Yep, people where smarter then .
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2026
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Idk, but I'm over them and all "smart" tech so it'll need to be a vast improvement. I'm going backwards. Nothing fucking works right anymore. And everything is enshittified into a subscription or just full to the brim with ads. Usually both.
Started storing my media locally on a NAS. Bought a new MP3 player recently. Getting wired headphones and a dug out my old iPod dock because it's so hard to find a speaker with aux input. Apparently brands consider that to be a luxury feature and only put it in the top of the line models if at all. My Sonos speakers all bricked themselves with the app or are so much trouble to get working every time I want to listen to music that I don't bother anymore. Never getting anything without at least having a backup wired connection and offline mode.
Got a retro Gameboy emulator when the switch two came out - I'm not buying an identical console just because the company decided to squeeze me by software locking the games to the new console. They got me back in the day with the 3DS too. Anything I can't play on that, I can play on PC.
My current smart phone is 7 years old and when it goes I'm either getting something simple without Android or going full dumb phone. I have an old digital camera that I actually just dug out of storage and charged the battery last night to see if it still works. If not I'll be replacing it with another so I don't need a phone to have a camera. My partner is looking into getting a handheld SBC instead of a phone for his next device.
BlackBerries.
*Because it's the topic of conversation (25 years ago), blackberry in 9/11 https://youtube.com/shorts/vecUvsmqH6k and https://youtu.be/Hk64Nssc2Yw
That video is showing more “modern” Blackberries. This one is really from 2002, and the device is like a Palm device from the same era.
that's just false..
Palm Treo 600, 650, 700 were all technically 'smart' phones.
what defines 'smart'? cause none of the crap they make these days are smart, if anything I consider them pretty stupid now
only thing Treo was missing was wifi, Bluetooth and some junky app store. it had touchscreen, email, internet browsing, full keyboard, Infrared to control TVs and such, tons of other features that are lackluster or paid only on modern 'smart'phones.
The main difference is installing your own apps and not being limited to what the phone maker put on it. Making the Danger Hiptop more of a smartphone than a Palm Pilot or Blackberry; it could have new programs installed to it.
Are you saying it was not possible to install a third party app on a PalmOS device like the Treo? I'd have to disagree with that.
I'm not sure why OP specifically mentions the Treo anyway; it is already classified as a smartphone. I know some of the earlier PalmOS devices didn't have that ability. But I also know some candybar style dumb phones, like the Sony Ericsson, that did also allow installing apps like games and such that existed before the iPhone coined the term. 🤷♂️
21 years ago, I had a tmobile mda and hacked data plan. not toooo different than what is available today. data networks have grown but that's expected. devices.. meh.
40 years ago, hmm 1986ish? only a few folks had a need for a big expensive briefcase phone.
20 years from now will just be more of the same. extreme weather displacing and killing many, extreme geopolitics and dictatorships. with the basic failure of the U.S no more stupid works ethics police exist, forcing China to pick up slack. tech and Ai will have advanced to allow ultra rich to extend life and smash threats. more economic disparity and more religious bullshit.
i assume 20 years from now is enough for for what we refer to as the technological singularity and the coming of ASI. ( artificial strong intelligence ) which is basically what AGIs will make outside of our control when they grow beyond our capabilities.
I sort of hope they just leave us alone or throw us a bone. they could make it painful.
Black rectangle is all you get now.
We were better for it
PISA results agree with you
I was so jealous of my friend's RZR.
The sweet ass UTV made by Polaris??! I'd be jealous too! Oh, you mean RAZR? 🤣
Or do I mean the scooter? Everything was sharp as hell back then! Very dangerous times.