With the advent of the mobile phone, the world changed. Then, as humans usually do, this was improved upon greatly when Apple created the smartphone.

The smartphone comes with many amazing features and is an essential accessory in and of itself for the modern person, but there are some jobs it doesn’t do as well when compared with traditional methods:

• Looking great while telling the time
• Accurately representing our surroundings
• Recording the written word

These features are all present in a modern smartphone, but the real-world counterparts upon which these features are based win out every time, even when using the most expensive of devices.

Watches and Telling the Time in Style

There are some things that are timeless, pun well and truly intended. The classic wristwatch has been both an accessory and a fashion statement since the day it was invented.

Sadly, the sale of such items as Nomination Watches has declined over the years owing to the fact that many people now forego a watch since they can easily check the time on their phone which they usually have with them at all times.

And now, even the biggest smartphone manufacturers have encroached on the territory of the traditional watch with smartwatches. Initially seen as a gimmick, smartwatches are now being taken seriously as their uses continue to grow such as being very popular with fitness fans because of real-time monitoring apps.

However, even the best-designed smartwatch, and there are many, can’t compare to the stylish glare of a beautiful watch face attached to a leather strap or golden links. 

Many watches have become iconic pieces of fashion, such as the Rolex Submariner from the first James Bond movie Dr. No as worn by Sean Connery or Reverso Grande Taille from Jaeger LeCoultre as worn by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.

Many iconic watches were designed for a purpose and have since become high-end fashion items. Take the two watches mentioned for example. The Rolex Submariner was developed as a reliable watch for divers while the Reverso was designed with a flippable watch face so as not to be damaged while playing polo. Both of these are now some of the most sought after watches in the world.

Accurately Acting as a Mirror

The proliferation of the “selfie” thanks to front cameras on smartphones meant that many people could quickly and easily take a self-portrait in groups or alone when out or doing something memorable. But the selfie-cam found another function, a way for people to check themselves as they would in a mirror.

While the basic premise of this is fine, the selfie-cam is usually of much lower quality than the smartphone’s main camera which often means that the image on the screen is grainy, dark and contains unwanted artifacts. It might also automatically add filters meaning that you won’t get an accurate representation of your face. 

Mirrors are designed to reflect as much light as possible in order to accurately recreate the scope of their field of view. Because of this the compact mirror, like those from Charles Mallory of London, for example, will always triumph over the selfie-cam for last-minute touch-ups, checking for stray artifacts or fixing your hair before a job interview because what you see is what you get.

The Power of the Written Word on Pen and Paper

These days, texting, whether via SMS, Messenger or WhatsApp is by far the most common form of communication that a mobile phone is used for, even though texting was actually added to mobiles as an auxiliary feature that wasn’t expected to be used by many.

With the invention of the smartphone and subsequent models such as the Samsung Galaxy Note, better features were added that allowed for real-time handwriting of text into notepad type apps. However, even today, these apps are far from perfect when it comes to taking notes since they generally aren’t future proof, may have many bugs and are laced with adware. 

Actually recording notes electronically also depends on how well the device being used can perceive your handwriting and unless you use a high-end app such as OneNote or EverNote, which are also not free, you might get poor results.

Nothing compares to the humble pen and note paper when taking notes. Not only are you guaranteed to get perfect results, but an expensive leather notepad case with a well-designed pen like the Aurora Leonardo DaVinci never goes out of style and you won’t annoy everyone while you tap away on a smartphone screen with a stylus.