It's funny how the discussion turned towards wristwatches, because I usually cite them as an example of seemingly obsolete technology formed into an ergonomically useful piece of equipment that is not likely to be replaced by seemingly more modern equipment such as a smartphone. A phone is just clumsy to get out of your pocket to casually check time. When you're walking, running or riding a bike, a wristwatch is just at the right place. It's a perfect union of form factor and funcionality for that single purpose. But you don't really want to put lots of stuff on a watch, it's best when kept simple and clean.
A calculator is a similar thing. One would say they would become obsolete with all those computers and smartphones that can run a calc app, but a calculator has a distinct place for me in spite of the fact that every modern gadget that I own has a calc app. It is simply more convenient for me to grab a physical calculator with mechanical buttons that click when pressed, and run a few numbers quickly without much thought and without interrupting the other things that I do. A single-app computerized device with specialized interface is, for me, a very good thing. I have several - calculator, voice recorder, wristwatch, and yes, a dSLR. I'm opposed to the swiss army knife paradigm of computerization, where you tend to have one device that does everything, and everything is an app. It's good in a hurry and if you don't have a specific device handy, which is why I own a swiss army knife, too, but I don't want to eat my lunch with it. I prefer single-purpose, specialized devices with well thought out mechanical interface, but computerized and interconnectable. I prefer cameras with mechanical knobs and single-purpose buttons, but digital, able to download images into a computer without chemical processing and scanning. I prefer a dictation device that fits well in hand and has mechanical buttons, but where I can download files into my computer. I don't want computers that look and operate like computers, I want them to be hidden out of sight, to enhance functionality behind a mechanically operated human interface, to do their job quietly and unobtrusively, like they do in engine management of a car. You just drive your car, you operate it with mechanical commands and ideally you don't even know it's computerized. I don't want to control volume on my radio by pressing + and - buttons, I want a volume knob I can turn, and if there's a computer behind it, that's good, but that doesn't mean that I have to adapt to its digital + and - ways of thinking. It has to adapt to my way of thinking, which works by turning the knob clockwise to make it louder.
