this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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4.3 Billion People Now Own Smartphones::Find out how smartphone ownership has reached 4.3 billion people worldwide. Dive into the GSMA's Mobile Internet Connectivity 2023 Report.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 1 year ago (3 children)

“Why didn’t we sell more phones this year? We are supposed to have infinite growth!”

“Sir, basically every human has a phone and doesn’t need a new one every year.”

“…no, that can’t be it.”

[–] Drbreen 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Shareholders: "Then make more people you incompetent fucks!"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Hopefully this might collaterally improve wearable tech :[

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm planning to get a second one just for work (and having work pay for it) so maybe that's the angle they should pursue. Discounts for corporate purchases?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And the other 3.7 billion people is glad to have some food for the day..

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Smartphones are at a level of ubiquety in many societies where depending on where you live, even the poorest of individuals will have one. It's not uncommon at all to see homeless people around starbucks getting free wifi to connect online with whatever smartphone they have. It's really dependent on where you live whether a smartphone is at all correlated with wealth.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

All societies changed because of computers and smartphones. Lots of people forget that especially for poor people smartphones brought so much benefits that were not accessible before, such as online banking (not needing to go to a bank branch), being in touch with family even when moving away for work, much more access to information (despite the low barrier of disinformation nowadays), online courses, healthcare tips etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

But but but the Boomers told me things about having a smartphone and drinking coffee that means you MUST not be poor.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I'm not talking about people who have Starbucks around. 🤣

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

How many of them are well fed kids who don't need a smartphone yet?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I've been day dreaming about getting rid of mine. Its not going to happen (any time soon) but its a nice dream world to live in.

[–] Secret300 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just want a small laptop. Not a phone. I hate the why apps and crap work and how files are stored. It's so annoying to use

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Exactly. I keep looking at small Linux devices, waiting for the day when I can replace my phone with one of those.

Sadly, more and more, an android phone is made quasi mandatory for a number of things (like banking auth), and I'm not sure how to work around that yet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

First really important thing to do is to refuse anything that locks you in.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

An Android phone is a small Linux device. Just install termux.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not. It just has really heavly modified Linux kernel and the similarities end there. Termux uses a hack that was already patched, so if Termux ever update to newer API level it won't work.

I hate how files, the UI and overall services managment work on Android. I cannot mount a drive, access app's files and their configs, I cannot change the UI environment or system theme (besides basic setting of app launcher and dark/light), I cannot update beyond manufacturer support and swap OSes like on PC and the list goes on...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Termux uses a hack that was already patched, so if Termux ever update to newer API level it won't work.

I got a brand new phone and installed Termux a few weeks ago.

I cannot mount a drive, access app's files and their configs,

That is a problem on normal Android. But with Termux and certain other programs that have the right permissions, like the "File" app that came with my Samsung, you can access the entire OS and network drives.

I cannot update beyond manufacturer support and swap OSes like on PC and the list goes on...

If you root your phone you can do anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I got a brand new phone and installed Termux a few weeks ago. Because of backwards compatibility of Android, you can install older apps. But Termux was not updated in ~2 years and no app targeting modern version can use permissions that Termux needs.

That is a problem on normal Android. But with Termux and certain other programs that have the right permissions, like the “File” app that came with my Samsung, you can access the entire OS and network drives. Also not what I ment, I see you haven't used Linux for longer, but it has a concept of mounting. You mount some virtual or real drive to a diretory and then this directory behave like a "portal". By this way you can for example mount online storage drive as it was a physical and for example install programs on it.

If you root your phone you can do anything. Not true. This is in theory, in practice you are very limited by Android messed up nature and lack of documentation from manufacturer side. Look up PostmarketOS, a real Linux distribution that community maintain. You can see how short is the list of supported phones, it needs to be ported for every device separately and takes huge amount of work. Look up PostmarketOS, it is a real mainline (means without much modifications) Linux-based OS. You can plug a monitor in and there would be no difference between PC and this, can install desktop apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I see you haven't used Linux for longer, but it has a concept of mounting.

Dude I've used Unix for 40 years since before Linux existed. I had an Android tablet, in which I installed termux on, and mounted my shared network drives using Samba on termux. I literally used the Linux "mount" command to mount it to my termux linux filesystem.

You can see how short is the list of supported phones, it needs to be ported for every device separately and takes huge amount of work

And it was a huge amount of work to port Unix to various hardware back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Netbooks could have been great if they were started in 2015 and not 2005. Modern day ARM and perhaps future RISC-V could make them miles ahead.

I currently use a Chromebook for "on the go but needing a bigger screen and keyboard", as my thinkpad is too big for that task. I do however consider getting something like an X230 frequently, so I'm not stuck to Chrome OS because mine is not supported by any of the community "Chromebook to usable laptop with Linux" methods.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I literally just had my finger over the order button for one of these Nokia 3310 Remakes, but I didn’t order

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe it's only because I am a uni student and not full-on working, but I did. IMO it's improved my overall life, and what little is mobile-only (hi Steam's trade confirmations) can be used in an emulator/VM.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There are multiple apps I have to have for work. MS Teams is the one I doubt I could replicate. Nor do I really want send a reply to an urgent question using T9 input.

[–] merc 1 points 1 year ago

I'd like to see an age breakdown.

2.6 billion people are under 20, nearly a billion are over 60. I'd expect those age groups are less likely to own smartphones.

So, the rate for people between 20 and 60 might be closer to 90%.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I would not be surprised if some of the data used and conclusions are incorrect. The article said some percentage that are using 4G. I'll bet all of this is based on active phones. Would not be surprised if they are stupidly presuming 1 phone = 1 person. But the article didn't clarify that, or much of anything else. Tons of people own/use multiple phones.

[–] velipe4831 -3 points 1 year ago

>give normalfags access to the web
>a place where they can say and host anything
>they choose walled garden social media instead
>they ruin the entire web in less than 10 years \
>give normalfags access to all the free audio, video, vidya, books, and contnet they could ever desire
>FOR FREE AND UNCENSORED
>in better quality than any streaming service or cable provider
>they pay $10 a month to multiple low quality streaming services instead
>where content is constantly censored, removed, or edited to suit the opinions of people that don't even watch it
>they ruin the entire entertainment sector in less than a decade as content providers produce more and more low effort shit that caters to people that don't even play/watch/listen to it

>give normalfags access to hardware so powerful a nerd in the late 90s would have murdered someone for it
>it's so small they can carry it with them everywhere
>you can always get an internet connection
>normalfags use the device to take pictures of themselves to share with other normalfags
>this eventually morphs into short videos where they do retarded dances and point at slogans seen on screen
>ruin the concept of OC in less than a decade
>everyone producing high quality work is drowned out or gives up all together

>give normalfags access to the world's collective knowledge and archives detailing everything you can imagine
>instead of reading it, learning from it, debating it with others, and improving upon it they do web searches to find opinion pieces that align with their existing opinion and beliefs
>they demand everything they personally dislike be censored instead of closing their eyes or the webpage they're viewing
>they incite campaigns to deplatform anything they don't like when they don't get their way
>took them less than 10 years to ruin free speech on the internet

Why do they ruin everything? Why did we allow this to happen?