Should "smartphones" be renamed? If so, they should be called:
Displaying poll results.13838 total votes.
Most Votes
- What's the highest dollar price will Bitcoin reach in 2024? Posted on February 28th, 2024 | 8470 votes
- Will ByteDance be forced to divest TikTok Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 6338 votes
Most Comments
- What's the highest dollar price will Bitcoin reach in 2024? Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 68 comments
- Will ByteDance be forced to divest TikTok Posted on March 20th, 2024 | 20 comments
It needs a new name. (Score:3)
I'd go with PIP for 'Personal/Portable Information Processor'.
Something short and simple - the more frequently a word is used, the shorter it tends to be. I expect a replacement for 'smartphone' to be monosyllabic, and 'pip' would do it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ugh. 'PIN number', 'ATM machine'.
I work with people (higher up in the organization) who do that all the time and it makes me grind my teeth in frustration that I can't correct them.
And then I go home and my wife does it too. Now her I'll correct... if I don't give a shit about domestic bliss at the time.
Re: (Score:2)
Correction: ID Document.
Re: It needs a new name. (Score:2)
Re: It needs a new name. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Because they have an ASD disorder.
Re:It needs a new name. (Score:5, Funny)
Because they have an ASD disorder.
I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order, the way they should be.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd call it a palmtop computer. But it's ability to make calls gave it the current name and expect that to stick.
Pocketweb (Score:2)
But people don't really use them to compute.
Mostly, they're useful because they access the web. So, how about "Pocketweb".
Re: (Score:2)
Hell no. Smartphone looks better all the time.
Re: (Score:3)
Personal Access Display Divice
PADD.
StTng already has it covered.
Now if there was a tablet android skin that would do it *and* be actually useful at the same time I'd be sold.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
HHGTTG
Or H2G2 for short...
How about "phone"? (Score:5, Insightful)
I already call my flatscreen TV a "TV", and my digital camera a "camera", so I find it convenient to call my smartphone a "phone".
Re:How about "phone"? (Score:4, Insightful)
But a TV is a TV (unless it's a smart TV), your camera is still just a camera (though for most of us... it's a phone).
A phone is rarely just a phone. The mobile computing device on your hip with the ability to transmit and receive audio is different from a standard land line connected device that does nothing else.
Re: (Score:2)
No. "TV" and "smart TV" are not the only two options. Back in the 60's a TV, by definition, received in black and white, so if you want to be specific, you'll have to call your TV a "color TV", and people did that for a while. Similarly the word "TV" was frequently prefixed with "widescreen", "flatscreen" and "smart" during periods of time. When you say "TV" today, you mean something very different from when the word was invented.
The English language has a long history of shortening "adjective noun" to just
Smartphones are more than phones (Score:2)
And when the day comes that people don't even use smartphones to make voice calls, I'm going to still call them "phones". Maybe some little kid will ask me why I call it a "phone" and I'll go into a meandering monologue about Alexander Graham Bell and land lines and rotary phones and dial-up Internet service.
Re: (Score:2)
Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray.
Re: (Score:3)
"Mobile" is the norm across the English speaking world.
Mind you, so is metric, Celsius and correct spelling...
Re: (Score:2)
I still run into Brits who say Centigrade. Even Americans know that's wrong.
And what's up with how Brits pronounce Lieutenant? I'm sure there is some great historical reason, but maybe you should have picked a sane way to spell it instead of picking the French spelling and pronouncing it some bizarre way.
Re: (Score:2)
A telephone is a device that transmit analogue audio to other phones on wires.
According to Google (which it probably got from Wikipedia) "wires or radio"
A 'cellphone' is not a telephone, but a radio.
The word "cellphone" is painfully obsolete. Do people under 60 really use that word?
Re: (Score:2)
aren't they called "dumbphones"?
Re:It needs a new name. (Score:5, Funny)
How about Personal Information Mobile Processor (aka PIMP)? Because either way, you're it's bitch.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd go with PIP for 'Personal/Portable Information Processor'.
Something short and simple - the more frequently a word is used, the shorter it tends to be. I expect a replacement for 'smartphone' to be monosyllabic, and 'pip' would do it.
That's the exact reason I prefer "mobile."
Re: (Score:2)
No, it doesn't need a new name.
You can't judge an item based on how much you use it performing a certain task.
If that would be the case, I would look at the pornitor instead of monitor, and have to rename fingers to masturbingers.
Re: (Score:2)
Never played, had no idea. Great minds think alike!?
Re: (Score:2)
PIP = Picture in Picture, a technology used by some TVs.
Re: It needs a new name. (Score:2)
For Twilight Zone fans, "In Praise of Pip".
New name (Score:3)
Those things we used to make phone calls with.
Re: (Score:3)
You mean "The Artifact Formerly Known As Phone".
Re: (Score:2)
"Too-smart-for-their-own-good phones"
The question... (Score:2)
Perhaps, this:
"If smart phones were to be renamed, they should be referred to as..."
The existing question is just horrible. Horrible! ;-)
Communicator (Score:2)
I think we should just call them communicators.
Call them what they are... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Loyal to who, you ask? To your country, of course. We spin their tracking you as a way of fighting terrorism and catching child predators, then we don't have to hide the fact that they're doing it. In fact, if you can spin this effectively enough then you can do better than "loyalty device" - call it a "freedom phone" or a "po
Re: (Score:2)
...call it a "freedom phone" or a "pocket patriot." People will laugh at that, but if they laugh because it's corny then they won't be recoiling in horror. Children will love to call them "PeePees," and it'll work itself into the common vernacular.
You know, I may start calling it a "pocket phone," abbreviated pp. It will make for all sorts of interesting statements: "We were having a conversation, but then he pulled out his pee-pee and started playing with it...".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Cos users become oblivious to their surroundings.
I know this is going to be moderated low, but ... (Score:3)
How about "dumb-phones" because how they transform its users into dumb and obnoxious people?
Because how they make their users walk into things, or off cliffs or quays, or out into traffic or railway crossings? (Unless I run and save them ... Not that she ever took her eyes from the friggin phone during the whole ordeal!!)
Because how they make their users ignore its surroundings by immersing them into their clunky cumbersome interfaces [fastcodesign.com] ... and often while the users standing in the "best" places: in doorways to shops or train cars, or while operating a car. ... Because if you drive slow enough, it is perfectly safe to use the phone at the same time. (Never mind the texting taxi-driver that almost run me over the other day ...)
How they make their users yell to people are on the phone with, as if these two would be are the only ones there but separated ten metres apart, letting everyone else in the supermarket check-out line -- including the poor cashier the user is handing money to at this exact moment -- know about their genital warts. (I really needed to know that too!)
Re: (Score:2)
I bet you're one of those nerds who don't have one.
Re: (Score:2)
Except for work-phones that have been assigned to me, yes,
for personal use I have instead a "regular" cell-phone and a couple of tablets.
The railway-crossing incident happened years ago right before smartphones became popular, and it scared me straight.
BTW. I wish that connected 8" tablet, Bluetooth hand-free and smartwatch would be a viable option to cell phones, but Google and Apple don't want to make it so. I'd have to use a third-party app and their service to be able to make phone calls with a tablet -
Phones? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not just recycle the old name? We all have smartphones these days, so just drop the "smart".
Re:Phones? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, transmit and receive speech is THE primary function of "smartphone". The fact that they have applications and internet capabilities is still secondary. The fact that many people prefer to text or just search the internet does not demean from their primary purpose.
Re: (Score:2)
But not everyone uses smartphones. Some still use landlines, dumb phones, etc. It's too late to change it anyways. :/
Re: (Score:2)
Because, the "phone" functionality is only 0.01% of what it's used for. Phoning is only one of hundreds if not thousands of its functions. It's a pocket computer, or PC, or PCP (Pocket Computer Phone).
Re: (Score:2)
Not everyone has a smartphone or even a cellphone!
Re: (Score:2)
Why not just recycle the old name? We all have smartphones these days, so just drop the "smart".
Because the only people who use the phone function of their picket computers are old and near the time of dying out.
Cowboy Neal (Score:3)
Cowboy Neal's stream of consciousness.
Telescreens (Score:5, Interesting)
If that name doesn't ring a bell, you need to re-read Orwell's 1984.
Re: (Score:2)
That name may not ring a bell but old phones did.
Re: (Score:2)
If that name doesn't ring a bell, you need to re-read Orwell's 1984.
Sounds good to me. I'd go with that.
Smart Telegraphs (Score:2)
Perhaps NPDA or sumaho? (Score:2)
I'd favor NPDA for Networked Personal Digital Assistant. I currently have two, but I use both of them more as PDAs than as telephones. One actually is a phone, but the other only has VoIP capability. Still not as satisfied as I was at Peak Pilot, before Palm was induced to commit suicide. The apps have NOT progressed nearly as much as they could and should have (and I think that is largely due to the bad financial models).
The sumaho is kind of a joke from Japanese. In Japanese the common abbreviation for sm
By staying with the 'Smart Phone' moniker (Score:2)
SImple.
I voted 'Keep "smartphones"' (Score:2)
Because there's no chance the name is going to change anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
It will most likely change. Or at least be shortened to just "phone".
"Smartphone" is a mouthful, like "automobile". And no one talk about automobiles now, they are all cars.
This is something the next generation will probably decide.
PDA's (Score:3)
PDA's, because that's what they are.
In honor of Howard Tayler (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
"ADDP" (Score:3)
They should be called "ADDPs", for "Attention Deficit Disorder Promoters"
Porn rectangles (Score:2)
How about.. "Computer?" (Score:3)
It's a computer that just happens to be able to make phone calls and send SMS. It also happens to also be a media player and a camera (both stills and video.)
No need to qualify it with "pocket" or any other adjective. It's just a computer that happens to fit in one's pocket.
And FWIW, around here, almost everyone calls it a "phone." not "Smartphone".. just "phone." "Gimmie the phone, man!" "Which one, the Samsung with the cracked screen, the LG with the cracked case, or the iPhone with the missing chunks in the bezel?"
Smarty McSmartface! (Score:5, Funny)
Spywear? (Score:2)
See topic
Polity Name (Score:2)
Um...how about the original term? (Score:2)
Personal Digital Assistant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Now get off my digital lawn.
It's not a "should" question (Score:3)
Language is not something that we--or some committee--dictates.
It's just out there.
People use the words they like to say the things they are saying.
In time, people will adopt a new word for smart phones...or they won't.
And if they do, we will only find out what that new word is when people start using it.
See also: http://www.nytimes.com/interac... [nytimes.com]
TRU? PID? (Score:2)
Personal Interaction Decimator?
Some kind of Star Trek Reference (Score:2)
"Kirk" or "Spock" might be good.
Re: (Score:2)
As in "Hand me your Spock, I need to call my Mothership".
Smone a contraction of Smart Phone (Score:2)
What they are... (Score:2)
Digital Crack
Phones (Score:2)
The true answer (Score:2)
Leashes
Frederik Pohl: Age Of The Pussyfoot (Score:2)
Seeing as he predicted the devices back in 69 and accurately described what they would do the naming honor should go to him
Call them Joymakers.
PSM - Portable Spy Machine (Score:3)
I voted for other, and they should be called Portable Spy Machines for their ability to steal all your private information you enter into the smart phone.
Commlink (Score:2)
Missing opion: (Score:2)
I'd go for annoyo-slab (Score:2)
That's basically how those things are used these days. Since you don't have a keyboard, there is virtually no way to give it meaningful commands. Instead it gives you commands. Have you ever watched an "average" person near an annoyo-slab? It constanty cries for attention, by beeping or dinging or making other sounds.
Essentially it's all the bad aspects of computing, including surveillance in one small box.
Re: (Score:2)
Phone (Score:2)
Phone. I don't have any other kind of phone but my smart phone, so calling it other is ubiquitous distinction. As humans we always seek to minimize the effort and load on ourselves, and I already call my flat screen TV just my TV, (or my extended cab 4x4 truck just truck). The chance came and went to call the smartphone something else (minicomp/microcomp/etc.) The best chance for that to happen was when Jobs introduced the iPhone and that came and went. Although, take any 15 year old kid and show them
name (Score:4)
"Tracking Devices"
Mobile Phone (Score:2)
Well, I usually call it a mobile phone, except I rarely use it as a phone, so... my vote is just mobile.
Privacy Stealers (Score:2)
Of course Douglas Adams comes to the rescue.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Phone (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, just "phone".
MUMU (Score:2)
Toilet computer (Score:2)
Because every time I'm in the WC at work, I can hear the click click buzz of people on their phones.
Some app cross section between candy crush and LinkedIn I'm sure.
The boss makes a dollar
I make a dime
That's why I ðY'©
On company time!
Stupidphones (Score:2)
Because they make you stupid. Or maybe addictaphones, since too damn many of you are as addicted as any heroin addict. Quick, go for a day without using it.
Can't, can you? Can you stop using it while you drive? Walk? Can you chew gum and use it at the same time?
You're a bloody addict.
Why not just call them "Cell Phones"? (Score:2)
I Ask Slashdot this 2 weeks ago (Score:2)
I asked [slashdot.org] Slashdot this question 2 weeks ago.
Didn't get many comments so here's what I asked, for what's it's worth, here:
"Every time I see a smart phone related post here Slashdot, or other forums, there will be the obligatory rants about
1) why does a "phone" need such a large screen and/or 2) why do people pay so much for a "phone"
It strikes me that the problem is in the classification of these devices.
The fact that they are still used for making phone calls is now irrelevant, and I would guess, if you did
Just call them phones (Score:2)
Talkie Watchies (Score:2)
Talkie Watchies
Re: (Score:2)
I thought that "mobile" referred to cellular mobile phones in general, not necessarily ones of the "smart" variety. If someone in Europe has an old flip phone, isn't it still called a "mobile"?
Re: (Score:2)
I agree.