I think nostalgia tends to corrupt our memories somewhat, but the peak usefulness of my phone really was my last blackberry. There are certainly modern conveniences that are game changers and I would not want to live without, such as Google maps and audio players (music, podcasts, audiobookshelf), but as far as a communication device for text messaging and email, my blackberry with keyboard was insanely productive. The soft keyboards on modern smartphones are just terrible. Google's latest speech to text has gotten pretty good, probably to the point where it is equivalent to where things were with the blackberry, but if you are writing something that can't be easily spoken or if it gets punctuation incorrect, it is a pain in the ass to fix it with the soft keyboard.
> The soft keyboards on modern smartphones are just terrible
I find it’s best to think of the iOS keyboard[0] as being a single big touch area with no distinct buttons, which you type into by tapping your fingers in the general vicinity of where the correct keys are, and let autocorrect do all the work.
I get confused by people who disable autocorrect, because for me it’s the only way the keyboard works at all. Just as I’m typing this, fully half the words I’m typing are wrong as I’m typing them, and the phone is figuring out my actual meaning only by looking back entire sentences and figuring out the correct words by looking at probabilities. I never stop to check whether it got the word right, I just keep typing. It figures it out eventually.
(Side note, when it does get it wrong, I can’t imagine a worse system for correcting words than iOS has. I simply cannot ever get the cursor to go to the right place for correction. Whatever system is being used for placing the cursor in response to inaccurate taps, is fully and diametrically opposed to how I’d expect it to work. It’s criminally bad.)
- [0] probably android too, but I only have experience with iOS so that’s what I’m speaking to.
If you regularly switch languages or, even worse, use multiple languages in the same messages, autocorrect gets in the way more than it helps. In monolingual contexts it’s almost always set to the wrong language (based on the one used previously) and what comes out is just a jumble. In multilingual contexts you just spend as much time on switching the keyboard language as on the actual typing.
Also, I’m not sure how it is today, but 5-8 years ago I knew more words in my native language than iOS autocorrect and got tired of it “fixing” them.
They have the feature, sure, whether it works properly for the languages you are using is another thing altogether.
Somewhat close languages (french/english) are often not great, and adding CJK with anything other than english to the mix is also a recipe for a bad experience.
Even for just English, it gets some words wrong constantly for me. I would love to be able to watch someone type in their phone to see if I'm just using it wrong
Well, maybe it’s just personal preference, but I use Dutch and English (a closer language pair than FR/EN) on Android and iPadOS, and it works great for me.
Of course, you still need to switch for CJK languages (because they need an IME), but that’s a given.
To your side note: did you know you can use the iOS keyboards space bar as touch pad control for the text cursor? Just press and hold. That makes positioning the cursor very easy.
I do, but it’s janky enough that I don’t actually like it very much, and it hasn’t achieved muscle memory status. It seemed to work better when it was Force Touch based (before they removed Force Touch)… the spacebar technique just doesn’t seem to activate reliably for me.
My problem with iOS autocorrect is that when I type a technical word that it doesn't understand, as soon I hit space and it autocorrects, even if I immediately backspace, the original word is GONE. If someone was dictating something to me and I was transcribing, too bad, I have to ask them to repeat it.
Android will autocorrect but if you immediately backspace, it reverts to the original. I didn't realize how much I relied on this function until it was absent.
I generally can predict the words it isn’t going to understand, and just make an effort to type those more carefully. The literal letters you typed so far is typically the leftmost option in the word list just above the keyboard. 98% of the time I can just plow right through mashing my fingers vaguely near the keys, the other 2% I just type slow and use the top left word instead of the space bar.
I thought "slide to type" was default off--and at least I was sure it was off at some point for me. But your message prompted me to check and it was on. Thanks!
For me, autocorrect is just not worth it. I'd rather fix my own mistakes than supervise/fight a language model. To me, the latter takes much more effort. And once I disabled AI my typing accuracy (and spelling ability!) improved, so that it became a non-issue.
I find the Android default keyboard a lot easier to use than the iOS one. But then, I've used Android a lot more (on the phone) and use iOS only on the tablet.
> I get confused by people who disable autocorrect
I want to speak with my own voice, not Apple's autocorrect voice. Doubly so in casual jokey chats. I do agree that it's unusable without it, but I ducking hate it.
They fixed the thing that always autocorrects away from swear words in the 2023 release FYI (maybe 2022, I can’t remember.) They made a special point of mentioning it at WWDC.
I can now type “fucking” reliably without it replacing it.
Before my iPhone my previous two phones were a BlackBerry KeyOne (android) and BlackBerry Passport (BlackBerry 10). Not enough time has passed for nostalgia to set in. Those phones were the high water mark. This iPhone is generally fine but the keyboard is an awful compromise IMO. I don’t think I’ve ever typed a sentence correctly first time, or as fast as on a BlackBerry.
This is something I highlight with the trend toward dumb phones. The input system on them sucks, it makes smart phone input look eloquent even though it is clumsy.
The idea that a lot of the time the opposite of one bad idea is another bad idea.
The Blackberry form factor is a reasonable middle way that could be explored again. Blackberry input systems but with the expanded functionality of smart phones - just adjust the app quantity/quality to your needs. There have been companies that have tried but their efforts have been clunky and with out native OS support and apps developed with it in mind, it is an uphill battle.
My Blackberry was the first platform on which I ever used Google Maps. By the way a Blackberry user need not go without GPS. They can pair with and use a standalone Bluetooth GPS peripheral that is about the size of a pack of chewing gum.
I went that path. At first my smartphone stopped working for no reason. I thought it's great moment to downgrade to dumb phone. After about a year I lost my sim card... Then I thought it's great moment to get rid of my phone at all. I needed to detach all services related to my phone - which sometimes is tricky. After all I'm phone-free since 2018. In the meantime I was traveling a lot, working for different companies and I was in touch with friends. I'm known in my circle that I have no phone. At work they don't even ask.
Wow, no phone since 2018? I'm curious how you're able to live in the modern world. I can immediately understand some of the benefits. I myself use a degoogled Pixel 4a and only have a few basic apps installed. However, going completely without a phone must have some significant drawbacks. Care to elaborate a bit more? Do still have a phone number like VoIP?
I can call to anyone's phone if needed - for example using Skype service - but I have no number to call me. To have a VoIP number - I bought one for 1 month in that period while applying for a job to one huge corporation. HR didn't wanted to pass me further without phone number - but to have a number it was 5 minutes.
All the other comments here make a good point but this is a core problem that I really worry about. Assumption of technology usage. And that eventually you are forced into usage of something you might not want. The amount of businesses and even government divisions that just assume the following.
1) You have a smart phone
2) It is either Apple or Android and nothing else
3) You are happy to use their proprietary app/setup.
I started to become aware of this over a decade back when using Windows Phone. And while I am on an up to date Android phone now, that you are forced to participate.
This is also why Ted Kaczynski was fascinating, An absolute insane lunatic that made some good points about the nature of technology. While his idea about this was a lot more broad, the requirement of phones is just another inch being taken to get to mile took.
"127. A technological advance that appears not to threaten freedom often turns out to threaten it very seriously later on. For example, consider motorized transport. A walking man formerly could go where he pleased, go at his own pace without observing any traffic regulations, and was independent of technological support-systems. When motor vehicles were introduced they appeared to increase man’s freedom. They took no freedom away from the walking man, no one had to have an automobile if he didn’t want one, and anyone who did choose to buy an automobile could travel much faster and farther than a walking man. But the introduction of motorized transport soon changed society in such a way as to restrict greatly man’s freedom of locomotion. "
Definitely. It applies to multiple levels as well. The massive adoption of banking cards created the expectation that you use one, which then caused cash to not be universally accepted everywhere anymore. Now it's expected that you use an Android or iOS app for said bank. Next up, your banking app expects you to have specific AR smart glasses to use it properly.
It's also an issue with "e-Government" platforms in some European countries. There's this default expectation that you want to use it, which has in some cases made certain tasks more difficult for those whom prefer using regular paper forms. The next layer is those platforms requiring Android/iOS apps, which could very well mean that being able to use healthcare or filing your taxes indirectly requires either a Google or Apple account, and agreeing to their agreements.
I really wish that Kaczynski had found better (i.e. not completely insane and immoral) ways to raise awareness of his ideas. He definitely had some insights into the problems technology causes for society, but I feel like his ideas became tainted by the utter madness he pursued for the sake of his ideas.
If he hadn't done what he had done then we almost certainly never would have heard of him and his manifesto.
"The Kaczynski paradox" is a problem for a number (not all) of terrorists or terrorists groups, where fundamentally they have a good point, but also use unacceptable means to bring attention to these points.
Sure, there's truth to that. Doesn't just apply to a terrorism context, either. I forget which essay it was, but Scott Alexander pointed out that while everyone hates PETA, nobody has heard of the animal rights activism orgs which behave responsibly. Still, even if nobody would have heard of Kaczynski or his ideas, it seems to me like that's better than a world in which everyone has heard of his ideas but they aren't allowed to be taken seriously in polite society because of the association with his actions.
Indeed. I had disputes with my bank on that and even digitization ministry of my country. Both are breaking the law on this field but I can't do anything about it. To proceed in such cases I use number of trusted person.
It won’t because they can’t verify that you are who you say you are in first place, so to them you’re just a scammer trying to socially engineer them. (Or at least that’s how they should be treating you if they were trained correctly.)
The bank took photocopies of my id when I opened the account. Surely they can match that with the three valid government IDs I carry with me and that should be more trustworthy than a phone which might have been changed in the meanwhile, stolen or imei-spoofed.
My Grandfather did that (he was 80 at the time), he got upset that his bank would not take a cashier's check from another bank, even after calling the other bank to confirm it was valid.
He asked for his 60k worth of deposit in cash, apparently there are laws from the 30s that if you ask for cash they have to give it to you.
The bank ended up calling in police officer, who then confirmed that my grandfather was in the right, and they gave him the 60k. He stuffed it down his pants and drove to the other bank he used, with the police officer kind enough to follow him.
Funny story, but he is definitely on a list of people that that bank will not do business with.
If a bank teller doesn't know that multiple pieces of government-issued identity documentation are a stronger form of authentication than insecure SMS, ask for a manager.
TOTP 2FA is more secure than SMS and it works on an offline iPod Touch. There are also VOIP-based SMS services.
> If a bank teller doesn't know that multiple pieces of government-issued identity documentation are a stronger form of authentication than insecure SMS, ask for a manager.
Do you have hopes that the manager would have a different opinion?
In my technological bottom feeder journey, for a while I had a Blackberry Curve (don't recall model number) that had cost me a kingly $2 at a garage sale.
It was literally curvaceous. Super pleaseant to handle, everything about its design was perfect. Even the default "email arrived" sound was so melodious that I wish I had a sample of it to use on my Android phone now. The only problem was, without BB service, it was unstable. The data connection would just silently "pause" leaving you with no email delivery to the (aftermarket) email client. And the keyboard was miles better than any touchscreen keyboard.
My next find was an old Xperia X1, the one with the slide-out keyboard. That was a neat device, even if WinCE was an awful mobile OS - at least the data connection stayed up and emails got delivered.
After that, Windows Mobile 8 for a while which was actually great. Three technological dead ends before finally going mainstream.
The Curve 9320 is the best phone experience I've ever had in my life. It fell short on web, but at the time I didn't care. BB10 phones that came later were more of a swiss army knife adapted to modern needs, but they felt somewhat more sluggish.
Ah, I miss it so much. Adding to the conversation on touchscreen keyboards, yes I know that technically they can be faster but the frustration of dealing with auto-correct and miss-typing constantly ends up being a slower, more frustrating experience. There was no better typing experience than my BB.
Still today, I don't use the phone much except for SMS and core productivity stuff. Mind you, I have the benefit of working at a computer.
I am always torn when I read posts like this. On one hand, I have very mixed feelings about smartphones. It alarms me that we have become so intensely dependent on a device that is so new. I have vivid memories of navigating the world without Google Maps and not feeling constantly tethered to a device.
On the other hand, these posts often feel incredibly precious, like the author has an unbelievable amount of free time to waste. It's similar to the feeling I get when I meet someone with an old-timey handlebar mustache. It's hard not to roll my eyes.
Where exactly are you accounting for wasted time? On navigation? On posting about not having a smartphone? The amount of time saved not having a smartphone (interacting with the internet using a computer [keyboards, adblockers, multiple screens, user vs owner dynamics]) outweighs any extra costs in my opinion. Navigating around town becomes second nature once you stop receiving turn by turn directions from Google-et-al. The only argument I've ever heard of that rings true is not having access to ride shares (ironicly named to boot).
You can have adblockers on your phone, too. On both Android and iOS. (I haven't investigated eg Windows phones.)
> Navigating around town becomes second nature once you stop receiving turn by turn directions from Google-et-al.
Depends on how big your town is and how frequently you go around in it.
I typically don't receive turn-by-turn instructions where I live; I guess they only really make sense for someone who uses a car? That's not very common here.
> I have vivid memories of navigating the world without Google Maps and not feeling constantly tethered to a device.
I'd still advise people to navigate without relying on Google or Apple Maps, not for nostalgia or "live in the moment", but because navigation softs are just not optimal[0] most of the time, especially for walking/biking.
Looking at the map and deciding your path yourself, checking only from time to time if you're on the path you chose or to check the landmarks is to me a way better experience.
I wonder if there's OSM apps that let the user draw a route and only notify when they substancialy deviate or at checkpoints they set.
[0] Outside of finding the actual shortest path, you probably have preferences on walking larger or narrower streets, less or more car traffic, better lighting at night, have nearby options to enter a cafe when you need to etc.
