New York Times gives us advice on things we can throw out during spring gadget cleaning:
POINT-AND-SHOOT CAMERA Lose it. Yes, a dedicated camera will probably take a better picture than the small lens and image sensor of a smartphone, but it will not be that much better. And a point-and-shoot has limitations of its own. It is hard to share photos until you have transferred them to your computer, and there are no apps for cameras, as there are for smartphones, that allow you to quickly apply cool filters and treatments to the shots you took. Perhaps most important, a camera may or may not be close by when a photo-worthy moment arises, but it’s very likely that your phone will.
DIGITAL MUSIC PLAYER Lose it (probably). Do you have a smartphone? Then you have a music player. Why load yourself down with an extra gadget? Apple popularized the music player with its iPod, but when was the last time you saw that iconic white box with the dial on the front? Music is data, and many multifunction devices can handle it along with many other kinds of data (like video, e-mail and apps). The one exception may be if you enjoy music while exercising. In that case, a tiny player like the $49 iPod Shuffle might be a better accessory than a larger, heavier smartphone.
GPS UNIT Lose it. The least expensive GPS units cost around $80. But your smartphone can do the same thing, if not more, for half that price, or even free. Android smartphones already have Google’s turn-by-turn navigation app built in. And earlier this month, Googleannounced that the company would be including live and historical traffic data in route planning, so you hopefully get to where you are going faster.
I continue to argue that smartphones are not good replacements to dedicated cameras for so many reasons. iPhones already die too fast. Why use the battery more by playing music? Besides, I hate the iPod app for iOS devices. Touch is terrible. I miss the days of pocket changing songs and pocket changing volumes. I had bringing the iPhone out of my pocket and unlocking to change songs. I have headphones that have a button now but still, the click wheel was a feature I wish we still had. It’s also why I still use my iPod classic every day. Finally, lose your GPS device? Aside from my employer that happens to make these, they also make an iPhone app. It’s phenomenal! However, nothing betas the ease of use and capabilities of a dedicated GPS unit. I have the iPhone app and dedicated piece and prefer that to the app. I want to do stuff on my phone and can’t do that when it’s locked into a car cradle giving turn by turn directions.
Of all of the things that New York Times decided to pick on, they say you should keep this:
BOOKS Keep them (with one exception). Yes, e-readers are amazing, and yes, they will probably become a more dominant reading platform over time, but consider this about a book: It has a terrific, high-resolution display. It is pretty durable; you could get it a little wet and all would not be lost. It has tremendous battery life. It is often inexpensive enough that, if you misplaced it, you would not be too upset. You can even borrow them free at sites called libraries.
So throw away your desktop computer, iPod, Canon point & shoot, GPS device and alarm clock but keep your books?
C’mon New York Times. Also, you charged me to read this piece. Double-lame.
If you follow NY Times advice, you’ve saved about 3 pounds from your life while still toting around 2 tons worth of books. Their spring cleaning priorities are WAY off. Also, I love it when a friend loses their phone and says, “Dude, I lost my GPS device, camera, phone, iPod, tablet, news reader, alarm clock and even my calculator today!”