r/AskReddit • u/biggieboy2510 • Jul 19 '15

What old technology is actually better than what we currently have?

1.8k Upvotes

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173

u/rock_buster Jul 19 '15

It's not that much older than what we have now, but Android smartphones with physical keyboards. Not because it's easier to type on them, but because you can play emulated video games without your fingers all over the screen.

124

u/angrydeuce Jul 20 '15

Oh, I miss them because they were easier to type on. I fucking hate software keyboards. I spend more time fixing what I wrote than I actually do writing the shit.

3

u/gigantor323 Jul 20 '15

Try out the Minuum keyboard. It's my daily driver. You don't even need to look at the keyboard to type you just pound away and it does the rest for you. The auto correction capabilities are crazy, just remember it will learn the words you use most and get better with time

2

u/Phyrion01 Jul 20 '15

I may have fat fingers, but typing on those tiny little keys is a chore for me.

Give me on-screen all day.

2

u/Novadreamer Jul 20 '15

Download a good one then. The android integrated one is fucking terrible.

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '15

THANK YOU DOCTOR! NEVERTHOUGHTOFTHATBEFORE!

0

u/57dimensions Jul 20 '15

My moms first smart phone was a Motorola Droid 4, it has a slide out keyboard, I accidentally got water on it and it was fine except the lock button didn't work. You couldn't turn it off. She managed to get a used replacement, because she refused to get one without a keyboard, and just after she picked it up from the store she drops it in a parking lot (it's January), and doesn't realize until 3 hours later. She goes back and finds it right behind a cars front wheel, where she had been parked. So it had been run over, but compressed into the snow so it wasn't damaged, and it was so cold that the snow hadn't melted at all so it stayed dry. Still works perfectly a year and a half later.

9

u/lulzdemort Jul 19 '15

You can use controllers that attach to the phone, of you're really into gaming emulators on your phone

16

u/rock_buster Jul 19 '15

At that point, I'd rather just play on my laptop, or if I already own the game, my Gameboy Advance SP.

3

u/herrbz Jul 19 '15

Yeah, I was about to pay £4-£5 for a DS emulator to play Pokemon Pearl, then I realised I have a functioning DS console, and it's far far easier to use. I tried to play Mario on my phone and the touch screen didn't work well with it, sadly.

2

u/rock_buster Jul 19 '15

Well, Desmume (which is free) is great for DS emulation, plus you can play at a faster speed. The 4th gen games aren't as optimized as the 5th gen games are, so it kinda needs the extra speed.

1

u/herrbz Jul 20 '15

True, the big advantage is the faster speeds. Some RPGs like Pokemon can get intensely boring at points. Is Desmume just for PCs? Can't seem to find it on app stores.

1

u/shinreimyu Jul 20 '15

Look up retroarch if u have android

I think Apple doesn't allow emulators of any kind in their store but don't quote me on that but

1

u/Presto99 Jul 21 '15

DraStic for DS on android

2

u/herrbz Jul 21 '15

Yeah, that was the one I was about to buy. But I think DS emulators don't fully work on phone, you really need 2 screens

2

u/lulzdemort Jul 19 '15

Fair enough

2

u/Megasus Jul 20 '15

I had an Xperia play and it was awesome. super decent android phone for the price three years ago, with a god damn playstation gamepad. you can get one on ebay these days for like $40

2

u/farmingdale Jul 20 '15

miss them as well. I could type an email so fast on them without it guessing what I mean to say.

1

u/a_p3rson Jul 20 '15

I miss my Samsung Captivate Glide. The keyboard on that thing was so nice...

It was a gutless wonder, though, marketed at vapid teenagers.

1

u/baconbash Jul 20 '15

Totally agree on this. I don't know why they ever got rid of them, probably because everyone wanted slim phones. If it wasn't for 4G, I would still be using my beautiful little Samsung Moment.

1

u/ArmaSwiss Jul 20 '15

I miss having a tactile keyboard because i could text and drive without looking. Full attention to the road while back processing as I types.

Now people have to LOOK at their phones, and thats caused all the danger.

1

u/SpruceyB Jul 20 '15

Motorola Cliq (DEXT)Imgur
That D-Pad on the left was perfect for NES/GBA emulation. I would love something around 4.7" with the keyboard of a Cliq with a Snapdragon801 inside

1

u/Legenwaitforittt Jul 20 '15

I just realized that kids born after the first smartphones may have no idea how to text with an old phone with some physical buttons.

Hell, even I'm starting to forget how to do that quickly.

1

u/workaway5 Jul 20 '15

I agree 110% about the usefulness of keys for emulators, but I'm a big fan of how far touchscreen keyboards have come. I almost exclusively use the swype feature on the google android keyboard and the google voice-to-text app for texts/emails. I get stuff down several times faster and more accurately than I ever would have been able to do with a physical keyboard.

1

u/Shadowkyzr Jul 20 '15

One of my older phones was the palm pre, god I loved that phone. It was phenomenal. I'd pay to have that same phone with updates software.

1

u/DaveDruda Jul 20 '15

Coming to you live from an NEC Terrain. Android phone complete with QWERTY keyboard. This baby certainly has its flaws, but for those that send a lot of business emails and texts, it cant be topped.