Android

I'm starting to head this direction, at least mobile-wise. I haven't yet because trying to live life without a cell phone is just not pleasant, But the only thing I really use my cell phone for is Discord, Firefox, and the camera

Mobile gaming, which I primarily had got a phone in the first place for has gone down the tube, It seems like every mobile game can fit into one of 4 categories.

• The live-action-style ones like Clash of Clans that you need money to progress in.
• The simulation idlers Where you don't actually do anything, You just upgrade every once in a while.
• The match 3 clones where it disguises as a different game but the primary focus is matching,
• The bleed you dry energy style games where every action you do costs some form of in-game energy. That takes real time to regenerate.

Used to be able to find puzzlers or simulation games that were outside of that genre, but you can't really anymore. I'm still circulating the same 4 games from when I had an s9 8ish years ago.

Social media is thoroughly screwed. You can't go on there without some sort of ideology being pushed at you or toxicity.

Voice-mails and messaging is hit or miss of whether or not it's someone trying to scam you.

every application out there wants to harvest every bit of data about your life because almost no country has any type of actual regulation against the collection of personal data.

Every once in a while, I look back to see how feasible it would be to go without, but far too many services require a phone number. Any platform worth its salt uses some form of two-factor authentication, which generally is either text message or an app-based two-factor.

Hell, It's hard enough finding a bank that doesn't require a cell phone. I just dumped my last bank due to that reason. They reconsolidated into a slightly larger company, and when they did, that parent company decided that consumers shouldn't have the ability to write their own checks. So if I wanted to write a check, I had to log into the phone app, and then select Send a check, wait four to six business days for the bank to actually send the check themselves, and then wait for the three to four days on top of that to actually receive payments. I closed the account as soon as I got confirmation my funds transfered

It's time for the iPhone shuffle

I got kinda conned into a Pixel 10 Pro XL. It's huge and it's heavy, and it doesn't really feel that much more useful than the S10e it replaced.

What I want it for is basically a media player, quick internet look-upper, and maybe instant messenger. The ability to get "Hey I'm at the front entrance" and reply "Cool I'll let you in". My Galaxy S4 Mini did every piece of that.

It's getting uncomfortably difficult to do without a cell phone. Everything wants to be an app. Like, it's one thing when a restaurant allows you to order via app because then they can be making your order while you're on your way to get it. But when they won't print a menu, they'll ONLY allow customers to order via an app, like a waiter comes up to your table and tells you you have to scan a QR code. Parking, public transit, starting into goddamn government functions, now require an app. Which is a problem if you VISIT a city rather than live there.

When I was a teenager, I would have been excited to have a powerful, capable computer with a fantastic screen and constant high speed internet access that fit in my pocket. But damn if they didn't go and ruin it.