Not too long ago, everyday life meant juggling a small army of devices. I had a MiniDisc player, notepad (paper!), camera, and maybe a GameBoy or PSP stuffed into my bag on every journey; you wouldn’t leave the house without them.
But now? Not so much, and that’s because one device combines them all: your smartphone.
I can’t deny the convenience. No one can. But there is definitely something lacking from having all of these devices crammed into one glass and metal rectangle, and that something will never come back. Still, there are a handful of devices that I really loved before smartphones made them obsolete.
Cameras and camcorders
Not just digital
Cameras were one of the absolute mainstays of any bag, road trip, day out, and so on. Did you have batteries? Was the film ready? You wouldn’t leave home without a camera of some sort, even if it was just a single-use, disposable.
And for those that wanted video, a camcorder was also an absolute must, from those chunky relics with actual tapes to the slimline digital camcorders you could stick in your pocket.
One of the biggest positives of smartphone photography is a level playing field. You don’t need dedicated hardware to take an amazing shot these days. Heck, you don’t even need the latest iPhone or Samsung. Something from the last five years (dare I say ten?!) will take a great shot.
These days, we even have entire films being shot on smartphones, such as 28 Years in 2025. It’s a different world, and while DSLRs and mirrorless cameras still serve professionals, the humble compact digital camera is almost extinct, remembered mainly in holiday albums and blurry nightclub shots.
Handheld gaming devices
You can still get them, but smartphones make gaming simple
For kids of the 1990s and 2000s, handheld gaming meant carrying around a Game Boy, PlayStation Portable, or Nintendo DS. These were cultural icons. You’d swap cartridges on the bus, compare high scores in the playground, or get lost in long RPG sessions on road trips. They were portable slices of joy, a gaming fix wherever you went.
But then smartphones changed everything. Well, they did to a degree. Gaming on the go became infinitely more accessible to anyone that didn’t want to carry a dedicated device. Mobile app stores were suddenly filled with games like Angry Birds and Clash of Clans, with millions of downloads and dedicated followings (they even made Angry Birds movies!).
I’m keenly aware that smartphones didn’t fully kill portable gaming devices. If anything, in recent years, they’ve actually had a revival, with the Nintendo Switch, followed by the Steam Deck and other portable gaming hardware. But the reality is that your smartphone has more games than you could ever hope to play.
Music players
iPods, MiniDiscs, and basic MP3 players are all in the same bin
I loved my MiniDisc players. I had two stolen from me at different times, which sucked. But it was such a fun format at the time, and the players looked amazing.
And then there were Walkmans and Discmans, which you’d carry in your bag or pocket and hope they didn’t skip as you walked. It was a different time, that’s for sure.
Of course, in more recent times, we moved to MP3 players, with the iconic iPods capturing the imagination and selling millions of units. Funnily enough, my original iPod was also stolen from me.
Interestingly, Apple contributed to the downfall of its own brand after it began integrating the same functionality in its iPhones. There was the iPod Touch, which looked and felt like an iPhone and iOS, but lacked the ability to make calls. But it was evident the writing was on the wall, and the line was discontinued.
Portable music players still exist, but they’re more in the domain of audiophiles with high-end hardware. For the rest of us, a smartphone with Apple Music, Spotify, or similar is the go-to option.
Portable radios
Always take the weather with you
I remember buying an old horse box, a good few years ago now. It was so old that the radio wouldn’t tune into anything and wouldn’t work at all. To fix this problem on a long journey, I bought a portable radio and a few batteries and tuned it in.
Off I went on my merry way, using my new portable radio. If only I could have heard the thing over the ridiculously noisy horsebox rattling around as I tried to hit 50 MPH on the motorway.
You can still do this, of course, but most of the time, it’s now easier to listen to the radio on your phone, so you don’t have to cart around another device with you. Why bother fiddling with antennas when you can stream exactly the music or shows you want?
Landline phones
No more sitting by the wall phone, unable to move
I’ve not had a landline for around five years at this point. We keep an extra smartphone at home if the kids need to use it, and we’re reachable via cellular, WhatsApp, Wi-Fi calling, and so on.
But for decades, the landline was the hub of every home. Families clustered around cordless phones, waiting for important calls, and teenagers tied up the line for hours. Phone books sat by the receiver, and answering machines filled with muffled messages. It was a ritual of communication that now feels strangely quaint.
Mobile phones started chipping away at landlines in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until smartphones that they truly became irrelevant. Why pay for a fixed line when everyone in the household has a personal device in their pocket? Landlines have collapsed in popularity, with many younger people never having had one at all.
For example, my eldest daughter has used a landline, but I really can’t recall the youngest one ever using one, or even knowing about them.
Smartphones changed everything
What’s next to hit the “killed by smartphones” list? There are more devices that could end up there before long. I actually considered adding paper notepads, but it still feels like a stretch to say smartphones have made paper obsolete.
However, looking back, it’s amazing how quickly the smartphone absorbed so many once-essential gadgets. Cameras, music players, radios, landlines, and more have all been combined into a single device that never leaves our sides.
