New Issue: Orbital Catastrophe Ahead? Read Now

Has Your Smartphone Made Your Other Gadgets Obsolete? [Survey]

Tell us how you use your smartphone, which gadgets it has replaced and where you would like to see the technology go

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

Smartphones have become the Swiss Army knives of the digital age. No need to fill your pockets and handbags with cameras, maps and music players—just grab your all-in-one iPhone or Android device on your way out the door.

The new Apple Pay feature in iOS 8 promises to help the newest iPhones and iPads replace yet another staple of modern life: the credit card. Apple launched its latest attack on the status quo on October 20, with dozens of major retailers—Macy’s, McDonald’s and Whole Foods Market among them—ready to accept payment. Several banks, payment providers and app makers are likewise onboard. Google has offered a mobile wallet on its Android devices for a few years, but the company has built little fanfare to usher its technology into the mainstream. The Apple effect could change that.

Scientific American wants to know more about your smartphone use, the technology it has replaced and what capabilities you would like to see the gadgets offer in the future. How much has your smartphone changed your life?


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


Please fill out our survey below, choosing one answer for each question, before November 15. We will post the results on our Web site by early December.

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe