5 gadgets that will be dead in 5 years

Lol i got 3 out of 5 )

I can remember building one of those from a kit when I was a kid. Now I AM dating myself. That was before Heathkit was around.

You still have to pay to play on your provider's data network. Not Free. You have nothing but work-arounds to avoid what are otherwise legitimate charges for legitimate services provided. Bully for you. Too much hassle for the average, non-technically inclined user. Gloat all you want... I know what I'm doing, and know what I'm getting from the services I obtain from my service provider. My facts are straight.

My provider in Canada does not require a plan, but it's 40 cents a KB if you use the phone without one for ad hoc usage. Not cheap!

Yep, there's no way we can opt out of data plan with AT&T if we use a smartphone. The only smartphone plan that I know that doesn't require data is t-mobile pay as you go prepaid plan. You can purchase data (Web Daypass) for $1.49 good for 24 hours.

This is another case of a situation that is only applicable to people that live in a covered area, but for those that are, the Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk plan @ $25/month for "unlimited data and text messages" and 300 minutes is attractive. Quotes were added around the unlimited aspect since I'm sure there is a threshold at which VM would throttle or cut off service. That said, unless you are tethering, which is not within the TOS, you would have a very tough time hitting that level of usage.

Overall, VM service has been acceptable recently, though earlier in the year their data network was overwhelmed with new users and outages were frequent. Check the Virgin Mobile USA web site for coverage in your area. Rural areas are likely to be outside of the data areas; most major interstate highways are covered, as well as larger cities.

I don't consider $25 reasonable for data for a smartphone. This is a new dedicated unit every year.

I 'like' the way they included text in that. Not... More BS to screw consumers.

Don't expect an answer, since he's utterly convinced smartphones are superior to dedicated GPS receivers. Remember his last attempt to "convert" the masses to his one true way?

While I've got it on my mind, I understand your concern regarding routers being built into cable boxes. But I'm not entirely convinced that the cable companies don't already have a window into our routers if they wanted it. So quite honestly it's no worse than now in my mind.

Sure. Those items will be alive, some as museum objects. But most people do have items they thought are irreplaceable and today are not even being used. Think of those cameras that many thought could never be matched by digital cameras. I also have printers I can no longer use because there are no drivers for them and they will not work with newer operating systems and manufacturers simply refuse to make drivers for them. One asked me to buy new printers when I have barely used the ones I bought before then. Some of these items can be forced away from the market if they are no longer made. Forced obsolescence will be the mode. I love my Garmins but Garmin would be deceiving itself if it thinks that that is the future. Even if we love those items to death, one day they will stop making them for the new wonders that will be the order of the day.

If they can get past a 32 character PW into my router (a D-Link), they're welcome to have at 'er... Oops! Damn, there's that SW firewall as well!

i hate to tell you guys this -- but youre both full of CRAP. get a gophone plan and tell at&t you own a cheapo phone. give your smartphone IMEI. i've had a nokia N8, a samsung innov8 and a ton of other smartphones on AT&T regular voice plans. i dont use data at all. my smartphone runs gmobileXT and it stores 16GB of maps directly in the phones memory. ive got 48GB on my nokia right now so thats plenty to hold all the music and maps for all of europe,NA, malaysia and most of asia that i need.
ive never had to pay for data for a smartphone on any provider i have used so far.

How eloquently put...

I wish they would go away. I get two new ones every year. To save printing costs, my local company reduced the font so small it can not be read without a magnifying glass. Their only purpose is an advertising medium.

I hate to tell you this, but by activating your non-GoPhone smartphone on a GoPhone plan, regardless of whether you use data or not you're violating the service agreement you entered into in purchasing the GoPhone. Surprisingly, it only takes one sentence in the service agreement to render your entire diatribe irrelevant.

Since you have to purchase a GoPhone in order to get a GoPhone plan, I guess you've just admitted to violating the service agreement.

There is only one smartphone legally allowed on a GoPhone plan, the LG Thrive. You MUST get a data plan if you get that phone. Which means those guys who are full of crap according to you are in fact right and it is you who are dead wrong.

Other than a basic lifeline type pre-paid plan, I have not found a cheaper alternative for a cell phone plan, smartphone or not. Do you have any recommendations that are a better value?

As a Canadian, I can't recommend a better plan for you, bud. Sorry. Maybe one of our guru's can though...

I also remember when they said pc's and internet was a fad and would pass.

As for the smartphone, my gps is still preferred for ease of use. Love my smartphone just not for navigating.

Oh, swammy what will become extinct?

Don't be so certain what you add ON TOP OF their operating system keeps you secure. More than a few years ago I was assigned the task of administering a new UNIX system and was given administrator access. Among the changes I made was to include several backdoor passwords with root level access for required processes. Went back to that system about 6 years later, and after several upgrades. The backdoors were still in place.

After reading about Cisco's decision to drop the Flip, it was only a matter of time that owners would get this email:

Thank you for your loyalty and support of Flip Video over the years. In light of Cisco’s recent announcement regarding the future of the Flip business, we wanted to address your questions related to FlipShare software.

FlipShare desktop and mobile software will continue to be functional and supported for 2 ½ years (until 12/31/2013). However, we want to let you know the following:

*

Friends and family can watch, download and save any video you have shared with them*
*

Starting May 12, 2011, videos shared with an individual, group, Flip Channel or Twitter will only be available online for viewing and downloading for up to 30 days after being sent (the 30-day limit will also apply to videos shared previously)
*

Videos shared on Facebook and YouTube as well as videos stored in FlipShare on your computer will not be impacted and do not have a 30-day limit

If/until the majority of American's have smartphone plans and coverage is 99% or better, I do not see the standalone GPS going away. I myself do not have a data plan, opting for public WiFi access which is readily available where I am. My carrier is T-Mobile and frankly with their upcoming absorption by AT&T, I have no desire to sign any contracts and get involved with the Death Star. Plus, there will always be some form of standalone GPS as people who hike and go into uninhabited areas will still have a need for them.

youre wrong. you dont need to buy a gophone or agree to any contract. you buy a SIM only, select the gophone prepaid plan and put chip in smartphone. thats it.
as far as violating the service agreement goes -- you arent on a contract. the worst they can do is shut off your service. any why would they do that ? AT&T doesnt care whether you use any smartphone or not on any of their plans if you arent on a contract. all they do is provide GSM voice service.

Interesting. I didn't think to check Amazon to see that the SIMs are available separately since the only AT&T SIM available on AT&T's website isn't specifically for a GoPhone account. Every place I've physically gone to, especially my local AT&T store, has only had the blister-packed phones and not the SIM card.

As for the violation of the service agreement, their service agreement for GoPhone is on the site. It's a pretty dull read. In any event I will accept your word on this, though I still have my doubts about purchasing the SIM alone since I haven't seen them available in an AT&T store.

As to AT&T not giving a damn whether you use a smartphone on a GoPhone plan or not, oh yes they do. Especially since they now offer a prepaid Android smartphone. If you're using a smartphone on a GoPhone plan and you do not have the associated data plan, which is required on all smartphones, when you get caught they will add the data plan. They already are planning to do that to iPhone users using the phone as a modem and using insane amounts of bandwidth every month. If they can determine who is tethering without having a tethering plan, they can determine who has a smartphone on a non-smartphone GoPhone plan, through the IMEI.

In the case of GoPhone, if you don't have enough available in your account to cover the balance after they add the data plan, the phone stops working until you do top up. I discovered this stuff regarding adding the data plan and the balance on AT&T's website, in researching my response to you.

Realistically, will they bother with you? Probably not. They have a bigger issue to deal with in iPhone and Android users tethering without paying.

It is interesting that the author sees how the small display of the ultra portables limits their usefullness but doesn't understand that the small display of a phone limits it's usefullness as a GPS device.

I think future developments also will play a role. It hurts GPSs that none of the providers has an interface as good as Googles for route planning. Offering three options up front with the miles and minutes for each is slick and much better than Garmin's "my way is the right way, trust me" approach.

It would really help stand along GPS providers to pay attention to the better features of the computer and phone app alternatives and not get behind. It would also really help if car manufacturers would team with the portable GPS providers so you could get a mount for your Garmin built into your new car, especially if it was such that you could swap it out when it became obsolete. I think Suzuki might have done something like this and BMW offers a mount for their portables which are re-branded Garmins for 1s and 3s. Other Garmins will snap on since it uses the normal ball mount (with some extra projections that are easily removed) but a little work would be required on the wiring for newer models.

Jim

The amount of processor power and programming play probably the key role in why you won't see this for some time in a PND, The processors are small, slow (in comparison) and lack the storage necessary to calculate multiple routes at one time. If the device were connected "to the cloud" then you would have to pay a service fee to access computers that do have the power and space to calculate multiple routes.

Unless ISP's stop the trend of capping bandwidth cd and dvd-rom's will still be needed. Some ISP's caps are as low as 200mb a month, much less than a cd-rom. Just downloading a dvd-rom would take close to a month of bandwidth.

Samsung's Mythic doesn't require a data plan, and is supported my AT&T.

The Mythic is a feature phone, not a smartphone. That is why you don't need a data plan on it.

iPhone, Motorola Droid, and the HTC HD7 are examples of smartphones.

I'm not so sure we'll be around, much less all the gadgets you mention. Much can happen in five years, and the fear that my GPS's might become a thing of the past certainly does not weigh on my mind, ergo, I'll enjoy them while I have them!

200 MB? Which ISP provides such a low cap? I need to make it a point to stay away from them as I do about 2 gigs a day.

Already nixed all on this list except the paper version of the newspaper. Just no need for them anymore.

You can add home phone to the list as well.

On the way to pick up my daughter from college, stopped to assist a motorist with car troubles -- in an area with zero cell phone coverage. My 2 meter ham radio still worked fine, and with help from folks on the other end, we got assistance rolling.

It's good to have a plan B...

Sony's cloud services are still dead. Amazon only lost "a little" customer data.

I don't think current smartphones will replace standalone GPS devices. I think the market share for PND's are plummeting because there are basically no new features that would warrant replacing an older device.

Ok, but can it match Garmin's lifetime maps for US$65 plus?

I just read the article linked in the OP. What a bunch of hooey. The author evinces a severe lack of consideration of other perspectives. It's "my way or the highway" attitude is telling. I'd be willing to bet the author doesn't even have a driver's license, or is an urban dweller who hasn't had to navigate past public transportation or out of cell tower range in years.

a "cats whisker" or some such thing involved in it's construction and overall operation? It seems as if every kid on my block put one together, with some sort of kit?

Actually, the $5 android app blows Garmin's price out of the water. Because the $5 (which is a one time fee) includes free quarterly map updates!! And users can report map corrections to the company and the company guarantee that the corrections will be included in the next quarterly update. So no waiting two or three years as is the case with Garmin.

maybe he/she is high school student writer?

Does the smart phone navigation signal use GPS, the satellites, or cell towers? I'll take the GPS signal over cell signal anytime for reliability wherever you are.

And the one I had years back was so locked up that I had no control over the router. MediaCom could do as they wished but I was locked out. This did not last to many months and I went to a wireless IP. Been there ever since.

Smartphones use AGPS. In short, they use the cell phone towers to provide a quicker lock onto the GPS satellites. In all other respects the smartphone functions like a standalone GPS receiver when using GPS functions.

why would you want a smart phone without a data plan anyway?

You get a smart phone so you can use the data.

WiFi makes data available for free. Hotspots are everywhere.

Well maybe WiFi hotspots are good enough for you, but for now they don't cut it for me.

Besides, a buck a day won't send me to the poor house.

What I'm trying to say is, not everyone needs a data plan, or is a power user. They don't need to be hooked up to the mothership 24/7.

I have a data plan, but am seriously thinking of flushing it. Just a needless expense for me. I'm not a CEO, rock star, or a celeb.

When you are not in range of a cell tower, it sounds like you are out of luck.

Some phones may not automatically fall back to an autonomous (non-AGPS) mode. Most however do. In which case, if there is no signal from a tower the GPS will still function.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

Not quite. My phone has a stand-alone GPS as well, but can also use location services for network triangulation via cell towers.

The biggest crunch will come if you do not have the maps downloaded to the phone beforehand.

People here have talked about A-GPS, and from what I can determine, there are 2 types: Advanced (stand-alone) or, Assisted (cell tower). Some devices have both. Mine does.

Either that, or people are getting mixed up over the tech... not unheard of.

We posted at the same time. Were you responding to dminz or me?

dminz. Sorry, bro.