> Always figure out all the apps I need to use local transport, to park, to charge the car, etc. In plenty of regions you also need special (often confusing) wallet apps to be able to pay for stuff without local bank accounts.
And everybody's favourite, apps that have been region-locked to local-inhabitants-only, because foreign visitors don't exist, right?
> The problem is not smartphones per se. They are very handy. They eliminate the need to carry a thick wallet full of physical ID cards, credit cards, membership/discount cards, etc. They help you if you are lost (who even gets lost anymore, with navigation and maps in your pocket). They let you access information and entertainment wherever you are.
> The problem is the tracking and invasion of privacy, and that all traces back to ads.
The other problem is, what happens when your phone breaks? With more and more things slowly becoming app-only or mandating smartphone-based 2FA, we're slowly getting to a point where when your phone breaks, you're going to have major difficulties buying a new replacement phone in the first place.
> Also the former national railway company decided to not build new crossings at all.
At least partially that's actually the law as well – the default mode for new rail-road crossings is mandated to be grade-separation, with exceptions to that rule decided on a case-by-case basis, though primarily only in cases of low traffic (which in case of roads means ≤ 100 vehicles/day). Plus in actual practice the federal railway authority also having a reputation for a strict interpretation of that paragraph and tending to not grant exceptions has also done its thing, so in practice new level crossing on the federally-operated railway network (i.e. DB) are indeed a total rarity.
Yeah, like for another example, I'd stumbled across some (probably somewhat obscure) blog/podcast series about Bob Dylan songs some time ago, but had forgotten to bookmark it. A few month later, I tried to find it again using the same search terms, but nothing turned up anymore (only dozens of various song lyrics pages, but not the blog I was interested in). Luckily I eventually managed to retrieve it from some older backup of my browser history…
> And personally if it's more than 5 min of walking i would just look up the way to the station and then from the station separately with whatever modes i prefer
Problem is when there's multiple stations nearby and which one has the quickest connection varies depending on when exactly you leave. In that case manually checking every combination of stations could be somewhat cumbersome, especially if there's a choice of stations at both ends…
Ok also true. In my google maps in public transport mode there's also an option to prefer least walking or fewest connections, maybe it's not available in some cities?
Well, in my opinion Google Maps is terrible as an actual map anyway, it's more like some vaguely map-shaped thing that serves as a convenient geographical background for displaying POIs and directions on, but no so much use for actually orienting yourself or getting a feel for the geography of a place.
And +1 to the lack of railway lines when zoomed out, indeed another annoyance along the above lines.
> This is what happens when the market for phone batteries only exists for OEMs who buy millions at a time, custom.
Even a few years ago when phones with replaceable batteries weren't that rare and I was in possession of one – by the time I started thinking about a battery replacement, offers of original OEM batteries usually seemed to have vanished into thin air and it was having to find out which aftermarket battery seemed reputable enough…
No indoor smoking makes a major difference, but there still are enough semi-stationary semi-close-up situations where smokers can be still rather annoying, e.g. outdoor seating in cafes and restaurants, popular lunch break spots in parks and plazas, public transport stops, next-door neighbours… And even if you manage to position yourself upwind of all pre-existing smokers, there's no guarantee that a few minutes later somebody upwind of you suddenly won't light up…
And everybody's favourite, apps that have been region-locked to local-inhabitants-only, because foreign visitors don't exist, right?
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