[miah_]

Been able to do that for a _long_ time.

CuSeeMe came out in 1992, and Email has been around since the early 60's. Yes; now we have 'nicer' versions of these features, and internet connectivity is almost ubiquitous.

You can offload Maps by downloading geographic areas to limit the amount of connectivity you really need.. But ya. GPS is still _HORRIBLE_ on my Android.

Anyways; my point is: All this technology has existed for a long time. Once people started getting broadband speeds at home 'phones' could have been made completely irrelevant.

The reason is; Cable / Phone industry oligopolies.