I’ve been very stressed lately and have been doing some window shopping to calm down. I’m interested in gadgets, but a lot of things can just be replaced with apps. I realize a phone won’t replace very large appliances like refrigerators or washing machines so I’m trying to scope my question to portable devices. So what are some portable devices or gadgets that their specialization hasn’t been replaced by smart phone apps? Extra points if they’re super useful and reliable.
Oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrometers.
Scissors
- smartwatch
- e-reader
But from your description maybe you need a gadget related hobby. How about home automation? It’s not just multiple gadgets but having fun with what they can do together. You can do anything from dip your toes in to going all out
Vicegrips. Wirestrippers. A light screwdriver with common bits carried on its handle like a Sidewinder. Rake lockpick. SDR. Elevator key. Punch. File. Multimeter. Multitool with good pliers. Crank radio. Survival guide. Poncho. Silver exposure blanket. Fire starters. Multihammer thing. MREs. Good flashlight. Beater laptop like an old x200. Serial console adapter. Flares. Camping stove. Throw it all in a bugout bag after you learn how to use them.
My hands.
Best way to calm down would be to look into minimalism.
Pagers for Hospitals.
To be clear: Hospitals use pagers because they use a longer (and much lower bandwidth) wavelength, which is affected less by things like thick fire-resistant walls. Hospitals are built like bunkers so that things like fires don’t require the entire building to be evacuated. Pagers can still reliably get signal even in the basement of a hospital, when behind multiple fire-resistant walls and solid concrete floors. Texting has effectively replaced pagers for 99% of the population. But hospitals still use them because reliability is prioritized in the medical world; No hospital wants to lose a patient because a doctor was in the basement and didn’t get a text.
Paper and pencil: an analog data storage medium immune to power outages, data costs, EMPs, and remote surveillance.
bro, they can litterally listen to your pencil strokes through the walls man.
Most people don’t need to worry about the NSA listening to them write down stuff.
Nice try fbi guy
What about the CIA though?
They can listen to your thoughts man
Even if I pull out all my teeth?
Checkmate CIA!
Honestly most of the non digital functions of a phone are still inferior to it’s dedicated counterparts, but I would argue that a phone is good enough for 99% of people.
So get a pocket multitool thingy, I always carry one in my bag and it has helped me quite a few time in my life.
Which multi tool? I carry a Benchmade bugout knockoff and a genuine Leatherman skeletool, ifixit Minnow screwdriver set and a generic basic screwdriver with small/large Philips and flathead in my work bag. Oh and a small adjustable wrench… Covers 95% of my work.
Yeah, the issue with multi tools is the same issue with phones; They’re mediocre at a lot of different things. A dedicated multi-bit screwdriver will almost always be better than a multitool. A solid pair of pliers will almost always be better than a multitool. Et cetera, et cetera…
But in a pinch, a multitool is better than nothing. And a multitool is a hell of a lot easier to carry as a “just in case” thing than an entire toolbox of individual tools. As a freelancer I habitually keep a lot of tools in my trunk, but I don’t want to walk all the way out to my car just to tighten one screw. So I also keep a multitool around as a “good enough” solution.
Jeez, nice!
I have this thing from victorinox:
Wilderness beacon. Rarely any signal out there. Yes you can an arm and a leg for special service though
I know some phones are starting to work with satellite comms, so these may be replaced by cell phones in the near future. At least currently, I have several friends who still have wilderness beacons.
They’ll never replace PLB/EPIRBs unless they bake in 406Mhz and 121.5Mhz communication. Satellite devices aren’t reliable enough for SAR. I’d even argue that they won’t replace Satellite Communicators - battery life isn’t good enough and the connection stability isn’t good enough
Video games. At least for me. Mobile games suck.
I just emulate things nowadays. I have pretty much the entire NES, SNES, GBC, GBA, N64, NDS, and PSX libraries on my phone ready to go. And it works perfectly fine with any Bluetooth controller, because touchscreen controls are… Well… Complete fucking garbage.
I’m currently playing through the NDS version of Chrono Trigger in my free time. And since all of the games are stored locally, it doesn’t use any data at all. I recently went camping for a week, and my iPad lasted like 7 or 8 hours of playtime (on low brightness because I was in a tent at night) off of a single charge.
What app do you use?
That’s why I bought a 3DS :)
Have you seen trimui, abernic, etc. products
Yeah, I had one of these cheap retro handhelds, but I lost it somehow. I have been thinking about getting another one, but for now I am either using 3DS or RetroArch on my smartphone.
I think a ds lite is still the best value in gaming although the prices have gone up in the past few years. You can get a decent bundle with games and accessories for $50 plus theres those sd card cartdridges for it and you can play gba cartdriges. Battery life is unfathomable and they’re pretty durable
plus theres those sd card cartdridges for it
If you’re willing to get a flashcart for your NDS, you might as well just get a 3DS and load up some custom firmware instead. It’s stupid easy to hack with the SD card slot, and you can play whatever games you want for free. No need to fiddle with flashcarts when you can just use the 3DS’ built in SD card slot instead.
Early in the mobile gaming world, it was looking like mobile games would catch up with consoles within a few years, but then Angry Birds made more money than anyone ever imagined with half thr effort, and then Clash of Clans did the same thing again, and suddenly the idea of working hard and making a good mobile game seemed like a silly waste of time.
If you haven’t experimented with roms and emulators yet, many old school games play great on a smartphone. The biggest downside is the touchscreen controls overlay will never compare to an actual controller, but it’s close enough that it’s… well, close enough.
Nintendo’s entire library from their inception as a company through all of their N64 content is a grand total of like 20gb, the vast majority of which being N64. Roms from previous console/handheld games are tiny.
No idea what the current best emulators are; for the games, drop into places like thepiratebay and search for things like “SNES Romset” for the entire library.
Use a VPN. Yar.
There are also fan run repositories of games hosted through Myrient and the Internet Archive if you just want some specific titles or need a particular version for patching.
For emulation, personally I like RetroArch over individual emulators for simplicity. Can recommend SameBoy & Gambatte for GB+GBC, mGBA for GBA, melonDS DS for NDS, & Snes9x for SNES. All are accurate (so not likely to make a game bug out) & run fine on my midrange phone.
The touch controls work fine for games where timing/precision matters less, and for the rest I just use a BT controller. Xbox & PS ones are compatible, I believe, & there are some great quality 3rd party ones (like 8bitDo) out there.
play great on a smartphone.
Physical controls are a necessity for retro games. Get a Miyoo Mini Plus or equivalent. They make retro games playable.
Sbcgaming or whatever its called is a good sub for that, handheld gaming has taken off, its gotten solid, you could also android phone with any of the controller cases, I just dont game as much or id be into them
You can get a controller for any smartphone out there. Also RPG’s play fine with touch controls, that’s how I played Pokémon games with no issues.
I know that iPhone supports pretty much any Bluetooth controller.
Joycons, PS4/5 controller, and Xbox controllers all work great on it.
Be careful with Xbox controllers if you’re using Bluetooth. Microsoft only started including Bluetooth in their controllers in the last few years. The Xbox consoles all the way from the 360 actually use 2.4GHz (same band as WiFi) instead.
That’s part of why Xbox controllers are so much bigger and heavier than things like the PlayStation controllers; The 2.4GHz circuitry and antenna takes a lot more space than Bluetooth does.
If you’re going to get an Xbox controller for Bluetooth, at least look up how to identify which models have Bluetooth built in.
Physical controls are significantly better, but not strictly necessary. The kicker is needing to press 3+ buttons at the same time, like in Mario 64 pressing forward to run, Z to slide, and A to jump is a PITA on touchscreen.
I’ve played through Mario 64, Zelda OOT and Zelda MM all on touchscreen on mobile, and it’s -again- good enough. It scratches the nostalgia itch. But 100%, if you have a bluetooth controller or something, use it.
Totally agree. The only game I play on my phone is Balatro.
Agreed. I play Scopa sometimes. That’s it.
I carry a spare usb stick and some low-capacity microsd cards, because sometimes its just easier to hand someone a file the old fashioned way.
Sometimes I do play games on my phone, but whenever possible I use a usb or bluetooth gamepad, because touchscreens aren’t supplanting buttons any time soon.
And of course the Steam Deck is my favorite gizmo, not just because it can run every PC and emulator game, but also because it doesn’t have any bullshit preventing me from installing mods. If phone modding was easy and accessible i’d be willing to spend more on a phone.
I’m posting these separately so people can argue about specific devices.
A calculator is still better than a phone in a lot of cases. I haven’t yet met a financial advisor who uses their phone instead of a calculator. It’s often the same issue as with keyboards: touch screens are simply vastly inferior to tactile keys. Few people are willing to carry keyboards around with them, but for those who use calculators a lot, for many it’s worth having a portable, dedicated device.
Yeah definitely, I use an HP-49 emulator on my phone for like whenever I want to do just some quick calculation or only have my phone, but I always have an actual HP-49 in my bag because just having real buttons is so much nicer even if everything else is the same
RPN gang taking over
Technically the 49 is algebraic by default but I don’t think I’ve done a single operation in that mode
I did machining inspection for a while and would be dealing constantly with hundreds of data points. Using the table functions on my TI-84 was a godsend. Everyone was writing answers down and transcribing when I joined.
Pocket knife. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a phone case out there with a box-knife-like insert for a razor blade.
…infact, brb.
Please send pics of “Knife Phone”.
Well fuck me, turns out not only does it exist, but there are quite a few options!
There’s this dude, which tries to be an entire Swiss army knife. Buyers pretty consistently complain about the build quality though.
This one has a sheath for a removable knife:
And this one uses the mechanism I had envisioned when I was typing my original post, but uh… cuts a little differently than I had expected, and is ofc the clear winner:
My dumb ass would forget this is my phone case and try to go through TSA lol
Fuck yeah! Knife Phone and Fuck You Phone!
Professional work tools come to mind. Laser measures, camera gear, flashlights, 3D scanners, calculators, etc. Sure, there are apps that offer the same functions, but they usually lack the precision and reliability expected from professional tools. There are also some great gaming devices (such as the Analogue Pocket) that probably offer a better experience over gaming on a smartphone.
