately about how to replace my iPhone, and how the only other choice is an Android phone. To paraphrase Mr. White:
"The choice between doing ten years Apple and taking out some stupid motherfucker Google, aint no choice at all."
This leads once again to thinking about jPhone, my perpetually unfinished effort to build a phone of my own. But this time things were a little different, because as I thought about what should go into this iteration of the jPhone design, I realized something. To paraphrase Tyler:
"We are a generation of men raised by women smartphones, I'm wondering if another women smartphone is really the answer we need."
So I started to think very critically about what we consider to be the advantages of having a smartphone, and even the "upsides" started to sound dubious.
For example:
* Does the convinience of using a phone for daily tasks lead to higher-quality results?
* Is it easier to do these things on a phone compared to a regular computer?
* Is it healthier, for both the mind and body to do work on these devices?
For me the answer to these questions is no. In almost every case I can come up with the smartphone is a degenerate solution compared to using a regular computer, and this is doubly true when you consider the smartphone to be an alternative to the personal computer, which it decidedly is not.
While there are creative uses for smartphones, all of the ones I can think of would be superior if performed with the correct tool for the job. The "the best camera is the one you have with you" argument is legit, but it still doesn't make the smartphone the best answer, and in fact the existance of the smartphone prevents better answers.
Think about the things you do, and then think about how you would do them if you didn't have a smartphone. In all cases I can imagine I would be using something better than what the smartphone provides. A better camera, a better notebook, a better ...telephone.
Where this grounded-out for me was the realization that I don't want a different smartphone, even one I design and build myself. In all cases I can imagine, I want to use something else, or nothing at all.
I thought about how many hours I use my iPhone and what percentage of those hours make me happier, smarter, healthier. It's regretabbly few, and when I think about what I would do with that time otherwise, it would be more enjoyable even if I did nothing at all.
Remember boredom? It turns out that it was useful, and in fact an important part of thinking, imagination, problem solving and coming up with new ideas. By filling this time with empty consumption we have lost something real and valuable.
So what am I going to do?
First I'm going to attempt to use my iPhone for only the things it does better than my laptop, and start keeping a list of these things. I'm hoping to find applications I hadn't considered because so far it's a mighty short list.
Next I'm going to start designing a device I can build that will fulfil the needs of that list without all of the bad that comes with a smartphone from Apple or Google.
I'll let you know how it goes.