The Glade 4.0

GPS would be worthless to me too if it were only that driving style my wife likes. I use the satellite view. For driving, its a paper map or nothing unless its a long trip with the kids. With 3 little girls and a teenager, finding a hotel by 5 pm is crucial.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

You know, there are apps that will show you every hotel around you including their rates that also allow you to book... I guess you wouldn't be interested in that, though?

My phone is a *much* better GPS than my Garmin GPS is. At least for my purposes...

I don't always have a tablet with me, or want to have to drag it out to check on traffic for my commute. The phone is always in my pocket or in my dashmount, as it's usually streaming music to my car stereo.

An to comment about not wanting to use it as a GPS because you want to talk..

Guess what.. it can be a GPS while you are talking on it...

During my commute, typically, I have the traffic map up on the screen.. Pandora, IHeartRadio, or Google Music are streaming music to my car stereo in the background.

If the phone rings, the stereo automatically switches to the phone (music effectively off) and I speak hands-free with the phone audio coming out of the car speakers, and a small microphone on the visor for picking up my voice.

It works like a champ. Completely seamless integration into my car.

That's far too convenient and safe.

Yep, you can simply ask google maps for 'hotels near ****'.. give it a city, zip code, or just 'me'. It will give you a map showing all of the hotels, with ratings, and seasonal prices and the phone number to call for reservations with the tap of a link (unless Apple forced that functionality off of Android - I know they were trying).

If you want to get more detail, you can get expedia, or priceline, or hotels.com's app. They will even help you find the best rate for the room(s) you want.

https://play.google.com/store/search?q= ... rch&c=apps

And see, I wouldn't use any of that.

I check traffic before I leave, and rarely do I need a map on the road. I just memorize the main and possible alternate routes before I leave.

And in the car, I either drive in the quiet and get some work done in my head, or listed on NPR.

And I almost never talk on the phone in the car, anyway.

Some very interesting papers in the Neuroscience literature about heavy GPS use leading to atrophy of the areas of the brain relating to spatial reasoning, but that's another topic.

_________________
Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

I drive 12 miles on heavily congested Interstate 405 going North every evening, with several possible alternative routes. The 'best' path quite often changes before I get from my office to the on ramp. My traffic map updates every minute or two. Making the right decision at the last minute can mean the difference between a 25 minute commute and a 90 minute commute..

No interest in that whatsoever. Thats what my wife's GPS is for, and AAA books. As for booking, I want to do it face to face. I only book things online when in person is impractical, or costs more. In person I show my military ID and get a discount.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Sorry, but that's just silly. Atrophy of the map reading parts of my brain are the least of my worries.. and besides, it's not something I need to worry about if I have my GPS...

Besides, I rarely am actually navigating with it.. I'm just using it to scout traffic maps on various alternative routes to and from work during rush hour... If I'm going somewhere unusual (not home or work), then I might glance down to see the exit number I'm suppose to take.... and I have the GPS audio off (it gets annoying trying to listen to music).

Sounds like living in a perpetual 1990 would be like heaven to you guys.

Just because we don't like some of the technology available doesn't mean we're luddites, just as an FYI.

I get to run computational models on supercomputers, not something I would have as readily had access to in the 90s. Ditto with nanoscale imaging.

Nor do I have an issue with the choices being out there.

What I have an issue is when the choices of new gadgets (a) make some crucial part of the technology that I want get worse, and (b) there are no simpler options available.

I know we have the technology to make cellular phones with really good antennas and long battery life. Those things just get superceded by the desire for small, feature filled phones.

And you can call it silly if you want, Midgen, but it effects for more than "map reading" skills, but rather the hippocampus as a whole, encompassing spatial reasoning skills in addition to short term memory.

_________________
Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Adding software to a phone does not inherently decrease the call quality, if you're just so concerned with being able to make good phone calls. More often than not the real problem with cell reception is the physical design of handsets themselves, having too much metal or a poorly placed antenna within the case. It's not one or the other, you can have a phone with great call quality and still have all of these features. Cell providers themselves are a big part of the call quality as well. For example, if you spend a lot of time in buildings, don't get T-Mobile. Their spectrum can't penetrate walls as well as AT&T's can.

2001 would be better. Velious was out but not Luclin.

As to the GPS, Midgen, I can't do all that on foot, I have to talk into the phone to stay quiet and I already have a radio earpiece so one for the phone is out. In the car, I'd need a mount for it, we already have a GPS anyhow, which has a bigger screen, doesn't have "apps", and doesn't advertise.

The idea is to keep mobile electronics as unimportant as possible. The desktop is my most important machine because its the most powerful and least mobile. Otherwise your kids start thinking they need to be connected all the time. Heck, as it is my oldest can't go one night on a trip without having to borrow my wife's phone and call someone to giggle aboit nothing.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

What a dreadfully Frankensteinian thread this has become.

_________________

You're confusing my point with that of DE. I don't mind apps. Well made apps are fantastic.

I do mind what I see as a trend in phone design, where "non-phone" gimmicks and gadgets (and the apps that invariably come along with them) become selling points of the phone, and thus major design points, rather than the ability to make calls.

And I haven't seen anything that would match the reception of my 2003-era bag phone. Mostly because very little these days has the ability to attach to an external antenna.

Instead of devoting space inside the case to processing power, more screen backlights, GPS chip and cameras, I would personally prefer to see that space devoted to better antennas and more battery. Similarly, you're going to have a different inherent design when you're trying to develop around a large LCD touch screen rather than a small screen- the rigidity and material composition of the case is obviously going to have to change.

It doesn't have to be one or the other, I completely agree- but more often than not, it is.

_________________
Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

The main reasons I don't want "apps" (aside from the fact that I hate the term "apps" in the first place) is that they take up space both in the phone's memory and on the screen. I want as few icons as possible, and as generic as possible. If I want to look at Youtube, for example, I want that in the same icon as the web browser, not some Youtube icon.

If I do end up putting music into the phone, I want the files stored in the phone. I don't want it accessing anything outside, ever, ideally, except when I'm in the process of communicating with another person. Programs take up space. The same goes for any PDF books I might want to read with it, or movies.

Other than that, my beefs with the thing are:
1) I don't want anyone else manipulating the software load aside from updates to the software that actually make it run in the first place, or security updates.
2) I don't want to use the phone for life management.
3) I do not want other people getting the idea that I am available to them just because I have a phone with me.

There's a 14 day return policy; I am giving serious thought to taking it back and getting a BlackBerry. My experience with the Army-issued BlackBerry now leads me to believe it's a superior device. I am surprised; I thought an actual smartphone would be a step up.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

LOL. Not if you hate everything that makes the phone smart, DE.

I've had the BlackBerry since June, and it definitely does not have the vices this one does.

Anyhow, I don't hate the things that make the phone smart. I hate the fact that they insert all these functions I don't want into it. If other people want those functions, by all means, they should be easily available, but if I want a smartphone just for certain limited purposes, I should be able to shut everything else off and delete it. Neither Verizon, Casio, nor Google should be offended. They already got their money and I refuse to spend one dime on their silly "apps" and "widgets" anyhow.

I don't know why you guys get so annoyed that I want my phone to work my way, either. I'm not suggesting they should take your "apps" away, or not make them, or not do what the customer base wants. There just is no reason for them to be locking out the operating system as if they're the admin and I'm just a user.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I'm definitely in the "take it back" camp.

You seem genuinely displeased. I honestly don't know why you bought it in the first place.

This is why Google left the operating system OPEN SOURCE so anyone can modify it any way they please. It invalidates your warranty because of the cell carrier, but that's not Android's fault.

I was not aware of that, but the fact remains I can't modify it. I should be able to. Even if it invalidates the warranty, they should make root user access the default.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

This.

However, Casio(NEC) and VZW have this particular handset locked down like Manson.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

I want my phone GPS. I need my phone GPS. I like telling my clients I'm x minutes out and they like knowing that. I have better things to do than be lost in the flat Ohio country side.

_________________
I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

This too. I have no idea how it knows, but google maps knows how long its going to take me to get where I'm going no matter what.

I have yet to see it wrong. I'm quite fond of the traffic widget. Set one to work and one to home and it tells me how shitty the 405 is going to be

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Since Jelly Bean, my phone knows that when I'm in the area of my work, when afternoon comes, i'm probably going to be heading home soon, and starts telling me how long my commute is, without even opening maps or nav...

Same thing in the morning with the traffic and weather... and it always tells me when a game is about to start that I might be interested in, and updates me with scores periodically throughout the games...

All of it is hands off for me..