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PaperclipPerfector  15d ago (text post)   2958 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 16, 2025

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It occurred to me as I was transferring everything over that I have barely changed how I use a smartphone since I bought my very first over a decade ago. I can emulate more games consoles now, and I grudgingly use some of the digital wallet features, but otherwise all the years of development doesn't seem to have changed anything at all. Are there cool features or applications that I'm missing out on?

I have been trying to find the same since past year and my conclusion is, not much. There are some interesting apps I use on daily basis that might be of interest-

  • QuickCursor - It just adds the ability to whip out a cursor when you perform a simple swipe at the bottom end of the screen. Very basic functionality but intutive to use and something that has defintely improved my user experience
  • NFC based automation - Triggers a preconfigured task when a certain, already mapped NFC tag is swiped. for example scanning a NFC tag attached to your washing machine that sets a reminder when the clothes have been washed
  • Swipe based gallery cleaners - left to delete, right to keep
  • URLChecker - Let's you set the app to open or delete any trackers when opening a URL. Would only appeal to people concerned about privacy.
  • Task automation(ifttt/tasker) - Fully featured task automater can make your life quite easy. For example, when unplugged from your car's bluetooth turn on wifi and connect to home network(vice versa). Opens out tons of possibility in a Phone.
  • SMS Organizer - Automatically sorts your messages according to the type of message(personal/financial information/promotions(spam))
  • Buzzkill - Good notification management app
  • P!n -> Tool to pin text to remember on notifications

I think we have hit the saturation level on what a smartphone can do with the current app based UI design and just improving software wouldn't work. I find app based design very constricting since to chain different abilities of what a phone can do needs to be packaged as an app and then what is the point of having just another app on your phone. I see a lot of potential in new innovation regarding how we interact with our mobile to unlock new age functionality rather than bringing new ideas to current ecosystem. Something like this for example - https://sxmo.org/

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