Smartphone or Computer

Thank you very much Arnold!  I do try to stay upbeat!  There are too many problems in each of our lives, we need to be light hearted here!  

I have an iphone 6s, ipad(?), Macbook Pro, and an iMac desktop.  Use the laptop most of the time (convenient) but enjoy the desktop the most with it's  27" 5K screen for online viewing and photos. Am not comfortable using the phone as the screen is way too small to see anything with clarity!

I use my desktop for posting, as usually pictures are attached. I also read posts on my iPad and iPhone for convenience.

I like the PC for most and i phones are too small to read catalogs and magazines but I do use my i phone for quick references. I use my old i phone to run my two Lionchief engines.

Gene H posted:

I like the PC for most and i phones are too small to read catalogs and magazines but I do use my i phone for quick references. I use my old i phone to run my two Lionchief engines.

Gene, your the 1st on this thread who says he runs his trains using a smartphone App. I see from your profile that you're about 65 years old, so you weren't born and bred using a smartphone like many of our children and grandchildren were.

Do you regard yourself as technologically savvy? When you 1st started using the App to run your trains, did you have any difficulties? Do you think that using the App is a little trickier than using the remote unit to run LionChief Plus?

99% of the time I use my HP Laptop, the other 1% is my Samsung  Galaxy J7 V  smart phone.  BTW I consider myself pretty high tech for a guy 75 yrs old but I still run my trains hands on, that is both hands on my old faithful ZW.  

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Gene H posted:

I like the PC for most and i phones are too small to read catalogs and magazines but I do use my i phone for quick references. I use my old i phone to run my two Lionchief engines.

Gene, your the 1st on this thread who says he runs his trains using a smartphone App......

Did not know that was part of the original question.  

I read the forum at times using my Google Pixel 2XL smart phone, but do everything else on my Google Chromebook which is what I am at now. 

I use my Windows desktop PC for almost all OGR reading and posting and email, etc. I sometimes use my iphone for checking email, but very seldom reply until I get back to my PC. I do text on my phone, just not much email. 

As for those short bits of downtime here and there, I just enjoy the peace and quiet or watch other people around me, that can be very interesting. Kids are fun to observe as well, they can be quite funny and the parents can also be pretty funny in dealing with them.

I use my computer all the time!!!

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Gene H posted:

I like the PC for most and i phones are too small to read catalogs and magazines but I do use my i phone for quick references. I use my old i phone to run my two Lionchief engines.

Gene, your the 1st on this thread who says he runs his trains using a smartphone App. I see from your profile that you're about 65 years old, so you weren't born and bred using a smartphone like many of our children and grandchildren were.

Do you regard yourself as technologically savvy? When you 1st started using the App to run your trains, did you have any difficulties? Do you think that using the App is a little trickier than using the remote unit to run LionChief Plus?

At one time I was but at 65 I have to ask my grandchildren some things. I think it was very simple to figure out the Lionchief Plus on the smart phone.

I got the Polar Express LionChief Plus Bluetooth last year.  It was a snap getting it working on the smart phone.  Yes I have to ask the daughters and sons-in-law how to do things more and more.

I use the computer ! 

smart phone is Tracfone , I use it for Emergency use & calling wife & asking what we need from the store .  

 I use my iPad mostly but sometimes I use a desktop computer, one in my office and one beside the layout. 

Saving all this helpful info on my 5-1/4" floppy for future reference.

Chris S.

5 1/2" ?   Why not do all the way back and use an 8 incher?    Or perhaps paper tape.  Yes, I'm that old! 

iPhone or iPad. In the beginning it was all computer but the ease of using the phone and posting photos is incredible. 

bigtruckpete posted:

iPhone or iPad. In the beginning it was all computer but the ease of using the phone and posting photos is incredible. 

I also find it very easy to use my smartphone to post photos and videos.

By the way, I have a pretty big smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8. It is about the same size as an I Phone Plus model. The larger phone makes it easier for me to see the print and send messages, than if I was using a regular size phone.

FireOne posted:

Saving all this helpful info on my 5-1/4" floppy for future reference.

Chris S.

Chris Lord posted:

5 1/2" ?   Why not do all the way back and use an 8 incher?    Or perhaps paper tape.  Yes, I'm that old! 

LOL... Luckily no one brought up punch cards. Obviously, you guys are Post War fans   

Nobody's saving posts to magnetic core memory? .

(no, I'm not actually old enough to have used this professionally, but I remember it from an engineering text book on early memory types)

The company where I got my first computer operator job while in tech school had a machine that converted paper tape to punch cards. So there!  LOL.

RickO posted:

I do both, but there really is no substitute for my trusty old Gateway desktop with the 17" monitor and wireless mouse.

It has more capability, is far easier to navigate with, and I don't have to fight with that **** autocorrect.

 

I hate autocorrect with all my heart. My texts would be readable with the few typos I make. With the phone's interpretation of what I meant to say, it looks like I was suffering a stroke while texting. Of course, I'm not bothered enough to figure how to turn it off . A guy needs something  to direct his anger at now and then! 

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I am curious to know how many of us (percentage  wise) Post and Reply on this Forum using Smartphones, and how many do so using the computer.

I will start us off by saying I only use my Samung Galaxy Note 8 smartphone and have never used the computer. Arnold

I use a Kindle Fire HD 8 - works great!

Laptop computer when I get home from work.  I just heard my H-10 is shipping to my home today Yeah!

Mostly desktop/laptop. A Galaxy Note 4 is my first (and so far, only smartphone--because user-replaceable batteries )

I can and have posted from the phone. Maybe even posted pics with it, though I couldn't tell you when was the last time I did so.

Trainwise, I have used the DCS app on a friend's layout. I may eventually get the equipment to do WiFi operations at home, but I'm not in a rush. I use DCS and TMCC on units suitably equipped (I don't own any Legacy locos, but have TMCC ones).

---PCJ

I read the forum occasionally on my phone, but it seems to be more difficult to login from the phone than a PC, so all my replies and posts are done on a computer.

Both have their place.  PC for forums.

German posted:

RickO posted:

I do both, but there really is no substitute for my trusty old Gateway desktop with the 17" monitor and wireless mouse.

It has more capability, is far easier to navigate with, and I don't have to fight with that **** autocorrect.

 

I hate autocorrect with all my heart. My texts would be readable with the few typos I make. With the phone's interpretation of what I meant to say, it looks like I was suffering a stroke while texting. Of course, I'm not bothered enough to figure how to turn it off . A guy needs something  to direct his anger at now and then! 

You can shut "spell-wreck" & "vintictive text" off..

But that doesn't mean the g-app will stop   

    I struggle with aa phone for the cheapness and hate it.    It's a bad joke compared to a PC. If a phone is your choice; it's a bad one .

Dave45681 posted:

Nobody's saving posts to magnetic core memory? .

I can't remember.  My real memory fails me.

I kid a lot, but my real computer is a spanking new 27" iMac with 5k screen (easy on the eyes) running Windows 10 due to some programs I use only available in Windows.         I love it.

Indoor trains run strictly conventional with DDC, Digits Directly on the Controls. Outdoor trains DC Trackpower with Radio Control.

Chris S.

  I posted more and read more with a pc.  Not fighting spellwreck and vindictive text was huge.

You guys have no idea how awful it is.  Just these two short posts could take a half an hour easy some days.

FireOne posted:

Dave45681 posted:

Nobody's saving posts to magnetic core memory? .

I can't remember.  My real memory fails me.

I kid a lot, but my real computer is a spanking new 27" iMac with 5k screen (easy on the eyes) running Windows 10 due to some programs I use only available in Windows.         I love it.

Indoor trains run strictly conventional with DDC, Digits Directly on the Controls. Outdoor trains DC Trackpower with Radio Control.

Chris S.

This post didn't load last night....

You could have fun with "reel memory".   I used to be in charge of a never ending system back up and data input using reel to reel tapes. What a mess 

Read and post mostly with Macbook Air. When away from computer have used iphone to post and read but prefer the computer. Run trains with ZW and no computers.

Dean

I use the phone to take pics and videos, the desktop computer for posting and reading the forum.

When I was still teaching, my pals at school were always sending me pics.  My best friend there is 22 years younger than me.  It didn't take her long to convince me I needed a serious phone.

The phone is large enough for viewing pics, but too small, compared to the computer, for typing and composing stuff.  I simply download from the phone and get a much larger view of everything from the desktop.  Naturally, a neat desk is a sure sign of a warped mind....

Jerry

I use a telegraph. My friend down the street leaves a hard copy of OGR Forum on my doorstep three times a day.  If I see something I want to reply to I telegraph him and, since he is at his computer 24/7, he logs into my OGR account and transcribes my telegraphy in real time and posts for me.  As for posting pictures....well, that's another story involving a camera obscura. 

Seriously - home computer.

Jerry, I agree!  I have a neat desk and neat workbench too.  There is definitely something wrong with me!  LOL

Robert Butler,  I love the telegraph scenario.  I’ve been known to claim I use an abacus for calculating.  

Yes.

I use both, depending on my situation. Have no preference of one over the other.

I use both. Most of the time I'll use my phone because it is more convenient, but if I'm on a computer than I will use it.

I use my iPad almost every time to read and interact with this forum’s daily digest in my email box.

I use either my iPad or iPhone to read individual responses in my email on topics that I have posted on.

I do 95 percent of my personal web browsing on either mobile device.

On rare occasions, I’ll use a laptop to briefly view an OGR topic or do some general web browsing as something pops into my mind while I work from home. Even less now that I have Alexa (Echo Dot) sitting next to me to answer some basic questions.

I haven’t regularly used a desktop computer in years.

I may be one of the younger ones in the Hobby, but I tend to use a Desktop Computer Mainly. Though generally when I post on here it is from my computer I use at work. I have a smartphone that I will use to quickly catch up on things like Facebook, but that is usually a quick scan through things. I mainly use my smartphone for navigation or playing music, and as a way to contact family mainly. Though lately I have been busy with school work at night, since I am going for my bachelors degree. I do occasionally use my smartphone to run trains, but I haven't done that for a while.

Forum activity/  Apple I-Pad.

photographs to forum /Apple  I-Pad.

train control/Lionel post war ZW.

smart phone/texts, phone calls, and alarm clock...

Hi Melgar, your visual computer engineered images  Peter Max would have been happy to create,  Particularly the third image! Or maybe looking for other signs of life in another universe perhaps?