Is the smartphone the greatest/most significant invention of

[Thankyou4calling]

Just pondering.

The motor car is often cited but goodness me the Smartphone has come from nowhere in a few years to become an absolute necessity for most of the worlds population.

For better or worse it's right up there I'd say.

Any thoughts?

[MitchT]

What would be a great invention is if the mods didn't move topics into a forum area about "Computers, Gadgets & Stuff" when clearly it's a cultural discussion, not a gadget discussion.

[Ziplobb]

Interesting question but the breech loading repeating firearm for a significant portion of the worlds population in the later 19th century was just as game changing

[MikeM6]

It has provided the world with easy access to information, yet sadly not the wisdom to use it or even recognise what it is.

A hugely significant invention, and one that makes me wonder what the next totally unforseen invention is.

[RichFN2]

It has to be up there, some of the flagship smartphones have good enough camera sensors where not only are the photos good quality but the videos are good enough for vlogging in 4k with image stabilisation, HDR etc.

They are also handy for watching videos and games when travelling, surfing the net, MP3 player and Google pay makes online shopping easier and no need to get your wallet out with NFC.

Mine is also my satnav and diary/calendar/planner. I would be lost without mine.

[Sporky]

Antibiotics.

Or possibly soap.

[jameswills]

Would never have existed if it wasn’t for the financial crisis and free money thereafter. Buying a £1000 trinket just wasn’t possible for the masses until the money printing happened. It’s something we never needed, now peddled as something we can’t do without.

So no.

[Kermit power]

jameswills said:

Would never have existed if it wasn’t for the financial crisis and free money thereafter. Buying a £1000 trinket just wasn’t possible for the masses until the money printing happened. It’s something we never needed, now peddled as something we can’t do without.

So no.

How is that any different to cars, computers, televisions, washing machines, etc, etc???

My smartphone lets me work from pretty much anywhere with a signal. I've seen far more of my kids growing up than my own father ever could, to name just one particularly important benefit, and that £1,000 price tag?

I save that three times over in commuter train fares alone in the 3 years I'll keep a phone before handing it down to one of my kids and getting a new one.

[jameswills]

If you have a job that you can do solely on your smartphone, you don't have a real job.

[Baldchap]

The transistor is the fundamental building block for all modern electronic devices, without which the smartphone, internet hardware it requires to be of any use whatsoever, and servers it accesses would not exist.

Without a whole bunch of other pre-existing, prerequisite technologies, the smartphone is utterly dumb.

So my answer is no, the smartphone isn't particularly significant. It's a bunch of stuff that already existed packaged together. Its development was absolutely inevitable and entirely predictable.

[jameswills]

Baldchap said:

The transistor is the fundamental building block for all modern electronic devices, without which the smartphone, internet hardware it requires to be of any use whatsoever, and servers it accesses would not exist.

Without a whole bunch of other pre-existing, prerequisite technologies, the smartphone is utterly dumb.

So my answer is no, the smartphone isn't particularly significant. It's a bunch of stuff that already existed packaged together. Its development was absolutely inevitable and entirely predictable.

Exactly this.

[YorkshireStu]

jameswills said:

If you have a job that you can do solely on your smartphone, you don't have a real job.

I'm a day trader (since 2021) using my phone and an app. My brother-in-law too, albeit better at it than I am and doing it for a lot longer; he cleared over £3m last year - not bad for working solely from his phone, eh? Not a real job though, innit? But...why have a 'real' job when you can sit on the beach with your phone and make millions? What mug would do a 9-5 for pittance down the pits or in an office?

Another vote for the mobile being a life-changing tool.

[jameswills]

YorkshireStu said:

I'm a day trader (since 2021) using my phone and an app. My brother-in-law too, albeit better at it than I am and doing it for a lot longer; he cleared over £3m last year - not bad for working solely from his phone, eh? Not a real job though, innit? But...why have a 'real' job when you can sit on the beach with your phone and make millions? What mug would do a 9-5 for pittance down the pits or in an office?

Another vote for the mobile being a life-changing tool.

You don't actually make anything, you're just adding numbers to a balance sheet. If say all power goes down, internet doesn't work or gets restricted for you, you have nothing. You don't contribute to society, you just make numbers. That's what I mean by a "real job".

[anonymous-user]

YorkshireStu said:

I'm a day trader (since 2021) using my phone and an app. My brother-in-law too, albeit better at it than I am and doing it for a lot longer; he cleared over £3m last year - not bad for working solely from his phone, eh? Not a real job though, innit? But...why have a 'real' job when you can sit on the beach with your phone and make millions? What mug would do a 9-5 for pittance down the pits or in an office?

Another vote for the mobile being a life-changing tool.

I am always interested in people that make a living from being day traders. How do you know what to invest in and how do you make money doing it when the majority of people lose money doing this sort of thing?

Do you have a Blomberg terminal?

If it was that easy wouldn't everyone be on the beach making millions while jabbing at the screen of their phone occasionally?

[lancslad58]

The Honda cub, over 100 million sold worldwide.


From webbikeworld https://www.webbikeworld.com/honda-super-cub-histo...
and possibly James May



[

“No other motorcycle in history has ever come close to the impact that the Super Cub had on one of the most populated parts of the planet. Within the decade, the entire culture of many countries shifted from being isolationist, separate villages and towns and maybe visiting a city once in a lifetime, to liberating untold millions of people to make a day trip to the big city and be back in town before the sun set. What had once been something that people had only read about happening in the “rich nations” like the UK, parts of Europe, and North America was now something very real in their own part of the world.”

[jameswills]

Joey Deacon said:

I am always interested in people that make a living from being day traders. How do you know what to invest in and how do you make money doing it when the majority of people lose money doing this sort of thing?

Do you have a Blomberg terminal?

If it was that easy wouldn't everyone be on the beach making millions while jabbing at the screen of their phone occasionally?

Because it's absolute nonsense. Only idiots would be builders, nurses, farmers, pilots, bus drivers, manufacturers.... they could all sit on a beach tapping on their phone.

Oh wait.... how would I get to that beach.... who would make my phone? Who would install my electricity?

[carlo996]

I'd say the PC trumps everything tbh.

[Seventy-Eight]

jameswills said:

Would never have existed if it wasn’t for the financial crisis and free money thereafter. Buying a £1000 trinket just wasn’t possible for the masses until the money printing happened. It’s something we never needed, now peddled as something we can’t do without.

So no.

You genuinely believe that the smartphone would not have existed without 2008 and gfc?.....

[YorkshireStu]

Joey Deacon said:

I am always interested in people that make a living from being day traders. How do you know what to invest in and how do you make money doing it when the majority of people lose money doing this sort of thing?

Do you have a Blomberg terminal?

If it was that easy wouldn't everyone be on the beach making millions while jabbing at the screen of their phone occasionally?

Separate subject but it's not as 'difficult' as it seems but does rely upon a lot of research - and by that I mean what's happening in the World. A lot depends what you focus upon. I like the entertainment industry, specifically cruise liner companies etc at the moment. I spend hours and hours researching.

Consider this: I put in $100k in NCLH on Monday (Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings) and only cashed in on Friday. I made $14k.

Ok, I rarely do that actually and do 'day trade' starting and concluding the same day. I don't do options. I am happy with small wins and don't hold out for very long at all. If it is green and has gone up, I sell. If red, don't panic. Don't sell. Sit on it. Sometimes it can be a week or two before it is back in the green but it always seems to get there eventually.

I'm not hijacking this thread so this is a tiny precis, lots more involved but yes, you can make good money day trading. You need to hold your nerve, not look for big profits and don't panic sell.

[jameswills]

Seventy-Eight said:

You genuinely believe that the smartphone would not have existed without 2008 and gfc?.....

Yeah, everything a smart phone has now was available to people who wanted it in the 90s and early 2000s. The crisis and massive money printing after just gave people money to burn and they were marketed upon to death to buy an iPhone. It was crazy. You had to live that time to appreciate it I suppose