Ask Lemmy

I'll answer my own question, "Fans". You can absolutely buy a small fan or even one you can wear, but a smart phone can't blow air to cool a person down.

Laptops! I have a gaming desktop computer and also a gaming laptop that I use if I'm going to be somewhere other than my house for more than a day. Mobile games pail in comparison to what can be played on a decent gaming laptop. I wouldn't even think about trying to run even a rudimentary 3D game on my 3~ish year old smartphone which has 3-5 seconds of input lag for everything LMAO

Almost any gadget to some degree.

Mobile phone has a lot of features for sure, you can have anything from cameras to navigation, flashlight, MP3 player etc but none of those features can really match to a purpose built device.

Mobile phones get especially crippled when you're days out without a chance to charge.

Knife/multitool. There is a plethora of options. I enjoy the classic swiss army knife. Scissors, pincet, knife, saw, bottle opener, pliers... You can get it all in one small package.

Headphones/earphones can't be an app.

Cup/bottle/thermos/liquid container. Drink more water, enjoy hot coffee.

A skill. Spend time getting good at some random non virtual things, penspinning, coin tricks, cardistry, calligraphy...

A steam deck (OLED if you have the extra money). Best purchase I've made in freaking ages. It's the most used device I have in my house. Worth every single penny.

Professional work tools come to mind. Laser measures, camera gear, flashlights, 3D scanners, calculators, synthesisers, etc. Sure, there are apps that offer the same functions, but they usually lack the precision and reliability expected from professional tools. There are also some great gaming devices (such as the Analogue Pocket) that probably offer a better experience over gaming on a smartphone.

Stun guns

I carry a spare usb stick and some low-capacity microsd cards, because sometimes its just easier to hand someone a file the old fashioned way.

Sometimes I do play games on my phone, but whenever possible I use a usb or bluetooth gamepad, because touchscreens aren't supplanting buttons any time soon.

And of course the Steam Deck is my favorite gizmo, not just because it can run every PC and emulator game, but also because it doesn't have any bullshit preventing me from installing mods. If phone modding was easy and accessible i'd be willing to spend more on a phone.

If you're looking for an outlet, why not project shop with the aim of making something?

This gives you the opportunity geek out on the gadgets you'll need to pull off whatever you want to make. More importantly, the journey will continue post purchase as chase the thing you want to make.

You can make both digital and physical stuff. With things like CAD, Arduino/Raspberry PI, and IoT you can also blend the two pretty easily.

A very low key example might be a small garden. I've put a bit of time/effort into my seed stating setup, including designing and printing parts for my lighting rig. It seems like the setup iterates a bit every year. In addition, every year I spend a decent amount of time thinking about what I want to grow this year and then diving seed catalogues to find some new-to-me verity of something I've grown before.

You can also design from-scratch speakers and go as far down that rabbit hole as you want to - buy vs build (kit) vs design the amplifier, ditto for the actual speaker, etc.

/a person who likes making things

Books.

The kindle app might be convenient but it's shit compared to an actual book.

Not electronic, but definitely a (set of) gadgets: a compact set of tools. Specifically, I carry a Wera Tool Check, but most any multi-tool with bits and adapters will do, e.g. the old Gerber Diesel with the bit set and carrier.

Regarding useful and reliable, it's Wera, so high quality, and I've saved so much bacon (including my own) with this kit.