The term "smartphone" makes no sense.

Coke Robot

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Take pictures. Watch videos. Stream media. Create an ad-hoc network. Connect to external displays. Video conference. Share internet pages. Edit photos. Say voice commands. Print wirelessly. Monitor engine performance. Instantly message someone. Expand internal storage.

Think I'm talking about a PC? Nope, the modern day "smartphone."

Ever since it was conceived of, it slowly has turned away from a communications device (at least voice communication) to an internet device. There is nothing "smart" about a phone if all it does is pull internet information down into a four inch screen. It's just an internet appliance and then some. So why is it still called a smartphone? It's a camera, a CPU, GPU, and flash memory with a screen overlaid. Pocket PC makes better sense, that's what a PC already basically is just in your pocket. Baby PC? So one could have a desktop PC, a tablet PC, and a baby PC.

Gingrich to world: Rename the cell phone | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
Oddly enough, I was thinking about this today during breakfast how odd the word smartphone is. Lo and behold, a congressman thinks so too! But that doesn't have lot of connotation however...

Also, thinking about this, when something about Windows Phone is discussed in a tech article, some authors refer to it as just "Windows" as if the device was a Pocket PC with Windows on it.
 

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I think it's merely a word to separate the standard cell phone/mobile phone name to the new style touch screen/internet based phones, personally i don't tend to think about it that much, someone who clearly wasn't smart thought of the name.

Although devices combining telephony and computing were conceptualized as early as 1973 and were offered for sale beginning in 1994, the term "smartphone" did not appear until 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a "Smart Phone".
 

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Not sure how well they would they would sell if they were called idiotphones.
 

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Which particular device are you referring to as a smartphone that cannot make a call as a regular cellular phone?

From what I know, those devices are just plainly called handheld or mobile device. Who ever calls it a smartphone is an idiot.

A phone that can take pictures is called phonecamera. A camera than can make calls is called cameraphone (like the Polaroid SC1630). A smartphone is a mobile phone built on mobile OS with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a regular phone.
 

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I do like baby PC....
 

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Hey, Coke, ya know what Smartphones really are? Communicators from Trek, and PADDs from Star Trek Next Gen. Personal Access Display Devices, and all smartphones work in much the same way, they pull data from Subspace, and save what we do "in the cloud"

The Enterprise D had three huge Mainframes, which had a Faster than Light Data Stream. Now THAT's what I WANT!
 

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I think smartphone is a perfectly logical name. If we are going to be tightwads about proper entomology, then we have a lot of fish to fry in the English language.
 

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I think smartphone is a perfectly logical name. If we are going to be tightwads about proper entomology, then we have a lot of fish to fry in the English language.

I think coke is just confused. Maybe he thinks iPod touch is also a smartphone.
 

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If you install certain iPhone apps, plus Jailbreak the Touch - It can WORK as a phone. If you carry a little WiFi hotspot in your pocket It WILL act as a smartphone. Ya just use something like Pinger or Googol Voice, something which has a private dialer.
 

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Hey, Coke, ya know what Smartphones really are? Communicators from Trek, and PADDs from Star Trek Next Gen. Personal Access Display Devices, and all smartphones work in much the same way, they pull data from Subspace, and save what we do "in the cloud"

The Enterprise D had three huge Mainframes, which had a Faster than Light Data Stream. Now THAT's what I WANT!
Exactly, except Gene Roddenberry called them "communicators" and "tricorders," not smartphones. ;)

You want that, I want the freaking Holodeck from Enterprise The Next Generation! :thumbsup:
 

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If you install certain iPhone apps, plus Jailbreak the Touch - It can WORK as a phone. If you carry a little WiFi hotspot in your pocket It WILL act as a smartphone. Ya just use something like Pinger or Googol Voice, something which has a private dialer.

This is true, I once pondered about doing that with my first gen itouch way back when, I would had also needed a headset to make that work.
 

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Don't Touches have BlueCheeseTooth?
 

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Why is Bluetooth called that? It's not blue and it's not a tooth
Why are laptops called laptops? they don't need to be on laps
And why are they also called notebooks? They're not made from paper
And why are mice called that? they're not rodents



LEAVE IT ALONE
 

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Why is Bluetooth called that? It's not blue and it's not a tooth
Why are laptops called laptops? they don't need to be on laps
And why are they also called notebooks? They're not made from paper
And why are mice called that? they're not rodents



LEAVE IT ALONE

Those also don't make sense.

A Desktop UI on a laptop doesn't make real sense when it's mobile.

Notebook isn't used much these days.

Mice is also something that is an odd one.
 

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Gahhh! To me a Notebook is like a tiny IBM with a atom processor. A LAPTOP is a computer with a processor and dedicated video card that can keep up with some serious Desktops!
 

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I was under the impression that laptop was the former name of a notebook due to the word laptop meaning you can use it on your lap, which causes overheating and some serious burns, notebook however, doesn't imply this and you are meant to use it on a flat surface.
 

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A Desktop UI on a laptop doesn't make real sense
When I'm using that UI, it's sitting on top of a desk so it makes perfect sense.

Calling a piece of PC hardware a "Desktop" when it's perfectly happy to live under a desk is the part that doesn't really work.
 

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hey we could call a smartphone a stupidphone instead <g>
My husband thinks they are stupid when they do not do what he wants- so it fits!
 

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I was under the impression that laptop was the former name of a notebook due to the word laptop meaning you can use it on your lap, which causes overheating and some serious burns, notebook however, doesn't imply this and you are meant to use it on a flat surface.

That's True - My Dell Inspir0n 9100 Laptop burns the foodle outta my knees! OW!

[video=youtube;ptLXIsUTtVU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptLXIsUTtVU[/video]
 

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    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
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    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
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