Poll: Have smartphone apps enriched your life, or are they time killers?

[DrunkOnEstus]

I finally got a smartphone a few days ago, after I ran out of gas and couldn't call anybody. It was the first time I actually needed a phone on me, so I finally got one. The first thing I checked out was the games, and many seem insubstantial in addition to GTA 3 controlling a bit like ass. I'm not sure if I'd use this thing for grocery lists, a journal, or another tool of that nature. I don't have a twitter/facebook, and I'm not sure I like the touchscreen keyboard anyway. This is all tentative and could change, however.

So, has getting one of these things made your life better? Do the apps make life easier? I pretty much imagine having something to do now while I'm waiting in line.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't have one.

I don't have an occupation or social life that forces me to be available 24/7, and I'm not much for handheld gaming.

I'm sure if I did have one though, I'd be on it all the time checking shit out.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

As somebody who doesn't own a smartphone (and doesn't plan to, because they're basically insanely expensive over-glorified toys), smartphone apps have only had a negative impact on my life. I don't care what you do on your own time, but when you're having a conversation with me, I would appreciate it if you weren't playing Words With Friends (or texting, or checking twitter, or whatever). Thankfully, this has gotten better since I've gotten out of high school, but it's still a problem, and it still pisses me off to no end.

 

[bearlotz]

It's one device that fits in your pocket and holds a scientific calculator, all (or at least a good chunk) of your music/movies/media, a GPS unit, a word processor (a crappy one, but still), a calendar, an email client, a coding/development platform, an internet browser, and phone. And that's just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Is it useful? Hells to the yes. Has it enriched my life? Eh, maybe. It certainly makes EVERYTHING more convenient. Also, try looking for a model with a slide-out full keyboard OP.

 

[TehCookie]

I love mine, I have no idea what I would do if I couldn't google things everywhere. Having a disagreement over a fact with someone? Google it. Can't remember that actress/artist/thing? Google it. I have no idea what I'd do without it. Though it's probably doing more harm than good since I never have to remember things anymore. I have my calendar on there I can check or if I'm going shopping I make a list (even a short one) instead of remembering it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I have a smartphone but all I really use is the calculator app. I played angry birds and, fruit ninja for about a week when I first got the phone and that's about the extent of it. Oh, and I guess I can IM people now when I'm not on my computer which is neat.

OH! Someone just reminded me: GPS. I've used it exactly twice so far and it was pretty helpful. I plan on using it again for a 600 mile road trip in the not too distant future. Go me!

 

[Heronblade]

Only picked up a basic android smartphone a year ago, and then only because I needed to be able to shift data more easily. Before that I'd been using a simple but durable clamshell phone.

A tiny handful of apps are useful, such as GPS, news, weather, and calender functions, but the by far majority are completely worthless.

 

[Dags90]

I couldn't live without GPS. It makes me way more comfortable driving to new places. I use Google calendar on my phone to look at my mom's work travel schedule. And recently used my tablet to stream a 3D movie to my TV.

Grindr is obviously also very stimulating.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Well, it has a lot of functions that are very useful in my profession, like mail, GPS, calendar and voice recorder functions or staying up to date with news and press releases while on the road.

I wouldn't exactly say those enriched my life, but they do make things a little easier.

As for the games: they're time killers. They're something to keep myself busy with while I'm waiting or traveling by bus, train, boat, plane, whatever. I don't really need them to be more than that. I didn't get a smart phone because I wanted a portable gaming system.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It's one device that fits in your pocket and holds a scientific calculator, all (or at least a good chunk) of your music/movies/media, a GPS unit, a word processor (a crappy one, but still), a calendar, an email client, a coding/development platform, an internet browser, and phone. And that's just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Is it useful? Hells to the yes. Has it enriched my life? Eh, maybe. It certainly makes EVERYTHING more convenient. Also, try looking for a model with a slide-out full keyboard OP.

Seriously seconding the slide out keyboard. I've got one, and not only does it make text input infinitely better, but it also makes a lot of games (especially emulators, but basically anything that lets you assign actions to physical keys) easier to control.

OT: Why does there have to be a dichotomy between it being a time killer and enriching your life? Any form of recreation can be called a "time killer." Recreation is also something that most people would recognize as life enriching. The few who don't are the kind of workaholics who tend to stroke out at 40.

I do get more than just games out of it, though. It's basically replaced my laptop for any function I'd use it for outside of the house aside from serious word processing. As someone who has spent the last three years surgically attached to his laptop, that's saying something.

P.S.: otherwise hardcore gamers have a terrible habit of selling smartphone gaming short. Effectively every core genre is represented on them, and there's generally at least one series per genre that is legitimately good, and doesn't have control issues. You'd think the only game to ever come out for smartphones was Angry Birds, to see the average gamer talk.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Not much seeing how most of the apps on my phone require it to be online and I'm a pay as you go type of guy (I talked alot on it). The only benefit for me to having a smartphone (my parent insist on me getting me) is mainly playing Angry Bird during lunchtime at work.

 

[roushutsu]

I don't have a lot of apps on mine. I've got Infinity Blade if I'm sitting somewhere and I'm bored. I've got Flixter to check for local movie times. And I've got Twitter.

Other than that, I may go online to Google something on the spot real quick. I wouldn't say it enriched my life in any way, but I've found some nice uses for it to justify having one in the first place.

 

[Artina89]

I don't have a lot of apps on mine really. I have a few games that I can play to while away the time when I am waiting for the bus, which is moot when I bring my Nintendo DS or a book, but other than that, having a smart phone hasn't really changed my life, for better or worse.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

vote other

I've had a smartphone for about six months now. Finally replaced my old Motorola Razr that died after a nice long seven years of faithful service. I didn't want a smartphone, but my sister talked me into it.

Yeah, it's easier and more convenient to use than the Razr ever was, and being able to browse the internet while I'm sitting in waiting rooms or whatever is nice... but I've had no desire whatsoever to bother with games or Apps. I really couldn't give less of a shit about them.

 

[Reaper195]

I can't really see anything a smartphone could do for me that would remotely improve my life. I've got a shitty old Samsung phone from about six or so years ago. Texts fine. Calls fine. E-mails fine. I don't have a need to browse the internet when I'm away from my computer, so that's fine. Games? Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. I've yet to see a game ever released for a phone that looks nothing other than a way to spend time if you're on a bus or a car ride with nothing else to do.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

I have a Web OS phone (lol) (Hewlett-Packard), so my choices on apps are severely limited (Angry Birds and Facebook are the only recognizable apps I've found on the HP App Store). Sometimes it's nice to look up store hours, movie times or locations of places on the go and I enjoy getting my email on my phone, but overall I could live without it. I'm planning on downgrading to a dumb phone again, so I don't have to pay an extra $30-40 for a tiny amount of data usage. I haven't waste much time at all on smartphone apps; the very few I've used have been useful, but they don't seem essential to me. I don't use social networks nearly often enough to need a mobile solution for them.

Fun Fact: Giant Bomb has an app for Web OS. Who knew, right? I actually used it once to entertain myself by streaming the Bombcast while I exercised.

 

[Vhite]

Somewhat. I use my phone for reading manga, browsing internet and navigation but other than that Im not using it very often and I play even less than I did on my old Nokia. With that phone I have become the master of Tetris. Now I have Dungeon Defenders, BIT.TRIP BEAT, Battle for Wesnoth and some amazing RPGs, yet compared to Tetris, they all suck because of terrible touchscreen controls. I really don't understand why tablet and smartphone gaming has become so popular, touchscreen is one of the worst ways to control a game ever.

 

[devotedsniper]

I must say the best feature on my phone is the google maps, i use the built in sat-nav (Google Navigation) whenever i go somewhere new, it's brilliant...only thing wrong with it is the robotic voice.

As for the rest of the apps there's a few useful ones but i don't really use them a lot.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I currently use a rather cheap, £60 Android smartphone, and all I can say is 'eh'. It doesn't consume any time worth mentioning, and though it is occasionally useful as a music/video player and GPS, it isn't as useful as you would think.