I Kill Before I Kill Again
Cisco's recent announcement that it was closing its Flip mini-camcorder business got us thinking. It'south pretty articulate that today's smartphones, with their excellent HD video cameras, are partly to blame for the Flip's demise. Only how many other consumer products and services–digital or analog–are being killed off past the large, bad smartphone?
We've assembled a list of likely victims here. If you lot know of other smartphone-induced casualties, delight tell us in the Comments section–or contact your local constabulary enforcement regime. Let's start with the most obvious victims…
MP3 Players
When was the last time you carried a digital music player that couldn't practise a dozen other things, too? When Apple unveiled the original iPhone in 2007, the die was bandage: Portable audio devices incapable of doubling every bit gaming machines and Spider web browsers (see: iPod Touch) would slowly fade away. And the latest iPod Bear on, which includes FaceTime video chat, is essentially a Wi-Fi video phone itself. Yeah, the iPod Archetype is all the same around, but its days may be numbered. And though Apple continues to ring upwardly immense profits, its iPod business concern has been in reject for some time.
Portable Game Consoles
The Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP are still selling, but these portable game gadgets seem like relics from an era when people used prison cell phones strictly to make and receive calls. Today's smartphone, of course, is a gaming juggernaut: App stores for Apple tree and Android handsets offer tens of thousands of games. Then why carry effectually a separate game panel? And though console makers are stepping up their efforts, the smartphone guys are right there with them. Practise you crave a new Nintendo 3DS for spectacles-free 3D gaming? Well, 3D smartphones like the LG Thrill and HTC EVO 3D promise a similar thrill.
Indicate-and-Shoot Cameras
An inexpensive point-and-shoot like the $250 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V probably takes better pictures than your smartphone. Merely earlier long, the humble phone camera will match or surpass the photographic prowess of its indicate-and-shoot brethren. The latest handsets–in detail, the iPhone iv–capture crisp, articulate images that many users consider suitable for scrapbooks and slideshows. Pretty soon, y'all'll park the signal-and-shoot in the closet for good.
Personal Video Players
Remember Archos'south lineup of portable media players? How virtually Apple's iPod Video 5th Generation? Both were built for video and sound consumption, two capabilities that have since migrated to the jack-of-all-trades smartphone. And today'due south plus-size handsets, such as the HTC ThunderBolt–with loftier-resolution, iv-inch-or-larger displays and 4G data speeds capable of handling Hard disk drive video streaming–are the final nail in the bury. The stand-alone portable media player is a goner.
Voice Recorders
"Note to self: Buy jacket with actress pockets to hold voice recorder, PDA, prison cell phone…" That's a voice memo from my digital recorder, circa 2001. Okay, not really–merely my point is that stand up-alone voice recorders were yet another digital device to comport effectually. No wonder they've gone the mode of the PDA (see below). Dirt-cheap recorders such as the $29 Sony ICD-BX800 and the $54 Olympus VN-8100PC persist, but a smartphone with an app similar the free RecForge Free (for Android) or the $2 Vocalisation Record (for iPhone) is the sensible choice for any pocket-challenged gadget lover.
Portable GPS Navigation Devices
Why buy a carve up GPS device for your car when your smartphone can perform the same tasks? Portable navigation hardware from major GPS players such as Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom are have grown more powerful and more affordable, simply GPS-enabled smartphones deliver like functionality. Interestingly, GPS vendors may exist contributing to the demise of their portable devices by offering apps similar Garmin'southward StreetPilot, which provides turn-by-turn directions for smartphone users. Hey, if you tin't beat 'em, join 'em.
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
It manages your contacts! It has a to-do listing! Information technology tracks expenses! Yes, the PDA was a handy contrivance back in the day when a 25-pound desktop PC and a 50-pound CRT monitor seemed welded to every workstation. Merely as cellphones began to acquire PDA capabilities in 2001, it became obvious that the phoneless digital assistant'southward days were numbered. Today, the term "PDA" sounds as anachronistic every bit "Pocket PC." Then again, today's smartphones are pocket PCs, aren't they?
Wristwatch
Always see a twenty-something rocking a wristwatch as a necessity, rather than every bit a fashion accessory? Probably not. The smartphone has become the 21st Century pocket lookout, while the wristwatch has become, well, your male parent's timepiece. This may change, however, if tech-savvy watchmakers succeed in rekindling consumer interest in the arm-ready timekeeper. In fact, the wristwatch's resurgence may already exist underway, at least in some geek circles. Sony introduced an Android-based wristwatch last yr, and some clever techies accept managed to turn the multitouch iPod Nano into a watch.
Paper Maps
When'due south the terminal time you lot bought a newspaper map? Do you still employ them? A smartphone devotee may unfold a map every at present and so, but just as a navigational tool of final resort. Mobile map apps from Google, MapQuest, and Bing provide directions, satellite images, and search tools that paper can't match. But it's wise to keep a paper map on hand equally a fill-in, especially if you're driving in an area where wireless signals are weak. And GPS mapping tools have been known to give bad directions every in one case in a while.
411 Directory Help
A recent New York Times article lamented the lost art of the telephone call, just what about the 411 phone call? A savvy smartphone user is more than likely to access free online tools such as Google'south vocalisation search than to make a traditional directory-assistance call. Old habits dice hard, however. According to a Snopes.com from Oct 2010, U.South. consumers were still placing near 6 billion calls to 411 services per twelvemonth, even though phone companies had switched to charging $one or more per call. Nevertheless, the directory assistance of the future seems likely to be automatic, online, and (maybe) free.
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Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/490529/10_tech_gadgets_killed_by_smartphones.html
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