Get with the Times: These 9 Devices Might Be a Waste of Your Money

[Experimentongod]

Guys... read the closing line before jumping the gun: "Keep in mind that, despite our griping, there will still be reasons to purchase some of these items. But FOR THE AVERAGE TECH JOE, avoiding them might be easier than you think — resulting in some extra cash in your bank to spend elsewhere."

Average Joes and Janes can get away with using their smartphone for everything. Of course us power users are still going to use real Blu-ray discs (extras, quality), real cameras (quailty), real flash drives (speed and convenience), real mp3 players (audio quality), high end desktops (gaming) and real alarm clocks (for a number of reasons).

As I said, a lot of "basic users" are moving away from dedicated hardware and using their new shiny smartphones for everything. Average guys love streaming services and using one device for everything even if it hurts the quality of the experience tremendously.

 

[DDG4005]

I've watched many of the DVDs and Blu-rays in my collection multiple times (I don't have TV service and don't use Netflix or Hulu) so they aren't going anywhere. In my opinion only a fool would rely on so-called "cloud" storage services like Dropbox exclusively instead of using a flash drive or even a portable hard drive.

Desktops? Really, you're going there? No way will I ever give up my boxes since I do everything on them (gaming, watch movies, Internet surfing, etc). Sorry but I think the author needs to rethink this list.

 

[Guest]

Blu ray: better quality and extras and I only buy movies that I watch more than once

GPS: no need for cellular access, no battery drain, endure the sun while being on the windshield better

MP3 Player: no cellphone sounds as good as my 32gb Sony Walkman Series X, also no phone battery drain

Flash Drives: Thanks to the NSA I'm not uploading ANY of my stuff to the cloud, thank you very much

Desktop PC: are you joking? you are suggesting here, IN FREAKIN TECHSPOT, to not upgrade desktop pcs? lol

 

[amstech]

Flashdrives and BluRay discs will be around for a long time. Cloud solutions are still terrible/work in progress ways to save your data, your banking on that company being around for awhile among other things. I am not trusting my $25 purchase to some cloud or hard drive that last 3 years. Especially not vital medical data.

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/451885-is-cloud-dead-no-trust-at-all

USB 3.0/flashdrives will be around for atleast another decade. Some new types of blu rays discs hold sh!t-tons of data, have no moving parts, will last forever and are hard to scratch. Not to mention, many people like to collect things. I love my physical collection of blurays even though I understand 99% of them are upscaled and remastered DVD's.

 

[Guest]

As soon as I get all excited about the nice new look of the website, this crappy article bubbles up from a clogged toilet...

I would much rather have a reliable GPS than use my phone,

I am sick and tired of "PC IS DEAD" crapspatter

My phone has failed to bring up my morning alarm due to software glitches and other "gremlins". Get a new phone? Maybe, but my $7 alarm clock will stay on my nightstand, thank you.

THROW ALL YOUR STUFF IN TEH CLOUD OMGZ!!!! Flash drives are a waste eh? Whatever.

This is just another turd in the fine tradition of clickbait. "Get with the times" and write something worthwhile.

 

[Guest]

A humble Ninteodo DS provides a far better experience than rubbing oily fingers all over some virtual button on an iPhone screen.

So tired of this drivel.

 

[yukka]

Hehe good article to start a "discussion"

I use tomtom on my iPhone as it's gps and doesn't need connection to data. It's much better for driving than google or apple maps.

Blurays are better quality than streaming or tv HD. Watch The Lord if the rings and compare to a streamed version. There's a difference. Or game of thrones. That blood and gurgling is too real

And I just bought an alarm clock 2 days ago because having my phone which receives work and associated emails and social stuff etc is awful for getting good quality sleep. I'm sleeping I a different room to my phone when it arrives.

 

[Nobina]

I don't agree with flash drives. They are better than cloud.

 

[DelJo63]

Guys & Gals; The marketing types always dream big and want 100% of the product market. From the responses above, you can see that the MARKET determines success, not the MBA marketing VP.

I'll note my choices:
* No photographer would use a smartphone as his/her first choice - - there's just not enough aperture shutter control to get great pics.
* No hiker would rely upon cell access in the wilderness
* With > 300 dvd+vsh movies in our collect, steaming is not an option and yet, yes we do access Netflix from time to time
* I took a flash drive to a friend to use some tools in virus removal just yesterday
* I dare any student to write the term paper on a smartphone - - lots of luck.

Look on the bright side - - good participation on this topic :grin:

 

[Guest]

You're a Tech web company and review many PC products, and yet you include the PC in the same category. I find it hard to believe.

 

[theBest11778]

I just spent $200 on a GPS 2 days ago. There are MANY reasons they're superior to a smart phone app. Mine was I need to input 20-30 addresses at once, and have them routed for the shortest time for work. Not to mention I can answer my and still have the GPS in front of me if need be. For mom and dad, and simple point A to point B trips, sure a phone would work, but for anyone who needs one for long distance travel, or routing options, or the ability to actually find a restaurant that's not 10 miles away, stand alone GPS is still the best way to go.

DVD/Blurays... I can kind of agree. For technically savvy people the future are media servers, not streaming. You can backup your collection easily enough (although time consuming,) and save them in whatever format/quality you prefer. I keep bluray rips at 10mbit, which is much higher than Netflix or any other streaming service. I actually like surround sound for every title. And the BEST media streaming clients surprisingly are Bluray players. The PS3 doesn't support MKVs, X360 supports almost nothing, XBO and PS4 have 0 streaming capabilities. IPhone MP4 w/ AAC only. Sony BDplayer streams every media type I throw at it with bitstreamed audio. Can't beat it.

 

[Guest]

Last night I replaced my toaster, blender and even my straight-razor with a smartphone!!

I couldn't be happier!

Next is to replace my coffee table with Google Glass.


Get with the times, people!

 

[Polaco]

Agree on some, disagree on others...

If you do much traveling a stand alone GPS is far superior to some battery sucking crappy cellphone app.

totally agree! is terrible when you find yourself in the middle of road or abroad and dont have connection, map caching from google app sucks a lot.
I think nokia's phones maps app works way better in this scenarios.
Nokia maps seems more useful to use without connection and this would be a plus when considering my next device, now I have an android phone.

 

[Guest]

Clickbait.

I expect it at Yahoo and Weather.com, but not Techspot. You guys are better than this.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

The purpose of the article being published on TechSpot was to hear you out and have some reactions, hence the word "might" on the title.

Having that said, I've also made an adjustment to controversial #7, the desktop PC, which now reads "(Mainstream) Desktop PC"...

As you know at TechSpot we live and swear by our multi-monitor setups, but this is more about the family PC years being over.

It angers me to no end when I keep hearing people repeat this over and over. "The desktop PC is dead. The desktop PC is dead." Sounds like a broken record. More about "family PC years"? What does that even mean? It sounds like some phrase you pulled out of your hat just to keep #7 on the list. "Family PC years"? LOL. Oh man.

*sigh*. When I can pull a scroll out of my back pocket that unfolds into a 32" 4K UHD monitor/screen and hang it on the wall at my dentist office I'll be happy living in a mobile only world.

Tell me something Franco, do you gather the wife and kids together on the weekends and pack up your tent and fishing poles to go camping in the woods. And then all gather round your 7" mobile phone in the tent to stream the latest HD movie? Is the mobile phone new the center of 'family' entertainment. The new Nexus of bonding with your children(Oh God, now I now why Google choose that name).

Please excuse me, once again, while I vomit. I can "accept" that most people prefer living in a mobile world, I guess. But what makes mE wanna hang myself is hearing that it will completely consume the desktop PC. What does that even mean anymore? Is the latest Intel NUC a mobile product or a desktop PC? What do you say Franco? No one can be happy with just saying the desktop PC market has shrunk. Nope, its article like this predicting the end of the world. Were all gonna die. The PC is dead!!!!!!!!

.

I wonder if the smartphone will eventually make homes with foundations obsolete, yes? Yes!!! I think so, because who wants to ever stay in one place. If I own a smartphone why the hell would I wanna go home to the same bed, same house every night. I will become a gypsy. Come on people, get with the times!!!! As Franco says, "Get with the times people!!!" Sell your 4000 square foot home before the next smartphone renders that dwelling obsolete. Oh God, hurry, hurry!!!!!!

click....click....click...

 

[Polaco]

I really think this article is almost useless...

 

[Guest]

Coming to Techspot and seeing this is like watching Top Gear, expecting what's new with autos and then hearing Jeremy Clarkson tell us all that driverless pods are what we should all be excited for.

 

[SirGCal]

#2 -- Sorry, but even with TWC Turbo 30/5M, I can't stream real HQ connections... Come 19:00, internet drops to a CRAWL and you couldn't stream ultra-low bitrates. And that's just outside a very major metro area. But TWC being the only game in town, they have no reason to fix it and it's "working as intended".

So I have a giant BR/DVD collection and I do watch them many many times. Working from home I always have something playing in the background and I can burn through a whole season of something in one day easily.

#7 - Another no... Using them for work obviously I'll upgrade about every 6 months. And I'm one of the few. But I also play games on the same after hours and have many multiple units in the house. However they have many other uses over playing games and checking email. I have 4 HTPCs in the house for example. While not highest-end, I'm not paying TWC their $10 rental fee for their set-top boxes per month. Dumping them all together soon for OTA units which the PCs also work great for. And that's the point, they do more then just the one tiny thing some firmware lets them do.

 

[Reachable]

Do you really want to have a smart phone, turned on, next to your head every night? People who are dismissive of any possible dangers are rationalizers far more than those who mention those dangers are alarmists.

A battery-powered alarm clock is a far more reliable and healthful device for that purpose.

 

[Row1]

I tried to "Cloud" thing with music. I got a Kindle, thinking I was really "hip" and "with it," like you young kids. It took forever to upload some hour-long mix files. The stream was jumpy once uploaded. It is easier to have the actual mp3 stored on my HD, and just double-click it. Done.

Cloud: I was using "yousendit." They changed to "highpoint." And incurred a million negative comments about how yousendit worked great, and how highpoint had problems.

Having the need, I asked Techspot people for a good online file storage site that would allow me to designate certain people to have access to certain drives. I did not get any clear answer from anyone. I had to explore, and so far have been happy with box.com. --Until they go and mess things up like yousendit did.

So, I do not yet feel there is a long-term reliable cloud storage option.

Death of the desktop:
Yes, a desktop has way more comuting capacity than most of us need. Is a tablet or laptop a solution? Yes. As long as you don't mind the slow-as-a-snail start-up and wake-up.

I like a fast desktop so the thing will boot quickly, open programs quickly, save quickly, etc.

Once a lite computer does these things quickly, I will forget about having and over-powered desktop.

 

[Guest]

The alarm clock one made me chuckle.

So everything has an alarm clock built-in now... Maybe every other device shouldn't try to do every other devices job, and rather let something designed to do that job very well do the work now and then?

 

[Railman]

The purpose of the article being published on TechSpot was to hear you out and have some reactions, hence the word "might" on the title.

Having that said, I've also made an adjustment to controversial #7, the desktop PC, which now reads "(Mainstream) Desktop PC"...

As you know at TechSpot we live and swear by our multi-monitor setups, but this is more about the family PC years being over.

I am wondering what this mythical family looks like. Clearly nothing like my family. My first thought on reading the article was that an internet troll had written the article

Smart phones are clearly multifunctional but like many multifunctional devices they are a compromise so do not perform as well as seperate devices. For example a smartphone is no replacement for a decent hifi system.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Agree on some, disagree on others...

If you do much traveling a stand alone GPS is far superior to some battery sucking crappy cellphone app.

Some phones just have a really bad implementation. If you have a car charger, battery life isn't a problem.

Flash drives? You tried to transport 30+GB using the cloud? We have sub 1mbit upload speeds here in Australia. Cloud isn't going to take off for best part of a decade because of the political rubbish going on.

Point and shoot cameras - a phone with a 41 megapixel is pretty worthless. A decent lens is a lot more valuable than some high mpixel sensor. Granted Nokia does have better lens but others do not.

 

[FLWrd]

A lot has been said, but the "your phone replaces all" attitude is a bit exaggerated.
3. Point and shoot cameras, perhaps, but a 41Mpixel camera in a phone housing is just overdoing it.
4. Flash drives: you'll have to pry my superfast mucho GB USB drive from my dead hands. They're useful for many more things than just copying a file or two, and much faster.
5. MP3 players. I've got a 160GB iPod Classic almost fully loaded with lossfree compressed music, as a backup of my music collection that in majority still is on CD, and that is going to come with me until it breaks. And it sounds better than my phone.
9. A phone as alarm? I want my phone as far away from me as possible at night. Plus I like to wake up to the news and a bit of music, not to one of those dreary ring tones.

 

[DelJo63]

Someone ought to forward all this to Apple, Samsung and Google :chuckle: