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Do You Really Need a Smart Phone?
Roblimo writes "My phone is as stupid as a phone can be, but you can drop it or get it wet and it will still work. My cellular cost per month is about $4, on average. I've had a cellular phone longer than most people, and I assure you that a smart phone would not improve my life one bit. You, too, might find that you are just as happy with a stupid phone as with a smart one. If nothing else, you'll save money by dumbing down your phone." I stuck with a dumb phone for a long time, but I admit to loving the versatility of my Android phone, for all its imperfections.
You can not own a television.
Man who does not need bells and whistles says bells and whistles not needed. Story at 11.
It's a HTC Desire Z, and while it works just as well as others' Android phones, the touchscreen is overly touchy, the volume isn't all it could be for the weight of the thing, and it requires a case. You couldn't possibly just stick this in a pocket or bag and expect it to survive.
It's nice to get my mail on, I guess, but absent that, I would be totally down on it.
What would I like? How about a Nokia dove bar with bluetooth support and 3g? Nice tactile buttons and you could just throw it places without worrying too much about it.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Well I don't need toilet paper either
News for luddites?
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Just would not work well working on the road a lot. Could go old school and just keep a paper calendar for scheduling. Not sure how i would handle all the work i get via email.
This is the most pointless post ever to appear on the /. front page.
I avoided getting a smart phone for a long time, even though I'm surrounded by people with smart phones, because I knew that as soon as I had one it would become indispensable, just like my Visor did, and my Palm, and my iPod, and ... so on.
Now, I have an iPhone, and it's indispensable. Sure, I could manage without it, but I use it all day, every day, and I feel I would be lost without it. And while I know that's an illusion, I also know how my brain works. ... which is why I don't have an iPad yet ...
Apache guy, Open Source enthusiast, runner
This may be a sample size of only one, but I can definitely state that not only do I not need or have a smart phone, I also do not need or have a dumb cell phone.
My landline gets little enough use as it is, and when I need to call outside of my local area, I have more minutes on this prepaid phonecard I keep around than I will ever use.
This space unintentionally left blank.
For others, no.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
And if you follow through with your argument you could be as happy living in a cave hunting and fishing. And that might even be true - but for most of us technological advancement is the way to go. Whether it is good in the long term or not, especially with respect to destroying planet Earth, is another question.
I also had a dumb phone for a long time after smart phones made it big, but I just like having access to maps or looking up something you forgot to look up before you left your computer. Then again I'm from Austria, where a 1GB data plan (with 1000 minutes and 1000 texts included) costs around 10 Euros.
My N900 portable computer have phone functionality.
I like the idea of a smart phone, but I have a greater like for 5 to 10 dollars a month for my mobile expenses. At some point I'll get a smart-ish phone, but only when I get the service I want at a nominal fee without some damn 2 year contract.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
But I still want (and have) a smart phone.
Necessity is not the driver of the smart phone market.
forgot the details but having email on the go allowed me to get some deals before others. like buying a condo/coop in NYC and getting a lot of the bidding done over email on the go
overall i don't use it that much but i'm part of a family plan, it's only $30 a month and the device is free after i sell my old iphone/smartphone after 18-24 months
I agree. I have a dumb 2G phone, and a subnotebook if I want to look at the Web or do email. I'm not interested in trying to do input on a dinky screen. If I want to watch a movie, I have a 42" screen at home for that.
Amusingly, the phone I have has a web browser, but if I try to use it for anything, either Sprint's 2G network times out or the browser crashes.
Lying in bed and reading web pages without a bulky laptop (or pants, for that matter) is too good to give up.
I'm a programmer and spend a majority of my day sitting at a computer, with internet access. My phone covers the gaps... like when driving between places with internet service. I'm spending $800 a year to bar-check arguments on wikipedia.
I am giving real consideration to dropping my smartphone for a pay as you go phone for car issues emergencies etc and enjoying the simplier life.
I don't think I've ever realized any value checking into four square, tweeting, facebooking, or reading my email in the few hour interludes between regular internet access points.
Need? No. Want? Yes.
Next.
I just want one. It's a nice quality of life increase to be able to do Computer Things with something I have in my pocket. That's it.
Anymore... there is WAY to much personal info floating around... i really really would love to go back to a dumbphone... or maybe back to a regular blackberry from iphone... phone/txt/email.... thats it... i don't play games and do funny things with my phone, i'm in front of computer all day anyway. And with the $800 i save a year... i can go down to miami music fest drop some E and go nuts!!!
As with most things, you only need a smartphone once you have it.
There are many alternatives besides the premium plans and phones (iPhone, high end Android).
T-Mobile via WalMart: Android phone for less than $200. 100 mins talk, unlimited data and text for $30/mo.
Pageplus: Bring your own CDMA phone. My kid has a Palm Pixi. If you don't abuse data or use wifi for data, it's cheap.
iPod Touch: That's the way I went. I have a cheap prepaid phone that costs less than $10/mo for my light usage of calls and texts. My iPod is in a wifi zone much of the time where I can leverage apps including free texting.
I'm on the waiting list for Republic Wireless who is trying an iteresting business model for $20/mo. The phone has to have a home zone of wifi. When wifi is available, it uses it. Otherwise data will be used. The phone is a basic Android.
It just takes a little effort and research.
I'm amazed at what people will pay for iPhone plans. Some use the value, but I know plenty who still just use it to call and text mostly paying almost $100/mo.
With a smartphone and a data plan you can quickly determine whether or not the store you are at has the best deal for an item, and if it doesn't, where you could get a better deal. And, it's not always something you can plan ahead for (i.e. you need to look it up while you're out, or it would cost more to go home and look it up in gas/travel than just doing it right there).
So I don't know, I find it saves me money quite a lot.
I'm not actually sure if I actually need a phone at all. I spend several orders of magnitude more time on my phone doing other stuff (email, listening to podcasts, general web browsing, GPS navigation, etc) then I do actually using it as a phone.
As such, I'd lose the "phone" long before I lost the "smart".
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I have a old 2G motorola phone I have had for years, that has been to hell and back. dropped, left in the car to freeze, its got scratches all over it and the keys are worn. The only way you'll take it from me is if you pry it out of my hands after i'm dead. Honestly it serves its purpose well, I can text and talk, it's cheap and I find I have no need for a smartphone. (No bells and whistles for me)
Yet.
I still have a dumb phone. If I ever need any of the bells and whistles I just ask a friend or stranger. Most people are usually happy to whip out their shiny new phone to help you out.
I agree. Most pople have been convinced they need smart phones not from well reasoned needs and priorities, but from external marketing and the desire to keep up with the joneses.
There's a tumbler highlighting this: http://wearentreallythe99percent.tumblr.com/. It's a bunch of people saying they can't afford stuff, but the pictures are taken with high end smart phones.
Yes, you can love your smart phone. I like mine. But I'll never say I need it, and it will be one of the first things to go if I'm in a bind for money.
He says at the bottom of the article that he pays 10 cents / minute at Boost Mobile, and his average costs is $4/month. Meaning he only uses the phone 24 minutes a month. That's, like, not at all. He's wildly out of the mainstream.
I don't feel any need to own a cell phone, smart or dumb. I have a landline at home. I have a landline at work. I don't need to talk to people on the phone when I'm in my car (and I don't want to endanger myself or others by doing it when I'm driving). I don't need to talk to people on the phone when I'm walking down the street, or shopping, or hiking or riding my bike.
Find free books.
I'd probably be interested in a dumb phone that could do reliable bluetooth tethering with an iPad or Macbook via Virgin Mobile. My Optimus V does that, and for the time being there's been no blockages on my tethered access. Unlimited 3G (so far) for $25/mo.
I'm one for distinguishing between 'needs' and 'wants'. The thing to realize is that if you can afford it, fulfilling your 'wants' is a valid exercise, it's what drives like 90% of our economy today.
I had a simple cell phone for years - now I more want a Pad type device that can also act as a phone via bluetooth. Is it a need? Heck, I technically don't need a cell phone in the first place, though a basic plan today is cheaper than the landlines, especially when you figure all my family are long distance at the moment.
I don't read AC A human right
I am totally with you on this! I am using my dumb phone (Sony Ericsson) since past 8 years and averaging about $8 per month. Since I am software developer I am in front of the big screen all the time and don't need smartphone (and the expense). But if you are a road warrior or need to do lot of private stuff while at work, then smartphone make lot of sense. So take you pick! But for most populace it's just another toy to pass their idle life ;-)
My smart phone cost 50 EUR (no lock, no contract) plus 10 EUR for the SD card and my monthly cost is whatever I use the phone for (pay as you go, 9ct per minute or SMS). I can get 200MB 3G data for 10 EUR, but I don't need it, so I don't pay for that.
I want to say as a programmer, yes.
However, most of the smart-phones currently being offered are kind of frightful for programming purposes. See, it's the whole tethering aspect which appeals to me, and it's the one thing that I seem to have to most difficulty getting my smart-phone to actually do.
Which brings me to my current project -> getting my Motorola phone to talk to my PC. I'm working on getting the cloak, sacrificial alter, and goat necessary to make this work, only it's on back order because of the holidays.
I am John Hurt.
Most people don't NEED a smartphone. However they WANT a smartphone. Most people also don't know the difference between the two. When enough people have them, the carriers will convince/dictate to you that you NEED a smartphone too. When plain old device service (PODS) is discontinued by the carriers, you will not have a choice but to have a smartphone.
BTW, I claim patent, copyright, and trademark on that acronym. I will sue everyone and Steve Jobs' corpse for 1 Billion dollars if you do not pay my license fee for using that acronym. Even if you are quoting me, you violate the EULA for my acronym.
I had a fairly stupid phone for a long time. Up until about 3 months ago. I would plan ahead using google maps or use my GPS when travelling. However, that doesn't help much when you are walking around a new city. Now that I have a semi-smart phone (BB), planning ahead becomes less necessary and there isn't much risk of having to ask people in a bad (or perhaps bad) neighborhood for directions.
To each their own. You can certainly live without, but it seems like a philosophical stance against technology. Seems like the OP doesn't travel much.
"I assure you a smart phone would not improve my life one bit".
Sorry, but that statement is frankly idiotic. You have NEVER needed a map? Yeah right.
There are a thousand other little ways in which a smartphone improves your life, that's just the most obvious...
Also, most smart phones can be dropped or even accidentally put in water with the same survival rate as your dumb phone.
I can totally understand someone simply not wanting much of a monthly bill, but lets not get absurd about there being no tradeoff for going dumb.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I could argue that I have Internet at work and home to whats the point but also how my life was much QUIETER and simpler when I didn't have a phone. Seriously thinking of pitching it altogether. I had a Motorola Droid (original) for a little more than a year and then SMASHED the damn thing and rolled back to a standard phone. I have not regretted the move back. SIN
My phone is as stupid as a phone can be, but you can drop it or get it wet and it will still work.
My two-year-old dropped my iPhone 3gs in the dog's water bowl. From the time I heard the *ploink*, realized what I had heard, and ran to the kitchen and pulled out the phone out, it was completely submerged in disgusting dog water for at least 15-20 seconds.
The touch screen was so wet that I couldn't swipe to unlock in order to power down. The phone was on at least another 1-2 minutes. I finally turned it off (obviously can't pull the battery with an iPhone) and let it dry out for a couple days. On day 2, I put it in a ziploc baggie with some silica gel packets. During the drying process it would occasionally--randomly!--turn itself on with no interaction from me.
After 2 days of drying, it was good as new. Fully functional, no visible damage, screen fine, touch response fine, etc.
I was very impressed.
I have an iPhone - wait for it - without a contract. It's on AT&T's GoPhone style pay as you go service.
So once you get past the initial hardware, which then comes down to a typical hardware decision, I get all the fun of a smartphone in places with wifi (work and McDonalds!) but all the low expenses of a prepaid-as-you-go plan.
$100 in phone service lasts me about 4 months.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Out with friends, "Who was that actress who was in that 80s movie about the girl who dresses as a guy?"
"Joyce Hyser in 'Just One of the Guys'"
Thank you Google. Phone has paid for itself.
Seriously. It will change your life. So many crappy things in life are made simple and easy by owning one. It's worth the $80-$100 a month you pay for service.
Seriously. Is this what we're reduced to now? Nobody gives a shit if you don't want a phone with more features. Now fuck off.
$4.00 a month is a complete lie unless he get's no phone calls at all. the CHEAPEST prepaid plan is $10.00 a month for minutes that slowly deteriorate or requires a "reup" to keep the number active. and this is for such a miniscule number of minutes it's ridiculous.
I burn through at least 300 minutes a day on the cellphone with tech support or customer support. Plus the smartphone does far more as well as let's me process credit card payments from the customer, pull up documents, etc... I can invoice a client and send them the invoice right from my phone while I stand there, or send them a PAID invoice if they run their credit card. All with that little device in my pocket.
I'm guessing that RobLimo is living off of the Slashdot riches because he can't be working with a $4.00 a month cellphone bill.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Sure you can save money by using a dumb phone, but I work in construction and I always find an use to having a camera with me, sending those pictures by e-mail, as well as being able to check e-mail, checking construction materials specifications on-site, having Excel budget sheets with me, payroll info. Let's not forget how effective SMS/Blackberry Messenger/WhatsApp can be for an organization to pass information along very quick, or in a bank where they don't allow people to talk over a cellphone.
In short, I'm a sucker for smartphones since they have really made my job way more efficient, and I like the feeling of having all my information whenever I want to. Oh, and for me, the phone replaced the laptop for movie watching on long trips.
A car. I could quit my job, or bike to work and arrive a sweaty mess, or move to a city, or take mass transit for an hour vs 25 minutes of commute. A radio. Music is a luxury nothing more. A home phone. People can write letters like we used to did in my days as a kid. A TV. News is only entertainment and the entertainment isn't even entertaining. Electric lights. Candles work, and who needs to be up after dark falls? Plumbing. There's an outhouse down the block. None of these are necessities, unless you want to have a career. Personally my Job mandates I have a smartphone. (IT). So I need one, as without one, I wouldn't be able to afford food, shelter and clothing right now. Past that there is no place for a Smart Phone on Maslow's hierarchy of needs unless it helps to achieve one or more of them. A cell phone is not very useful when what you need is clean drinking water, but then again not much is.
Replace "phone" with "vagina" in the summary, and bask in my glorious wisdom.
Hey, I don't need expensive hoppy microbrews in my beer fridge, but that doesn't mean I'm going to replace my premium beer with cheap megaswill. If luddites are happy being luddites, good for THEM. Also, get the fuck off my internets.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
How do you spend only $4 a month?
For that price, I might actually get a cell phone.
Does it make you feel needed?
Can you say Tamagotchi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamagotchi
I did the dumb phone thing for quite a while a couple of years back. I'm not a huge phone talker and i'd use a couple hundred minutes a month. I bought a tracphone for $20 and loaded minutes on it at the rate of about $20-30 a month. If I lost the phone...who cares?
But when I got my current phone...Verizon/Incredible...can't go back. $120 a month easy...I'm getting murdered on that...my biggest single monthly expense. I'll still pay. I'm a sucker, but it just keeps doing way cool shit. This morning I used google navigate to get to a service call at a client i'd never visited. When I pulled into their parking lot, I look down at my phone and there's a picture of g street view of exactly what I'm looking at out the windshield of my car. It was kinda surreal. And worth every penny.
I've gotten used to carrying a PDA - starting with various Palms (V, Z72, TX, and others I'm forgetting), then a Nokia N800, and finally an Android phone. I don't need a good cell phone - I have a much more ergonomic phone at my desk and a decent landline (VOIP wholesale, very cheap) at home, so I really only need a cell phone for emergencies and occasional use. For me, having a smartphone allows me to carry one less device in my pocket.
The main problem is the cell plan. I'm on an IBM employee plan with AT&T, which gives my wife and I a good discount. Even so, it's too expensive for the amount of use we have - and we don't have data or texting. When our current contract with AT&T is up, I'm looking forward to switching to a carrier - such as Ting or Republic Wireless - that's better suited for our usage patterns. We'll be able to get voice, data and texting for less money than we're spending for voice alone right now.
i opposed smartphones for a long time. I got my first one last year. After choking it with silly apps in the first few weeks, some applications condensed out of it which i do not want to live without anymore. I now have a fake tilt shift cam, a nice reminder system, a remote for my HTPC, a mobile music player and a webbrowser on the go in one device....
Smartphones vs. featurephones are about the same as color TV vs. monochrome TV: sure you don't need it, but after a while you do not want the "old" tech anymore.:
I've owned and used Iphone, Android and WebOS smartphones, and use them heavily, lately an Android HTC Incredible. I'm thinking about chucking the whole bag and going back to voice + SMS. My wife has just done this, in part because her Palm Pixi was unusably buggy hardware at 1.7 years age.
The alternative option: Nokia 1616. In the US, it's $20 and can be operated with unlimited SMS and no contract for $15/month on T mobile. This is an annual Total Cost of Ownership of 10% of a smartphone if you finish the contract and some 5% if terminate early.
I look at it this way: while software is moving towards many pieces loosely joined as the paridigm for success, we're going the opposite route for hardware. The Phone as the mainframe of personal gadgetry. Screw that.
So what do I give up? Not much. I'll keep the smartphones as wifi devices, and I'll likely keep my 4G wifi hotspot, which means I'm not actually losing anything. However, I'm at radically lower costs, and I'm not beholden to a $1000 device that can't get wet, dropped, or crushed. If my phone gets trashed, I can be up and running the same day for $20 dollars. I also lower my surveillance and data retention profile, which is something I value. Less carrier malware or keyloggers for me, thanks.
At home using WiFi it synchs with gmail contacts and calender. Thus even on the road all the contact info is available. Reminders and alarm clocks with multiple alarms work. Cheap 5$ apps like Co-Pilot gives you some GPS functionality, directions etc. (Co-Pilot takes a while to get find the satellite and calculate current position, after that it is not too bad). Some simple games, good storage for lots of music and photos etc.
But the best feature is the Wi-fi calling. Most cell companies charge you air-time minutes even if you use the Wi-Fi calling. But that is home base minutes. Not roaming, not interntional. So if you are on a cruise ship or a foreign country with cyber cafe, you can save a bundle on international calls. Cruise ships typically charge 50$ for internet vs $3.95 a minute for cell phone call. International roaming is outrageous. Most foreign cyber cafes give you internet access at about 1$ per hour.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I need a camera and an MP3 player and I need putty so that I can idle on IRC anywhere, any time. My phone happens to do all of those things, meaning I only need my keys and my wallet in addition when I go anywhere. Anywhere, except space and deep underground since it also has GPS. I can for example listen to internet radio in the wilderness of Lapland if I just climb a mountain with a view.
I think the issue here is whether or not you know how to utilize your smart-phone effectively. Obviously if you're in the Lapland wilderness you should should be listening to the profound silence and not the latest Minecraft webcast.
You can use your smart-phone for reading bar codes and all those fancy web things. When HTML5 and geo-awareness finds its killer app, it'll be like you have a new telepathic sense of your surroundings.
All rites reversed 2010
I call them Dumb-phones
I have an iPhone - wait for it - without a contract. It's on AT&T's GoPhone style pay as you go service.
So once you get past the initial hardware, which then comes down to a typical hardware decision, I get all the fun of a smartphone in places with wifi (work and McDonalds!) but all the low expenses of a prepaid-as-you-go plan.
$100 in phone service lasts me about 4 months.
That's the direction I've been figuring I'd go. T-mobile allows you to have a smart phone and buy a week or month of connectivity as you go, sans contract. It looks attractive.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My fear is that when Skynet takes over, smart phones will consume the brains of their operators.
Major freeway tie-up when I needed to catch a plane. Smartphone got me there.
Big problem at work and not near home or work. Smartphone to VPN, ssh and solve it quickly.
200 passwords to keep track of. Smartphone does it.
Dumbphone wouldn't work for any of that.
I'd like to have one but can't afford one! Perhaps Roblimo could be so kinds as to buy me one. No?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
So if you want to argue that "people don't need smartphones" - I find it kind of nonsensical. If I had to give-up one major feature of my "smartphone", it would probably be the "telephone" piece. If I were to rate in order of importance what I use my iPhone for, I'd have to say:
- Calendar (Shared and synced)
- Notes (Everything from gift ideas, to what kind of light bulbs I have in my house. Some of my notes I've been maintaining and using for YEARS).
- Email
- SMS
- GPS
- Camera
- Games & Entertainment (Yeah - hate to say it - but I kill a LOT of spare time with my iPhone!)
- Facebook
- Mobile Web (Hate to admit it, but the "experience" is still lousy on a small screen)
- Misc. productivity apps
Oh yea...and..
- Telephone
I have an iPhone 4 because my work provides it. I'm on call, and I can usually handle tricky situations remotely, even if I'm not someplace that has a computer I can use. Before I got placed on call, I used a Tracfone. We had one for me, my wife, and our two kids. We had a family plan that only cost us $30 a month, and if the kids wanted more talk time, they could pay $10 to get 100 minutes, but that was their responsibility, so I never had to face overage charges.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
They are advanced multipurpose computers with 4" touchscreens.
"phones" pshhh
I'm the opposite. I loathe smart phones. I always have a notebook and Internet access.
However, it isn't long before someone complains that they can't post to their blog, or upload photos to their forum, or remove items from their cart, etc... from their "smart phone". Now I need them just to see how web apps function on them. I long for the days when my only worry was IE compatibility.
I had a choice: Buy a $200 bagpipe tuner (the cheap chromatic tuners are all equal tempered, and thus don't work for just-tempered instruments like the great highland bagpipe), and a ~$100 GPS and a $100 ipod and a $20 metronome... or buy one android phone, install gStrings, mobile metronome and PowerAmp (under $10 total) and get more total functionality for the same overall price. That's ignoring the phone aspect, obviously. And the camera. And the e-mail. And the text messaging with a full dvorak keyboard. And the mobile web browser...
Not a sentence!
Can I live without a smartphone? Yep, I did so untill some two months ago. I can live without any kind of phone too.
Did my life improve after I brought a smartphone? Yep. I still didn't need maps, but accessing my bank anywhere, and having some games for my daughter are usefull. Also, it does thetering, so all the problems with 3G modems and non-standard carrier authentication on Linux are gone.
Anyway, my monthly bill is still under $4. It did increase a bit after I brought the phone, because sometimes I use 3G, but not that much. (Or are you one of those people that get the phone for "free" and them pay for it for the rest of you life?)
Rethinking email
Do you need it? No.
Guess what? You don't need that "dumb" phone either.
Nor that computer you used to write this.
All you "need" is food and water, everything else is just gravy.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Getting rid of your phone will save even more money!
Frankly I'd be happy to drop the phone part of my smartphone. If you want to talk to me, why don't we go have coffee somewhere? If you need to send me a quick message, use SMS or email. That way I'll get it even if I'm driving or pooping or whatever.
I have a 10 old retention plan from Sprint that's too good to replace. I get 2500 anytime minutes shared among 5 phones (in 4 different area codes), nights and weekends starting at 7 PM, unlimited long distance, unlimited phone to phone minutes, unlimited texting, unlimited 3G data pack, unlimited photo pack, and an Airave hot spot-all for 110 dollars a month, including all taxes and fees. To change my plan so I could use a smart phone would at least double my monthly cost, si I have the smartest dumb phone I can have, an LG Rumour Touch.
Where did you get such a cheap cellular plan? I hardly make any calls, but my bare-bones prepaid phone plan costs more than $4 a month. In the US, the cheapest I found is T-Mobile To Go, which charges about 10 cents a minute if you buy $100. Since the minutes last at most a year, the minimum you have to pay is about more than $8 a month.
a smartphone has proven to save lots of time I would otherwise sit at an awful computer instead, chained to a keyboard and a desk and a mouse or a touchpad, sitting on a chair. It gives me freedom from computers (to a certain extent) and/or from finding a chair and a surface to set up my laptop. And this is a good thing.
Of course you also may say you don't need a computer or the Internet or hot water or anything than water to drink. Yes, no doubt. What you need is air, water, food and just enough clothing not to freeze to death. Everything else is luxury. But it's not bad just because it's luxury.
Nothing against minimalism, but these days I would rather give up my computer(s) than my smartphone (as long as I can also keep a bluetooth keyboard ;-)
There was a time where nobody though we'd have a device that would be a pda, internet browser, email reader, casual game player, gps, camera, music player and video player. Hell, we thought a lot of those things were novelties all together because nobody would want to carry around a lot of devices.. Yet now I can do all of the above from any major mobile provider, and do it reasonably well.
I say bring it on. I /want/ all of the above I've been content to carry around nothing but an iphone for years and I'm loving it more and more with every iteration. The next big market I see is games.. And its mostly physical issue. The sort of bulk and strength you need in a device for traditional game input is generally not compatible with what most people think of as a smartphone. It is, however, not surprising to see gaming surge in the smartphone market as touchscreen input games become more popular.
What I'm needing less and less is actual voice service. A lot of the "guts" of your average smartphone seem to revolve around voice. Legacy baggage it seems. I guess that's ok because it's reliable.
When I was a boy...
Yes, Grandpop...
Phone numbers were buildings, and now they are people...I don't like it much that I can be reached anytime. I have a pay-as-you-go cell phone that I never take out of the car.
I have a smart phone, and a damn good one (Samsung Galaxy Note, 5.3" screen and pretty much best CPU, GPU, Battery...), but no data plan for it. So I get a very low monthly bill, and a nice toy on which to read, play, listen to music, watch videos... WIfi is prett much everuwhere I go, and when there's no wifi, I've got a lot of preloaded content anyway.
Best of both worlds ! Of course, I'm not a mail/IM/FB/Twitter addict.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
No you don't need a smart phone. You also don't need a computer, car, TV, ipod.
For that matter you don't need shoes, a toothbush, medecine or soap.... but damn if they don't make life easier.
Now, for MY job on the other hand, I need this phone. I'm expected to carry this phone and be this 'in touch' at all times. If I'm not, they'll find someone who will. So don't tell me I can do without when responding to email on a timely basis is part of my job.
Thanks
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Umm, OK. Getting slightly grossed out just thinking at what capabilities a super-villain named "Dr. Smegma" might have... That aside, TFA's author has a number of good points (at least given his particular perspective), albeit few if any he could sell to most individuals under 35 years of age.
Discussion System prefs link: http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=editcomm
I ride the bus to and from work every day. I could carry a dumb phone, plus an mp3 player, plus a netbook, I suppose... but instead I have an original Droid, and it gets all that done in a much smaller and more convenient package, along with GPS navigation, flash drive file transport, encrypted password wallet, and a cheap camera.
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
So the only way to pay full cost for the phone upfront so as to avoid that 30+% effective interest rate (that results from spreading its costs over two years on your cell phone bill) is to use as pay-as-you-go plan?
Does it cover web/texting?
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
When our kids started school my wife got a beeper (pager) so she could be reached when she wasn't home in an emergency. Eventually ma bell wouldn't renew the service and Motorola wouldn't replace/repair the pagers anymore so we ended up with TracFone. My wife liked the idea of having the phone in the car in case something happened (she once did get a flat on I95 and called AAA for help). Now the kids are in HS and will start College next year. They are both iPod/iPad geeks. So we moved them from TracFone to AT&T 'droid phones. There are good uses for a smart phone for students, and some people like them to shop with (compare the competitor's web site from the store and get the manager to match or beat their prices). I wouldn't go overboard with a data plan though, I don't need to download movies to watch on a phone (and wouldn't want the kids to either). The web on a phone is like having an encyclopedia, an atlas, and lots of other data bases in your pocket. Remote control applications are endless. Still, for most of us all we need is a gd phone.
I've got a blackberry :-(
I played the "keep up with the latest phone" game for a long time and then quit cold turkey. After the initial withdrawals.. yes there are real withdrawals, it is amazing how free you feel.. imagine the day you turned in that company beeper.. its like that freedom but 24/7. The addicted will squeel about all manners of why they need them.. For me, it was like shedding shackles.
I can't tell you the number of times my iPhone has allowed me to take the kids to the playground while tending to work stuff. The kids can play, and I can spend 90% of the time playing with them, and 10% answering emails.
The alternative would have been the kids stay home and don't get a workout.
Do I *need* a smartphone? No. But has it saved time enough for everyone in my family to make it worthwhile, and improved family life? Yes. absolutely.
I noticed the author said he was a limo driver. This means he has a place to keep a camcorder, laptop, music player, briefcase, etc. I got a smartphone because carrying a bunch of electronics was a pain. All those things he carries are in my phone, which is in my front pocket.
An externally synchronized contact and calendar would be enough. The rest is fluff.
... if I never leave my mom's basement and the glow of my really computer? Hell, without any friends, I only really need a phone to tell my mom to make me more hot pockets.
I am in the technology field. I have an iPad, an iPod and an Android. I use them all (not so much the iPod). But having grown up where there was no TV, no radio, no telephones (except one for the whole community), my POV is that technology like smart phones significantly modifies behavior. People tend to get trained by the technology and lose sight of the practical use cases which in most cases are questionable. For instance, I have seen a group of teenagers sitting together at a table, each one busy texting and no one talking. How many times have you seen someone with a cell phone glued to his ear while attempting to do something else? In my case, I am required to be available pretty much 24/7 and to have access to the servers but the reality is that rarely happens. It annoys me in the extreme when I am having a conversation with someone and their cell phone rings or notifies him/her of a message and the conversation is dropped in favor of the intrusion. The behavior modification is analogous to a dog leash. The main point being: is there often anything so important that it could not wait a few minutes or an hour or a day or more? The portable technology tends to own you
I don't know why people call these palm computers a phone, its only a small part of its function. Its a camera, a mp3 player, a picture store, a video camera, word processor, to name a very few. Before this all these function were carried out by other machines which were often not very portable or another human.
PCs at work, PC in my home workshop, notebook by my recliner from which I'm posting, etc mean I don't use the features on my "semi-smart" phone or care they exist.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Never mind whether or not you really need a smartphone (although I think most people do NOT need one), I want to know how you get cellphone service for $4 per month?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
How do I get a cell plan for four dollars a month on average?!
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
I'll cling to my prepaid cell until it's pried from my cold dead etc. Not saying having a smartphone is bad: It would be quite convenient in fact. However, I'm saving a bundle by not converting to the Dark Side, and I plan on riding this ride for as long as possible.
What I really want is a dumb phone that is just a dumb phone, a pocket computer that is completely mine to control (basically an iPod Touch without the "Obey Apple" stuff) and a hotspot.
I'm close -- I have the hotspot, the iPod Touch (though not rooted), and carry a Linux laptop. My phone is an Android G1 that has been so abused and so rarely updated that it is basically a dumb phone now.
Ultimately my point is the same one I made to my brother back in 1999 when he was considering a Palm 7 (or whatever the one was that had network connectivity): Convergence is not for everyone. It may work for the average knuckle-dragger who only needs the 80% heart-of-the-market functionality, or the hipster who worries about having too many devices in his pockets ruining the line of his doofus-wear, but anyone who wants a high-functioning device will typically be better served by a larger number of more specialized devices.
The attendant upside is that you can replace individual components. For example; keep the pocket computer and hotspot, get a new dumb phone for under $50 pay-as-you-go.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
I dare you to try and find a good dumb phone... they do not exist! The market needs a simple phone that is well designed, I'll call it the "iPhone Nano"
No such thing as a smart phone. What I own is a pocket computer with high speed radio data communications capabilities, among many other features. After using many such devices, I can assure you that they are not "smart" in any discernible way.
I rarely use the cellular voice network feature of the little computer. But I *do* use the general purpose wireless data capabilities frequently. I'm not sure how that makes the device smart or dumb. But if the device only had the cellular voice network feature, it would be mostly unused device for *me*. One which I would carry around. Perhaps that's what's meant by "dumb"...
Want? YES. I don't need my smartphone, I don't do much actual work from it, but I enjoy having it alot, it's just a toy but who doesn't like toys. It's worth the cost to me for that reason alone.
Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
Money isn't why I don't have a smart phone. I could easily afford it.
I just don't normally have a great need or want to be available at all times. My job doesn't really need it, either. I use a tracfone that I leave shut off most of the time. It's there to give me 911 access, and let me check voicemail from time to time.
Yes, it sometimes would be nice to have mobile access to google or wikipedia, but it's rarely something I need "right then".
Most of my friends have smart phones, it fits them and their lifestyle and that's great.
I'll somehow survive not having 24/7 access to Angry Birds. ;)
I would be fine with the $10 "pay as you go" (no monthly plan) phone I picked up as a spare. In many respects it's a better phone: battery life is probably measured in weeks, it gets a great signal, it's smaller/lighter and the cost means minimal concern from losing or damaging it. I'd save quite a chunk of money.
But about once a month I do need a smartphone. Or at least, I need satnav and the company pool car does not have it. Sure I could use the map under the seat but I don't really know the out-of-town geography very well and the relative convenience of the "satnav" isn't far off equating to modern "necessities" like, say, a microwave. I've been... Temporarily out of position, in darkness, in the middle of nowhere and all it took to get back on track was pulling over and a quick look at my phone.
Also nice to be able to get email, browse the web and maybe a bit of gaming if I'm waiting around somewhere. On a related note, is it me or do people seem suspicious of someone hanging around with no obvious distraction?
So the only way to pay full cost for the phone upfront so as to avoid that 30+% effective interest rate (that results from spreading its costs over two years on your cell phone bill) is to use as pay-as-you-go plan?
I always knew that freedom has a price tag, I just don't understand how the telcos managed to be on the receiving hand of that.
lucm, indeed.
The data portion is getting chucked. Half the price right there. I can do wi-fi and get by.
I'm of the same mindset as the author.
However, over the past few weeks I've given myself permission to get a smart phone, eventhough I do not have a use for one.
My problem is price.
Maybe a slashdotter can help me out.
I resisted getting a "dumb phone" for years as well until the pricing fit my needs. I keep it switched off in the glove compartment of car unless I need to meet someone somewhere. I use a prepaid service called pagepluscelluar.com. All I have to do is buy $10 worth of minutes every 3 months. Almost nothing is wasted.
Is there a company offering similar pricing for a *data plan* for an android phone?
If not, what is the cheapest prepaid or pay-as-you-go plan --- for the most modern android phones?
You *need* food, water, shelter, air, and social interaction. Smart-phones, and anything else not on the list, are wants. Anything else, no matter how useful or important it is to you, is a want.
2 dumbphones, on VirginMobile PAYG - $25month total. Maybe 45minutes a month use on mine.
1. We don't go out a whole lot. No need to check email or websites on the go. When we do go out, generally it is with friends, and not dicking around on the phone.
2. Cannot have phones at work. I can't even bring it into the building, lest the screeching box at the entrance rats me out.
3. She can't be on the phone at work (retail)
4. So either I'm at work with full internet access, or I'm at home with full multiscreen, multi device access. She talks a LOT on the landline phone at home
5. Short commutes - 15 minutes each way, spent driving, not checking email.
6. Dedicated GPS in the cars. 1 time fee.
For our usage patterns, smart phones with a data/text/unlimited minutes plans do not work and are far more expensive. I've run all the numbers, and even ditching the landline portion of the Verizon FiOS bundle and going cell only is way more expensive than what we have now.
YMMV
Yes, I need a smartphone, but not for making calls (the phone app is the least used app on my device). I need the always on data connection for work, the smartphone replaces a bulky USB GSM modem. Though laptops got integrated GSM modems some time ago, a smartphone with a decent keyboard can replace a laptop in many cases and is a lot more portable.
Not anymore it seems...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I have a Droid X for $30 per year on Page Plus Cellular. The down side is I had to pay full price for my phone, and I don't use mobile data. The up side is that, thanks to Google Voice and Sipdroid, I use my actual minutes so rarely that I can get by with only paying $30/year! They also have other plans that beat the big boys' plans hands down.
Contracts are for chumps!
A Droid X. It's replaced all of those devices for me. On rare occasions I will tether my old Eee 701 to the X but the vast majority of the time, the 4.3" screen is just fine. I had to wait until such a product existed to make the move, however. Big fingers and smaller phones just don't work. I use Swiftkey X which gives me a slightly larger keyboard and I would love to have an even bigger screen but the X has done the trick for me for a year or so now.
Did I need all that stuff? Probably not, but I've certainly enjoyed it.
It's a perfect time for being wasted.
A perfect time to watch the stars.
- Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
I'm on a $7/mo "payLo" dumbphone plan from Virgin Mobile. The cheapest PAYG plan for smartphones from the same carrier is $35/mo, with more voice minutes in a month than I'll use in a year. Is there a cheaper option in the United States?
This argument can be made for all kinds of technological conveniences, so what was the point of this "article" again?
I don't technically need a car, or a TV or a computer, or even a refrigerator.
But I can afford these things and like what they provide me. So why not?
Jhyrryl
Ancedote:
My smart phone paid for itself the afternoon I accidentally misconfigured the firewall on the company's ecommerce server (which is in a colo several hours drive from me). Misconfigured as in blocked my own IP address instead of whitelisting it. I was able to download a SSH client, open a terminal session and revert the firewall settings from my phone.
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
A smart phone is essentially a small computer connected to the internet. By virtue of this you have access to google, which is basically an searchable index of all human knowledge.
It seems to me this would be useful to everyone
...is food, water, and sleep. Is it useful to have a smartphone? Yes, and bothering other people about theirs is a pretty obvious way for you to cope with feeling left behind for not having one.
I wouldn't trust a person who's never owned a smartphone to know what they're missing, any more than I would trust a person who refuses to join Facebook to understand what they're missing by refusing to join Facebook.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e04-you-have-0-friends
Pay phones were far more common in 1991 than now. I carry a pay-as-you-go dumbphone because so many pay phones have been taken out of service.
I moved in to a new city, and the GPS on my smartphone has helped me a lot of times to find my way. There. I do need a smartphone.
People trying to justify their "need" for a smartphone. I am a FOH soundtech and travel the country. I have a Samsung Rugby with no data plan. I get my emails from my laptop at any hotel we stay at. I watch movies on the bus on my Laptop. I take pictures with a camera. I had an iPhone but gave it to my buddies kid because it never replaced ANYTHING that I owned. I could`nt even use it for music playback because the audio quality sucks. I have a phone to talk to people.
What I really want?
I work on the move all the time and am very rarely in an office. My HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon 4G is one of the key factors that allows me to actually work _and_ get out and enjoy society. I've fielded calls and worked issues sitting in my car in a Target parking lot. But, that's what I do. I basically get paid to be available at a moments notice and provide support. I am happy with the trade off. I get great flexibility, and in return, give up some of my personal freedom.
So, here's my biggest issue to date. Smart devices are getting too big to be truly portable. Try dragging a 4.5" device around the gym on an armband. Or find a place for it on a 5 mile run. I need to be connected, but sometimes only really need the old school phone/texting features. What I would love to see is carriers offer a single phone number that will route to multiple SIMs in multiple devices. That way, when i don't need the power and bulk of the Thunderbolt, I can grab a small and pocketable device instead.
Perhaps Google voice can accommodate this? Anybody have any experience with it?
7 years ago I paid quite a lot of money on a reasonably "dumb" phone. It had a small colour screen, could go online and show mobile web pages (badly), it would even provide tethered mobile internet (very badly). But it did have a nice calendar, a decent address book, and Opera Mini worked (again badly).
Now I spent less money on a cheap Android, and it is great. I still spend around 1 buck prepaid per month, but I get a modest amount of free internet with it, just enough to use Google Talk on the move, to check out prices, or to upload a picture to Facebook. Android for the masses is what I have been waiting for. (And I am the first to admit that it has flaws and truck loads worth of bugs.)
I don't NEED it any more than I NEED anything else in live other than shelter and calories. That said, what I WANT is to get rid of the phone service and simply be able to take and leave voice messages via something more like an iPad... a mobile work-facilitating communications hub. I find it a false necessity to have to put down a gorram phone number on legal forms, etc... especially when, given the fact that I don't place or receive calls, even GOphones cost me on the order of $50 a minute since their minutes expire. My smartphone has been an invaluable resource to me, though, on many occasions... I just don't need the gorram minutes that I have to have to use the damn thing. And I'm not making it up at all when I say that I've lost 115 lbs through the use of an iphone app.
I have an iPhone
STOP! Gaaaahh! I can't believe he admitted that!
The cake is a lie.
With a universal communication functionality, preferably.
Sadly, most "smartphones" are not real computers.
The Nokia ones were. But Nokia is officially declared dead now, and unless we manage to put Linux their new things, they are just as much not a choice as iFail and Androshit
My ideal handheld device will be the one that comes without an OS and with swappable modules (think PCI), while still fitting in my pocket.
This is no problem to do today. It's just that nobody has the balls. Oh well, a Chinese company may Just like Japan started making parts for IBM computers back in the days, which allowed us all to get one.
Stuck with horse and buggies and suits them just fine. And I applaud their choice and convinction.
But pardon me if I join the rest of the modern world and utilize and automated mobile vehicle for transit.
Thx.
To me paying for a smartphone at 100 dollars/month is stupid, not cause you're really paying for the data in the long run with rates like Verizon you you pay up to 8 gigs a dollar (ouch) to me that ridiculous to pay that t much but if you want the latest and greatest there is.
The guy does not need a smartphone, because he carries a laptop and HD camcorder with him all the time. I mean, sure, but I prefer having only one backpack with me, and having all of my tech (i.e. smartphone) with me all the time as well.
FYI, your "wifi-only smartphone" is called an iPod touch.
The problem is that until very recently, Apple had a near monopoly on "Wi-Fi-only smartphones", or "PDAs" as they used to be called, and there weren't any Android counterparts the way there are to the iPhone. That changed a couple months ago when Samsung introduced the Galaxy Player.
I save on my bill by simply not having a mobile phone. When I live my workplace i don't want to be bothered by work When I leave my home I want to get away from the phone. as far as other functionality that "Smart phones" bring If I need a map I use (wait for it) a Paper map! you can get nice State maps for free at state ran tourist info booths As far as browsing, email, calendering and all of these other features if I think I am going to need those while I am not close to my desk I grab my laptop bag I can do everything with it a smart phone can at a place with free wireless for the price of a cup of coffee and in the process have a Screen that is readable ad a useful keyboard.
I'm tethered to a PC all day anyway, except when I'm driving
If you took the bus instead of driving, would you have more chance to use a smartphone?
I had a smart phone, now I have a dumb phone and I hate its limitations: The calculator, the "notepad", the voice memo (non existent), and the mobile-only web. The calculator doesn't do expressions (just an operator followed by an operand, like a classic desk calculator). I don't need apps, but I do need something handier than a crippled "feature" phone. (And think about this: The only reason the features are limited is a purely arbitrary business choice - not because my phone CAN'T run an expression based scientific calculator in 2mb of RAM but because LG simply decided that's not the software they want to package with the phone...)
So yea, the low-end smart phone market - with amped up feature phones running apps and hardware cheap enough that it doesn't need to be offset with 2 year contracts and a perpetual monthly data plan fee - I can see that market becoming huge for us $20/mo phone users and even regular smart phone users who eventually will see that spending $300-700 to play angry birds, mp3's or spotify, and to get weather notifications (not to mention the monthly rates of smart phone, putting the cost of each phone in use on the plan at about $24/week ON CONTRACT over 2 years, and that's for the average minimal user) --- that just isn't good home economics. Smart phones aren't necessary, but dumb phones just don't cut it in 2012.
Or with no cellphone at all.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I also do not need or have a dumb cell phone.
With payphones disappearing, how do you call someone if you happen to need a ride?
I wonder if the anti-smart phone as an unneeded expensive expense people are people with IT careers that have peaked or not.
Are these people cutting edge IT folk still gaining standing in their tech careers or are they older people whose careers have plateaued, at least as far as their technology learning goes?
I mean absolutely no disrespect.
I am an older IT professional ( > 20 years old ) myself. I also think, from a purely rational and financial perspective smart phones are a bad idea.
That is, from a rational & financial perspective.....purely.
A few years ago I noticed my attitudes gravitating toward the conservative/anti-innovation side of things. I was becoming old in my thinking.
I've been working on my attitude since then.
I've been thinking about getting an android. Not to feel a need, but to avoid becoming the old crank who lives slightly out of the loop with everyone else, going on about how he doesn't need email, phones or cars. After all the pony express still delivers letters.
I remember those people from my youth and my vanity will not let me become one of them.
I grew up watching Star Trek and being a sci-fi fan, so I was kind of shocked when I noticed myself not running with technological change.
First off all, I dumped my landline back in 2002 when everyone's systems in the US absolutely assumed you had to have one. It saved money to pay for 2 cell plans (was married at the time). The convenience made up for the extra cost.
Likewise I have a smart phone that costs 90 bucks a month, I'd pay 40 (or was it 50 when I had it?) bucks anyway for unlimited calling on Boost. I'm sorry, he may only make enough calls due to having a landline or whatever that he only needs 4 bucks a month in cell use, but most people have family and business.
I, too, ignore my phone when I don't want to answer it and the world doesn't end. That's a great lesson and all, but you don't have to dump your smart phone to learn and benefit from it.
Do I get an extra 40 dollars in value out of my smart phone? In value yes, in savings, no, but there are savings associated with being able to price check items in a store against competitors and find a cheap place to eat wherever you are (instead of spending more at a chain).
"I don't need GPS because I don't get lost." Seriously? Does this guy just live in a small town? Is he a shut in? Because he sounds like one. Does he not value the time it takes to look up and print out a Google map to a new acquaintance's home across the city? Does he enjoy driving around looking for a place to eat or arriving at a store only to find out it's closed? Maybe this guy's life is simple and boring and he's happy with it, whatever, maybe there's a few people that, like him, benefit from operating in such a fashion. Suggestion this is advice for the mainstream is like me suggesting normal people should build gaming style computers instead of buying a $400 laptop from Dell.
I have an iPhone - wait for it - without a contract.
I have been reading up on this and have been contemplating doing this to my phone when my contract is up. This is a sample article similar to the ones I have read:
http://modmyi.com/forums/t/754109-iphone-gophone.html
Does this work well? Did you run into any issues?
Right now I don't need a smart phone.
Within a couple years a smart phone or tablet may be a better option for me than a point of sale terminal, employee time clock, and inventory management scanner.
I'm sure once upon a time there were people who didn't even have a landline phone, then there were the hold-outs on getting connected to the internet. If you want a simpler life, go for it, but for anyone with a thirst for knowledge and gadgetry its not today's reality.
as long as we're having discussions like these.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
Actually, no one NEEDS a cell phone at all. It is a convenience nothing more (or perhaps a safety device for people traveling alone in certain areas). I was completely satisfied with my feature (non-smart) phone of which I used probably ten or fifteen minutes a month. But it was nearly four years old, the battery was dieing and no longer holding a charge. So last week I have "upgraded" to a shiny new Android phone, mainly to see just what all the hubbub was about. The first thing I noticed was a $30 increase in my plan "just because" it is a smart phone. Next, the battery life on these things blows. The published specs on my model says you can get 200 hours of standby time, but if you actually turn the thing on it lasts for maybe 48. I am finding that there are some things that my old feature phone could do that these new "smart" phones can't. For example my old phone could set a separate alert tone for incoming text, picture, and video messages while the smart phone only has a single "alert" tone. Although I've had this for only a week now and might just not know how. Another loss of functionality involves the built-in spying that goes on, Android is notoriously insecure by design and I have to make sure I don't use this phone for any on-line banking activities.
Overall I like what I see, but realistically I probably won't use 90% of what it offers.
That's the direction I've been figuring I'd go. T-mobile allows you to have a smart phone and buy a week or month of connectivity as you go, sans contract. It looks attractive.
+1 here (if I had mod points)
I have an unlocked Motorola Atrix ($150 on craigslist) on a T-Mobile monthly4G $30 plan.
You can also live without electricity and running water. Electrical lights in the house make women more vulnerable to predators. And running water makes them lazy. This "story" is as old as the world itself. A far more interesting question would have been - how do you not get overwhelmed being constantly connected? Lots of people could use an advice there.
I have a Nexus One that I bought at full price, and a T-Mobile Pay As You Go plan. I love having a computer in my pocket all the time, but I do very little talking on the phone, and I spend nearly all my time in places with wi-fi access. My cellular bills add up to about $25/year.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
I have a prepaid AT&T GoPhone which makes all the calls I care to make and costs me $9/month. In addition, I have an iPod Touch that does nearly everything an iPhone does whenever WiFi is available for $0/month. Sure, it would be nice to have a new iPhone that would work everywhere, but I just can't justify increasing my monthly fee by 700% for the convenience.
I got into computers when I was fairly young... well, for the time. I was 13, and Way Back Then not everyone was born already having a computer or three in the house.
And even Way Back Then, one of the dreams, the truly grand dreams that we HOPED we'd ever see but didn't know if would happen in our lifetime, was a truly portable computer that fit in your pocket.
AND NOW I HAVE ONE. It's in my pocket right now. It runs Linux, I can ssh into (and out of) it, it is virtually ALWAYS CONNECTED to yet another of our dreams, the now-ubiquitous Internet, I can TELL IT to search for something and 90% of the time it'll get it right, I can check my email on it, and in rare circumstances, and I mean rare... I can use it to make and receive phone calls.
You know what you should do? STOP CALLING IT A "SMARTPHONE". It's a portable internet-connected computer that happens to be able to make phone calls, and it's AWESOME that something like this even friggin EXISTS. I can't WAIT to see what they look like in 5 years, let alone 10, but unless the thing requires brain surgery I'm sure as hell going to have one.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I did not have a cell phone, then I got a no-contract Androind smartphone (Virgin Mobile has decent deals for this). I cannot drive, so I walk and bus everywhere. Just being able to know when the bus will arrive and have Google maps calculate how to get places while out and about was a huge and instant life improvement. And I have yet to use more than 40 minutes in a given month. The phone part is a nice extra feature, but the real win is internet in my pocket.
But I do own a pocket computer that happens to be able to make phone calls.
I have a smart phone I paid $300 (some android from LG - can get as cheap as $150) for and I turned off all the smart phone features. Battery life 1 week now compared to 1 day with smart phone features turned on. On the rare occasion I want to use it as a smart phone I turn on 3G and access maps or email which can be quite handy. I got the more expensive model because it easily turns into a WiFi hotspot, that extra $150 I've used precisely once - to test that feature.
Before I upgraded to the HTC sensation I had a LG GW620 which couldn't do much. Due to the fragmentation of Android you have to make sure you get one that works well enough for your needs.
This isn't a story. This isn't news. This is a crotchety old man complaining about the change in technology and an idiot (Roblimo) thinking people might care about it. For the love of Science can we stick to relevant topics.
I could do with a simpler phone which didn't do voice calls. However it's a simple enough function to throw in once you have built a basic PDA with 3g/4g connectivity anyway that it doesn't make much sense to cut it out.
If I actually needed voice calls I would definitely go with a dedicated device; "smartphones" are notoriously crappy at that.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
The phone feature is the least used feature on my smart phone. So yes, I need a smart phone.
You know what? Smartphones is a misnomer. There is very little difference between smartphones and a "dumbphone".
Smartphones (all platforms) typically have a faster processor. Big deal. You just have to wait a touch longer.
Dumbphones typically don't have very much RAM, so you won't be able to multitask outside of certain built in applications (sound familiar? Some people were satisfied with this limitation for practically 4 years)
Dumbphones can have front-facing and rear facing (sometimes a rotating for dual use) camera.
Sure it doesn't have a touchscreen but here's what my Huawei $50 off contract phone does:
- Google Maps (no GPS, but if I know where I am I can find directions / look at maps)
- Nimbuzz (MSN, AIM, ICQ, Skype, etc)
- Facebook application
- Internet browser
- Rotation sensor for automatic portrait-landscape in certain applications (browser mostly)
- Limited widgets (picture, media controls, etc, clock with different time zones)
- FM Radio, Music Player
- Games (sure, there's no full 3D games, but most people are playing simpler games anyway)
- Integrated email client
- microSD card slot with USB Mass Storage support
Sure, it's a bit slow and there's no Exchange integration, but it does almost everything most normal people would use anyway.
Ketchup on my burger. Really, is this needed?? I'm doing just fine without it.
Garage door opener. Really, is this needed?? I just yell out the car window and my wife opens the garage door.
Slashdot. Really, is this needed?? I just open a text editor and rant about Microsoft, then close without saving.
Back when the G1 came out, I'd just moved to a big city and didn't know my way around. Within *days* of getting the phone, it paid for itself with Google Maps Navigation.
I don't use it as much any more since i know my way around, but it helped more than any GPS device would when I was searching for a house. I could load up Zillow and Trulia and find every house around me that was for sale and go check them out.
Other commenters have already cited the value it brings in being able to check email and whatnot. Some folks say that they don't want to have email on their phone -- especially work email -- because they don't want to feel obligated to check it. It's more of willpower check -- if you can't discipline yourself, then don't add the account.
But yeah, it's probably worth it if you find yourself spending "hours" getting caught up on your digital lifestyle each day, when you could spend 1-2 minutes once or twice an hour and spread your tasks out over the day.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
2.They are a single man and want a social life. If you are married/a hermit, then you and your wife/hermit friends can avoid using the maxed out cellphone. But single men need to be able to contact women - HOWEVER the woman want to be contacted. It can be hell trying to call someone at work who wanted you to email her - or text or whatever she wanted. I am a guy so I don't know if women have it a bit easier, but I suspect not. And to check websites for addresses/times/etc.
3. They have children. My sister has one and she uses the web to keep track of her kids. Smart phones help her a lot.
4. You like music and feel no need to carry an ipod if you have a phone. This only works if your music is easily portable to your phone and back.
I am sure there are others, but work, social lives, parenting, and music are all pretty focused on the smart phone now.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Yes I do.
This question is almost, but not quite, a troll. I think it was asked already understanding the answers.
Still,- sure, I could so just fine without a smartphone. As a matter of fact I have a number of devices that are fun and/or convenient and I choose to have them for that reason.
I got online in 1991 and I've loved it ever since. Having the Internet with me is just great! Although I don't have a data plan, wifi only.
Well, I broke my neck two years ago. As a quadriplegic, the smartphone is now a great help to me.
Yes I have seen damaged iPhones (though not one that had a case on it). We also own currently a dumb-phone (for my wife). Plus of course I have quite a few pre-smartphone era cellphones I owned as well...
So obviously I know what I am talking about. Who the hell are you? What do you even have? Or are you making the very generalizations you claim I am making?
If you are truly so clumsy you might actually drop a phone ever just get a case and then it doesn't matter.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Something I did not read here at all, but which is, in my opinion, the main argument against using a smartphone:
It's just too time consuming. That starts with things like configuring it, jailbreaking it (and checking, for each update separately, if it's safe to apply), constantly searching for the best apps to do stuff you probably don't even need to do, managing all the files stored on the device, but also includes the hours wasted playing Angry Birds, surfing Facebook, and watching useless Youtube videos in situations when you could have done something productive instead.
I certainly do not deny that for some people it can be a great time saver, but I postulate that for most (>90%) people the net is negative.
Yes.
Some people enjoy the sense of adventure you get from not knowing exactly where everything is.
I can have the same sense of "adventure" by not looking at the phone.
Trust me. Most of the time I need a map, I'm in Montreal and there is a map on almost every street corner in down-town.
Most of the world does not live where you cannot go more that four blocks away from your house without being eaten by a moose, and therefore requires a map at times.
Also does that map list every single shop everywhere plus opening hours? Oh.
Not everybody needs a smartphone.
And I never said anyone did. I just said they are VERY USEFUL. If you disagree with that you are an idiot. That is simply fact.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
they got me with GPS. wich I agree could very well be offline.
i'm a sucker and use the online version, which incurs even more problems than the offline, so it's not a improvement... it's just a lock-in
Smartphones usually do not outmatch the devices they are supposed to replace. Being limited to pocket size basically ensures this. In contrast, computers usually are much better at everything. With a computer, you can play mp3/tv/video; write email/docs/programs; make and receive phone calls; read Kindle books; and play anything from Solitaire to Starcraft 2. And it does this better than mp3 players, TV's, typewriters, telephones, Kindle tablets, and Playstations.
Smartphones can "do" a lot of the things other devices can, but it's usually not pleasant in comparison and for that reason I see them as backups or benchwarmers and I don't see them as a fun toy to spend lots of money on.
I can use my simple phone for $73 a month where I live
- pay $80 for 20gb internet
- carry a camera that can take decent pics
- mp3 player that can hold enough music
- carry a map and compass
- notepad and a pen
or
I can use my smart phone for $80 a month with 6gb bandwidth
I normally use my smart phone because instead of carrying a backpack with all my stuff I carry it in my pocket, although for going 10km+ around where I live I take my simple phone (and everything else) because there is no network and I'd break/lose them one at a time than all gone at once in the middle of nowhere.
I am considering buying an satellite phone for use where I bring my simple phone so I can actually use it and will be able to phone for help if I ever needed to.
I'm going to go right on out and not pussyfoot around here.
Yes, you need a smartphone. If you're "poor," you can get by without data. If you're not, you also need data.
Do you listen to music while walking or taking the metro?
Do you like to take photos or videos of your friends, places, and experiences so that you can reminisce years later?
Are you a popular person with many friends? Are you a professional with many acquaintances? Do you have a large extended family? Do you like to be reminded of their birthdays and meetings/appointments, and do you want to keep track of their contact information and addresses?
Do you feel more comfortable knowing you have a mobile telephone in case of emergencies?
Do you drive a lot, and need help with navigation? If you take public transit, is it beneficial to be carrying a map of the metro / bus schedule at all times?
Is it more efficient for you to send a quick text message than call a loved one because you're going to be late?
Do you go restaurant hunting? When you travel, do you find it convenient to be able to find reviews on local entertainment venues?
Is your memory imperfect? Do you write things down, so that you don't forget them?
Do you fly a lot? Do you ever have to sit around an airport terminal for an hour, wishing you had something to occupy your time?
Are you ever on-call? Are you ever concerned about the status of a project / a friend's condition / a significant news event while enjoying otherwise leisure time?
Have you ever wanted to troubleshoot a "check engine" light, to save money? Watch the stars at night, and wonder "where did Jupiter go?" Have a friendly debate about what atomic number oxygen is? Need to transport large files between two non-networked computers?
If you answered "yes" to one or more of the preceding questions, you need a smartphone. Not "need" as in you need water to live. Need as in it would be a positive introduction to your life.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
and I can do anything!
Honestly, I think you could replace most of the Internet with phone+fax+camera. The fact that fax is legally binding in most principalities helps a lot.
Check the guys bio on the article. He's semi-retired, so he has the luxury of being able to choose when and where he's available. Most of us working stiffs can't just ignore email, disregard phone calls and drop off the grid whenever we want to.
On a recent vacation, I used my HTC Thunderbolt as: a phone, a text message device, a satellite navigation unit (GPS), a web browser, an MP3 player, a game console, and a camera. Seven functions. When I started thinking about it, it can also be: a calculator, a flashlight, a notepad, a WiFi hub, a voice recorder, an FM radio, and a bubble level. I'm sure there's many more. Having all that functionality in one device in your pocket is incredible.
It's the computing equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. Get a smartphone and you'll love it.
I absolutely loath the concept of a phone that isn't primarily a phone.
That said, I really, really enjoy my mobile computer that happens to allow me to make phone calls too.
I figure, I can either be smart, or I can have my phone do my thinking for me.
I prefer to be a smart user, with a dumb phone. All I need my phone to do is make and receive calls.
I don't need to have email 100% accessible from the toilet, dinner table,etc. Using basic math and logic, I can figure out most of what I need for day to day life.
I don't need a tip calculation app, a driving app, a spelling app, a navigation app, a finance app.
I don't care what QR codes can do, If I want to know about something, I'll Google it later.
My 1.99 notpad and $1.25 pen take care of my note taking needs.
No, I don't. In fact, I can't find a DECENT phone on my carrier.
Upgraded from RAZR which finally fell apart. HTC Freestyle's interface takes more time to use and is more frustrating than the RAZR, and all I get is a camera for it, with a touch interface that is MORE DIFFICULT to use than my previous phone. Isn't technology supposed to make things easier?
I don't use data (I see too many idiots who pay $35 a month to get a couple pictures from friends). I don't use apps.
As a business owner I could probably use a smartphone that takes more time up to "use" than to simply go without. More technology isn't necessarily better, people!
I. Just. Want. A. Phone.
If you want to sell me something else, sell me something that is convenient, easy to use, USEFUL (NOT a consumption device like the iphone), and I will happily pay a nice chunk of money for that device.
-
Yes I do.
I'm surprised how much I use my Smart phone for non phone related activities.
Maps, Docs, txt, gmail, music.
I love living in the future.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
...when I hated phones that did anything other than make phone calls. I had a cellular phone so I could call people. I didn't want calendars that were awkward to use, I didn't want stupid games, I didn't want colour screens, and I sure has heck didn't want a camera that could only produce grainy photos the size of icons . A simple hand-held phone with 12 push buttons for punching in phone numbers, a decent battery, and a back-lit LCD from a pocket calculator - that was good enough for me. All I wanted was clear, simple, voice communications.
In short, when the day that I dreaded finally came, and my boss tossed me a cheap Blackberry, I was thoroughly disgusted. It seemed to do everything relatively poorly except make a half decent phone call - that it couldn't do to save it's own diodes, and the phone rarely kept up with me whilst dialing numbers. The question "will it blend" became less about testing the robustness of a blender, and more about the sadistic glee I would receive while watching it disintegrate violently, forever freeing me from its torturous choke-hold on my daily life.
But that was then, and these days, smart phones are now a vital part of what I do. They are better. They're faster. The networks are faster. The newer phones don't have to take a half an hour to boot. They integrate with the work I do. I need a lot of access to various types of communications and data on the road, and in emergencies, I need ways of dealing with certain issues remotely. Today's decent smartphones are fast enough and versatile enough to allow me to access information and perform vital tasks when I'm visiting a client or travelling. If I'm in a pinch, I can tether my netbook and get things done that way too. I think smart phones are finally coming into their own.
There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
I bought my HTC myTouch 3G Slide from Craigslist for $250 last year. It gets HSDPA on T-mobile, giving me DSL-like speeds and latencies. Running CyanogenMOD 7.1, I always have a wifi access point anywhere. Best of all, the navigation features pretty much changed the way I plan and travel, so I found I could spend more time in interesting places... which was the real killer feature that I had really started to miss from the days when I had Google Maps Mobile on my work-issued blackberry.
I lived with a dumb phone for a long time. It could barely run opera mini. I used my phone/PDA more often to read than to talk to people, so I'm pretty happy to pay for my upgrade to the data services. With T-mobile it was $10 for unlimited wap and an extra $25 for unlimited Android data. I use the Google Voice app for SMS so I don't have to pay extra to exchange the occasional message with "those people".
The MT3GS does have limited application memory, so I can't install every useless game and utility available for Android. Which is a good thing. I picked up a Viewsonic G-Tablet from Craigslist for about $300 last year, and with the Vegan-Tab ROM it does a pretty good job of letting me play with all of the Android toys without worrying about compromising my phone. Yeah, people complain about the screen viewing angles, but it works for me, and otherwise has top-end Tegra 2 Android specs that are only recently being exceeded by the new Tegra 3 devices.
I would much rather have a phone-sized device that has internet access almost anywhere but cannot make phone calls to a phone that has no real internet access.
On an average month, I might use 5 phone minutes. Data? Well over a gig.
When I go out with "the guys" I feel like a jerk just sitting at a bar drinking. I have no one to talk to and no way to look up the trivia question. Might as well stay home and spend some time with the wife. Or I could get a smart phone and call friends, surf the internet and have a roaring great time not spending time with my friends who are sitting across the table from me. Seriously, it's gotten that bad.
Which plan lets you spend only $4 a month?
I got a used 3GS, added a GoPhone SIM card to it. If I want to be very cheap I can just pay for voice minutes, about $5. If I want data, I shell out $24. All you have to do is change the carrier APN, which takes 3 seconds. No jailbreaking or unlocking is required. I have no contract, and I generally use wifi at home or work.
I had a dumb phone for years for the same price while I carried an iPod too -- and I always forgot to charge the thing so it was well and truly a waste of monry. Now I have everything in one place, which is much easier and it's always charged so I can take the rare phone call or get a text when someone (usually my wife) needs to get in touch with me. Or I can call ahead if I'm running late for something. Plus I have games, traffic apps, a camera and so on.
I use T-Mobile's Pay as You Go prepaid with a LG Optimus T. The phone cost me about $100 and I spend $8/mo or so on the service. I have regular phone service and WiFi at home and in the office, so the the phone is mostly used on the go. I mostly use the smartphone features for G-mail and to sync my office calendar. I refuse to set up my office e-mail on it. I'm not exactly a power-user, but at least I'm not paying power-user fees either.
Tmobile.com/prepaid has:
$30 100min/unlimited text/5GB 4G data
$50 unlimited talk/text/2G data
$30 1500 min or text/30MB data.
$200 for the Samsung Exhibit 4G II or use any GSM phone.
For being a generally awesome and responsible human being.
I haven't seen a single post here showing otherwise. When I see someone walking down the street with a tiny dog in their purse, there are no different than someone tapping away on their ios/android device. They have uses for sure, but no where near what the companies are requiring you to shell out for them. The only reason I have a cell phone at all these days is to be on call, or if my car dies in the middle of nowhere. I talk to people face to face, and if we need to set plans, we do it over facebook which works just fine from anywhere that isn't a smart phone.
Thank you for pointing that out.
Gas car = HD
Tesla = SSD
Unless you're trying to imitate the accent of one Selkie Smith.
...when they'll exist. I have been stating since the beginning of the smartphone era that I won't be interested in these beasts before they become really open. And by open, I mean that they can run packets sniffers on their GSM/3G stack (hint, Android does not allow that). Not because I want to break the securities of the network, but just so that I can check what is being sent to who and when.
I am interested in the NeoRunner but it has a few drawbacks that makes it a bit too overpriced IMHO. The mobile network is a complete loss of opportunity. If it was as open and neutral as internet, we would have incredible applications by today.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
I'm fairly certain that I could live without a cell phone, but wouldn't like it.
I am however 100% positive that I cannot live without nourishment.
Sure I could live without eating, it is just the most convenient way of nourishing my body.
I could however attach a drip tube and nourish myself that way.
So eating is not a necessity, but nourishment is. Just to delineate what a necessity really is.
Few things in this world are "necessary". Many things are just "convenient".
Because I want to run Android apps, not iOS apps, and until October, there really wasn't an Android PDA.
To be cool you need a smartphone, facebook, twitter, a razor thin flat screen computer with no keyboard and yes you are required to have one or more apple products complete with on-replacable battery.
I feel sorry for the people glued in front of their "social" displays day in and day out the same way I feel sorry for mindless zombies who sit in front of slot machines day in and day out happily pissing their money/lives away.
It is a personal choice nobody can make it for you. Technology by itself is not good or bad. It is how it is used that matters.
Use what you want but for petes sake from time to time at least stick your head out and ask yourself does the persistant use of these ad filled nonsense environments *intentionally* designed to be mentally addicting really what you want to be doing with your time/life?
If you need to send me a quick message, use SMS or email.
What do you do if you're calling a friend or relative for a ride home after the city buses have stopped running for the day or for the week? You can't SMS a land line, and you might be trying to reach someone who happens to check his or her e-mail once a week if that often.
Unfortunately, I happen not to live in a city where any store had an Nokia N900 portable computer on display. On May 15, 2010, I walked into a Best Buy store, a T-Mobile store, and a RadioShack store in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In each, I asked to try a Nokia N900 phone, and in each, I was disappointed.
About a year and a half ago I turned off all cable TV services.
Then you must not live in a town whose cable operator offers TV nearly free with the purchase of home Internet service.
I'll buy a smart phone when I can install new a RAM card, GPS system, camera etc, and install Debian. I don't understand the smartphone market. Computers have just become slightly smaller, as they have been for decades, and now suddenly they're black appliances, owned by companies which contract them out. What the hell?
without a bulky laptop (or pants, for that matter)
Who needs pants?
I don't want a smart phone. I don't want to come to rely on a smart phone. I love computers, but smart phones have become a distraction to the people and the world around them... and I never want the potential of becoming one of them.
I see couples at dinner (young and old alike), both of their faces down in their smart phones. I overheard one say to another, "Hey did you read that article...?" "No. Link me." "Sent." (minutes later) "Heh. Ya. That's funny."
No true conversation took place. They weren't "out together", they were mutually consuming.
And it's not just "other" people. I went out for some beers and a game with my best male friend once. Halfway through his first beer, we were talking about play and he started stuttering his words... I look over (eyes having been previously fixed on the screen), and he's updating his facebook status to "Beers and a game".
If it's not there for perpetual consumption, voyeurism, or exhibitionism, a smart phone is there to make up for laziness. Oh, you didn't get up in time to shower, dress, and get directions to your appointment? No problem! You can speed in the general direction of your appointment in your car while looking up directions on your smart phone! No problem there!
Personally, I just want a phone that is a FANTASTIC phone (reception, sound, etc.), a good mp3 player, a good photo camera, a text messager with a QWERTY keyboard, and have great battery life. Who makes this phone? This simple phone? I'll continue to pay my $50 a month for unlimited text and 400 minutes. I accept that price in my area. But who makes this phone!?
Only people who have never had a smart phone creates a post like this. Show me one person who has had a advance smartphone like a Android or a iPhone and gone back to using a dumb phone?
The problem is that the author sees a PDA and thinks it's a phone with extra features. He could just as well have seen a phone and thought it was a watch with extra features - after all it's the method most of us use to keep track of time. But if he'd told us to get rid of our expensive mobile phone and just use a cheap watch we'd have reacted ... well, a lot like how we have.
There's a lot of things you or I don't NEED.
don't NEED the internet
don't NEED TV
don't NEED your "dumb" cell phone either
or a million other things.
That's not to say the smartphone hasn't completely changed the way people do a lot of things, overwhelmingly for the better.
Like all things personal, it depends.
For me, I could do without the phone functionality of my iPhone, but not without the PDA functions and I would hate to lose mobile Internet.
If all you do with yours is making phone calls, by all means get a dumb phone. Don't think that your answer is the right answer for others, though.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
The age of convergence is here. Ages ago, I got a Diamond Rio, in a hurried buy because lawsuits were threatening to make it illegal. It stayed legal, obviously, and I had a number of such devices afterwards, but now my phone does that. I also have had GPSs (for geocaching!), calculators, lightweight computers, portable modems, gaming systems, PDAs, and all sorts of other things that I just don't need anymore because I got an Android Phone (NexusOne, for the curious).
I am not a heavy phone user in general. I lack a wallphone and don't talk on the phone very often or very willingly. That's ok. About 90% of my Android use is either as a very small computer (I love the note-taking app and sometimes use the sound recorder for voicenotes) or a data-communications device (GoogleMaps, Shazam, Skype, ssh, and so on).
This means that nowadays I have exactly 3 devices I carry around with me almost everywhere: My laptop (18.1" HP running Linux), my Android, and a Kindle (sufficiently different battery life and abilities, and sufficiently lightweight, that it hasn't converged and probably won't for awhile).
But then, not everyone will likely have my usage habits, and some people have strange ideas of device minimalism that they want to carry around 12 simple devices instead of 3 complicated/powerful ones.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
... if I have a functioning slide ruler?
I seem to recall a story about how Hewlett Packard saw no market for home computers and passed on the Apple 1.
I'll get off your lawn now...
I'd like my android phone with NO data plan. There are enough wireless networks around that I don't need a data plan. Unfortunately you can't seem to get the cool phone without a data plan. And no, I'm not going to carry a dumb phone and another device ;-)
When do you actually use the unlimited data plan? I've never really needed internet access from my phone when I wasn't in range of Wifi. You may claim maps are a reason, but if we had downloadable maps that application need goes away. What else do you use data for on the move?
I became an accidental smartphone user when I was a teenager because my father worked for a wireless service provider, so it was basically cheap for us to own one. I was lucky enough to be able to own various phones at different stages of smartphone development (my first smartphone was a fat, heavy Treo, and I had owned a Palm Pilot even before having a cell phone, which, ironically, was sleek and slim since the hardware was more spartan). Since I had used PDA's like the Palm Pilot, smartphones weren't anything new or amazing to me except that they were always connected to the Internet.
As other posters have mentioned, if you are doing work that is heavily communication intensive and especially if you're traveling a lot or on the go, then smartphones are worth the money. Sometimes it's imperative that when someone sends you a text, you e-mail that text to three people, call one of them, reply to the text, go to a website and enter the information, and then look up directions to your new destination on Google Maps, all while you're sitting in your car in a parking lot with no nearby Internet access.
Now, if you're looking to save money, dumping your smartphone can easily save you a chunk of cash throughout the year. You can cut corners in various ways; if you need Internet access while traveling, take your laptop to a cafe with a hot spot or your hotel. I used to have a 3G modem for my laptop, but I ended up getting rid of it because wifi was available in so many places that it didn't justify the additional expense. Or, if it's really not necessary, just do without Internet access for a bit and wait until you get home or to the office. The Internet can wait. Get a GPS that works offline (Lenovo IdeaPad A1 tablets do this, by the way).
If you really just love mobile technology and want to play with it, get a nice wifi device such as an Android Tablet, iPad, iPod Touch, or something similar that gives you the functionality without the monthly bill. Use it at home or carry it with you and log on to hotspots.
I have had T-Mobile's pay as you go plan for almost 3 years. Paid $100 the first year, used half the minutes. Had to renew after a year or would lose the minutes, so spent $10 to renew the minutes for another year. And spent another $10 this year. Total investment: $120 for 36 months = $3.33/month
I come here for the love
Some of us use a 'smart phone' as a PDA, as we have bee carrying a PDA since the newton. I do agree however, that having universal mobile data is a nice plus, but not required in this case.
The only alternative for us to a 'smart phone' would be to get something like a ipod touch, since the PDA market is toast. Or i suppose you could get a used ( outright purchase ) phone and not get any service for it.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Archos has made such devices for a while, though they're not as well known (or as highly polished) as the Galaxy Player.
I own an Archos 43. But like other generation 8 Archos devices, it's not Google certified and therefore lacks access to Market-exclusive applications such as Chase Bank's check deposit tool. It also has a resistive touch screen, which works better with a stylus (like the one I borrowed from my DS Lite) and doesn't work with applications requiring multitouch. The generation 9 hardware is Google certified but isn't yet available in a 4" form factor like that of the Archos 43.
Because online tends to have a 15% restocking fee for products that the customer finds unusably unergonomic but which are technically not "defective". See my rant about mail order.
The article says $4/month. WHERE can I find such a phone? I had a dumb phone paid $15 pre-paid monthly (Verizon) and could barely use it. Actual cost for what I use would be closer to $30-45 if I'm careful. Same goes for AT&T and Sprint pre-paid, they're no better than a standard plan with employee discounts.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
I find that my SGS is excellent for watching porn in emergencies when I'm nowhere near my 63" Plasma.
I have an iPhone - wait for it - without a contract. It's on AT&T's GoPhone style pay as you go service.
So once you get past the initial hardware, which then comes down to a typical hardware decision, I get all the fun of a smartphone in places with wifi (work and McDonalds!) but all the low expenses of a prepaid-as-you-go plan.
$100 in phone service lasts me about 4 months.
That's the direction I've been figuring I'd go. T-mobile allows you to have a smart phone and buy a week or month of connectivity as you go, sans contract. It looks attractive.
I also may do this. I need to research smart phones (I've never had one, and it seems like a fairly daunting task actually), but once I find an unlocked one that I like, I'll just buy a $5 sim card from t-mobile and get one of the no contract plans. I think I'll be going with $15/mo for unlimited texting and 10 cents/minute of talking, since I hardly ever call with my current phone (prepaid on verizon). It doesn't come with data connection, but I'm usually in range of wifi.
Anybody want a peanut?
Hi, I have a non-contract Tmobile phone. I'd like to get an android phone. Any recommendations on a low-cost... say under $150 that works? So, said phone is on GSM (ATT/TMobile) I see many such phones on deal sites but get worried that their build quality is terrible in order to get to that price point. thanks!
If you live alone, or with a partner who has a smartphone you can save money by moving to tethering. The only thing you lose is
:)).
/. still needs a smart phone and wants a phone number that will work forever with no bill (That's called quality).
For example Mobilicity offers unlimited internet (about 256k up/4Mb down) for $10 a month. You can get Voice/SMS+MMS/unlimited data for $17.50 which is less than the cost of any ISP deal I've seen. You can also save on Router hardware.
I enjoy having data on my phone because I use (and sell) voip, specifically a one time payment voip ($50) which provides voicemail (normally $8/mo) and unlimited calling in Canada. Other than that it's true having an old school phone has advantages, a physical keyboard for typing while walking, cheapness (read not being neurotic or having a huge iPhone+protector), speed (no cumbersome OS or multitasking to slow you down), BATTERY LIFE! and cheapness (again
The tinfoil hat implications of smartphone are horrendous as well. Apple and Google's work to dissuade people from having real control over their devices(every patch, every single god damn patch) goes far beyond their fear of having to compete with their older models.
Still if you're not a gamer the cost savings of having a phone for internet outweighs the above price concern + Random usability. For me it's a calender and recording, both phone calls (I have a crappy memory and winning fights with girlfriends is soooo sweet(so sweet!)... plus not worrying that a company will pull a fast one, also for my work [consulting]), it also puts day trading within your reach if you're really a tech head and follow advancements (made a killing on Athlon)
But that's just it, to each their own. I have a phone with a keyboard, for me a tablet or iPhone is a boobtube, made for viewing content and poking links not creating content and navigating properly. Having another device to take notes with (recording/email) is worth the price of admission even without internet connectivity and email.
Anyway pay once VOIP service is available through Phaistoscommunications.com if anyone on
They say everything has a price, but the price of a smartphone's service cost & contract length, isn't low enough yet for me to exchange my free time for extra hours of work in order to use a smartphone that I don't need wherever I go. I know I'm in the minority, but that's why I've never been bothered to get sucked into one. I actually just use a tracfone. I know, I'm not cool, but that's ok with me as long as I don't have to be under contract to pay $100 a month for the next two years.
Sssshhhh. As long as the morons who have no need at all for a "smart" phone keep paying $100/mo so they can browse the web RIGHT NOW on an tiny little screen, you and I can keep getting cheap pay as you go dumb phone plans.
As soon as the sheeple clue in to the whole "a cell phone could cost you $50/yr" thing, the price will go up.
So please, shut up.
You go ahead and calculate the ROI on that. I'm sure the ridiculous expense can be justified... or not.
That is the criteria you use to judge if the extra payments make sense for YOU. For me the ROI does it fact vastly outweigh the cost (as others have noted the shopping benefits alone provide that, between being able to read reviews and skip over bad products and simple price matching).
However that is utterly irrelevant to his point and my response. Because he was saying that absolutely there was NO WAY a smartphone could improve his life AT ALL. That is false. There are in fact things common to all people that smart phones help with.
Again it may not help YOU enough to justify the extra cost. But that doesn't change the FACT that it helps you.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nobody "needs" a smartphone. Nobody "needs" a car. All we need is shelter, clothing, food, warmth and validation (Maslow), the rest are "wants". Anybody who says they "need" a smartphone is being as petulant as a 6yo demanding a Power Ranger action figure.
Not saying you shouldn't havea smartphone, but stop this capitalist/commercialist crap about need. Feel free to want one, even get one, butyou don't need it.
Grandpa, I told you to stay off of Slashdot before you've taken your meds, and there were no kids outside when you were yelling about them being on the lawn. And your landline just rang but the answering machine picked it up, while you were trying to get the DVR to eject.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
It is about what they are worth! I also try to teach my youngsters that there are two kinds of things in life when it comes to spending money. There are assets and liabilities. Assets make you money and liabilities cost you money! My guess is that for the vast majority of users, even simple wireless phones are a liability. I talk to people all the time who tell me that they may spend a thousand dollars a year or more on phone related bills. I find myself asking"how does that phone pay for itself?"
I have been in the telemarketing business for the past 25 years, including being in on the telecommunications revolution as a TSR with MCI. (remember them?) I remember when a one minute call from Oakland to San Francisco cost fifty cents. Not hard to run up a big bill at that rate, making hundreds of calls a day in my business. I survived because I was able to charge enough to cover my cost. In time you may make a million dollars making phone calls. I can tell you without any doubt that my phone cost have dropped dramatically in the past 20 years and has gone from my biggest cost, to my lowest. I keep asking my youngters when they are going to make that phone become an asset and not an expensive toy? They ignore me ofcourse; why should they care about what things cost. That is my job. lol
Even if you might not use it often, it's the fact that you could do things like:
* check out a price on the internet without having to drive home from the store to check it on you pc
* Use GPS is case you are someplace new and get lost
* Re-read the email with the friends address because, although it was super easy to remember, you can't seem to remember it now
* Show friends pictures on your Picasa web album when you coincidentally meet at the supermarket.
* Take and send a picture when you see that fantastic sunset without always having to cart your camera around.
I don't constantly use those features but it's nice to have them available when some unexpected comes along.
It's a HTC Desire Z, and while it works just as well as others' Android phones, the touchscreen is overly touchy, the volume isn't all it could be for the weight of the thing, and it requires a case. You couldn't possibly just stick this in a pocket or bag and expect it to survive.
I have a HTC Desire Z and my experience is very different.
The touchscreen is not "overly touchy". Sensitivity is as good as other phones.
Not sure what you mean about volume, but the physical KB makes it bigger and heavier then a Galaxy S 2. On the plus side, You always know if it's in your pocket or not.
It does definitely not require a case. I've carried mine around in my pocket for a year.Not a scratch on the screen, most of the chrome is intact except for that around the camera. Not only has it survied, it's thrived.
Great battery life, very rugged, functional, smaller transistors on the CPU make it cooler and less energy consuming then contemporary phones. Physical keyboard makes typing fast, best yet it's very modable.
This is your problem. Do you just "throw" your plates about then whining that your plates are broken?
BTW, I have a tendency to throw my Desire Z onto my bed, it's never been near a case. As soon as I get ICS for it, she'll be good enough until HTC/Samsung release a new decent KB Android or until GoogleRola drop their locked bootloader policy and release the Milestone 3/4.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
... are for dumb people!
The biggest iPhone service bargain that I know of is Red Pocket Mobile's plan
for $50 per month (including all taxes and fees): http://goredpocket.com/plans
Unlimited talk, unlimited texting, and 250MB of data (enough for most people).
That same plan would cost about $115 total from ATT.
Red Pocket's $60 plan gives 8 times as much data (2GB).
Red Pocket is an ATT MVNO, so ATT provides the actual service and an
ATT-branded iPhone needn't be unlocked for use with Red Pocket. Used
iPhones are widely available, including at the stores of http://us.webuy.com
Apple stores sell the iPhone 3GS unlocked for $375.
The only drawback I've noticed is that multimedia messaging (MMS) doesn't
work on an iPhone on Red Pocket. As a substitute, you could send and
receive photos via an email account on the iPhone. Also, I think that visual
voicemail doesn't work on Red Pocket.
I assume that Android phones would work well with Red Pocket, but I
haven't looked into that.
There are Red Pocket dealers in major cities, but you have to call Red
Pocket to learn who the dealers are.
But you don't need a dealer: Red Pocket SIM cards are sold on eBay
for $1.00, and you can activate and refill on Red Pocket's website.
You probably live in Europe if you get away with $4 per month. In North America telcos rip you off.
Statistically the better informed person will live longer and be happier to boot, seeing as how they will be informed of many dangers beforehand.
On the fly weather is just another thing the smart phone helps with, I was able to make a choice about driving through a heavy rain storm in Kansas based on live weather radar...
But then I supposed in addition to your maps you carry a TV with you at all times as well that has a subscription to local weather only stations.
I also have paper maps but they are only a last escort, since they have comparatively so little information (especially up to date information) compared to maps on the smart phone.
I mean basically, the person who has more information readily accessible will naturally be happier since life is simply easier for them and it's easier to deal with changes life throws at you. I know it's true in my case, life is just so pleasant when you can know what you want on demand...
You can't really understand I guess until you've walked a month in the Information Moccasins.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Several people at work have iPhones. I've also seen at least one Android phone. They all have one thing in common - the phone is sitting on the desk, even when they are not there. When it rings, it will interrupt the whole office.
My phone fits in my pocket. Once I got to compare it with my boss'es iPhone, when I put my phone on top of his, it covered exactly half of the iPhone. I had been saying the iPhone is twice as big as a normal cell phone, and it turned out that I wasn't exaggerating one bit.
Recently, I dropped my phone. Turned it permanently to silent mode (I can still talk to people, but I won't get any sound when the phone rings). So I've been looking for a new phone. Just about everything out there is smart phones, and none of them would fit comfortably in my pocket. There's even one from SE called the X10 Mini, that I was considering - until I saw it in real life. The thing is huge.
I like to learn. If I hear about something I don't understand, I Wikipedia/Google it. Immediately. Smartphones are a great tool for me.
Plus internet on the shitter is nice.
No. Mobile internet access is convenient at times but it's not a matter of need.
What's with the easy answer polls these days?
I get increasingly fed up with those smug dumbphone users! They constantly brag about their non-abilties. Luckily those kind of folks don't use Facebook so much. They couldn't even. ^^
Naw, pay as you go plans are voice only.
But that's just it, you go to any place with wifi for your web and texting.
So since I worked out the implications of the fact I don't talk on the phone much, I save about $800 a year on my phone.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Yes, exactly! It's not a phone, it's a portable web browser, game machine, music player, and chat client that happens to also make phone calls (as long as the SMS/chat works, I could almost do without the voice call functionality to be honest). I realized I needed one when I was traveling across Europe and found myself spending a lot of time looking for Internet cafes just to be able to find and book a hotel for the night (couldn't do that ahead of time since I picked my next city on a whim each day).
:(
For that reason however, I also hate the recent fad for touchscreen-only phones. I think the form factor of Nokia n900 is perfect (except for thickness) - when that broke, had to search far and wide and the only new phone in that form factor appears to be Droid 3, which I had to import from Canada
Heh Sorry, let me first opine that your suggested article, despite you meaning well, is off the mark.
((Summarized - Fiddling with apn slots and... uh...))
I have an iPhone 3GS, so maybe all bets are off with an iPhone 4, but so be it. I had a previous standard phone contract.
I just went to an AT&T store and said "Hi. I'd like to cancel this contract and turn this into a GoPhone." So I paid the cancel fee, then the AT&T rep fiddled with stuff, did something on the service records in their computer, and I was done.
Almost no issues. An "issue" (in quotes) is that I have no more phone-based web, but for my usage style, there's nothing that can't really wait until I get home or, ... wait for it, ... any place with Wifi! So yes, McDonalds is a key player here!
And I specifically buy the $100 chunks of phone minutes. They last a year, not X months. So the last potential issue, that "pressure" to keep dealing with things, goes away. On my quietest months, I can squeeze a 5th month out of that $100, but then it's just time to buy more, so what. Add a little splurging and that's $250 per year rather than $1100 per year!
Don't quote me on this last part but I think the account "just sits there" empty if you run out of minutes, so the last benefit is that generally you don't have the Credit Rating risk of slipping off the treadmill of Pay the Phone Company Or Else.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
You're funny, but I'm no FanBoy, it was a quietly reasoned decision.
My previous phone was a Win Mobile 6 HTC, which I really didn't care for at all, and given the (later true) rumors that Win Mobile 6 was about to be toasted, the only other choice was the iPhone. I spent a little extra care waiting for the 3GS version, so it could now run iOS 4, and there it will sit.
Android is definitely the NEW game to play, but I'm going to sit and wait out the fragmentation wars.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Its in beta right now, but www.republicwireless.com's 19.99 per month unlimited data/voice/texting plan with Android may do the trick for alot of people. There are some catches. Read the reviews it sounds pretty good:
www.longmeadcrossing.com/republicWireless.htm
and more detailed:
http://www.bitplumber.net/2011/11/republic-wireless-service-and-lg-optimus-review/
I make the case for having a separate basic phone:
http://moneybutnofixedabode.blogspot.com/2007/10/phone-for-traveller.html
In this blog post I'm referring to use for people who travel a lot. But it seems relevent here too.
Keep your tablet or smartphone for non phone things and a separate basic very small phone for phone things. This way if you run out of battery you can still make calls. It's so much simpler than falling into a universe of emergency chargers, trying to get all features into one device and so on.
Now... what about that camera....
doh!
Well, I was making the case for pairing a Android tablet with a watchphone... but to get a camera in there too? hmm...
A blog I run for the wealth
Wow! You're missing out. You should get one. They're awesome!
My smartphone replaces
1. A shopping list. My wife and I update the shopping list throughout the day, and it's automatically synced. Great timesaver!
2. Daytimer, my wife and I have a shared calendar, we can check schedules everywhere we go and not double book.
I also like the maps, email etc, sometimes I even text or call people.
Endomondo and things are nice too
But mostly it's simply the synced shopping list of stuff to grab on the way home.
Someone doesn't have a smartphone and posts to Slashdot?
Someone at Slashdot thinks this is April 1st?
Bushmen can lead happy lives and they don't even need a workig toilet to do that. Is this what I'm looking for as news, when I read Slashdot?
I have a really nice smart phone and very good monthly rate. The trick is to not to get suckered into a subsidized phone contract. I bought a unused Palm Pixi for $60. (Laugh all you want, WebOS is freaking awesome) I got a no contract T-Mobile plan for $30. 1500 Mins, 30 MBs data. I can get free wi-fi almost everywhere I go, so I don't even hit my low data cap. No overages too. I wish I found this setup years ago. I have a friend that followed my lead, but he got a nice Android phone for about $150 He is very happy and he has cooler apps than me.
Non-solution. For the price of moving, I could pay for a full-price smartphone plan.
Personally, when I got a smartphone, I didn't really think I needed one. But, as it turns out, now I'm as dependent on it as I got on a cell phone when they first came. Specifically I use it for finding stuff which would take me hours without it, reading books, better management of pictures, playing music, calendar etc. Some of these thing you can do a dumbphone, but dumphones completely suck at anything but calling, sending sms and basic taking of pictures, that I've never used any of the other functions until I got a smartphone, it's just not usable on a dumb phone.
You don't get a smartphone because its a phone. A phone is just 1 thing it happens to be able to do. Think of it like a highly portable computing device. The fact that the phone aspect is in the name is merely an artifact of their lineage. They grew out of the cell phone market, and the cell phone companies are managing them, but they are no longer phones. They are an instant access to the Internet, wherever you may be. They are your camera and camcorder, ever-present and ready to be used. They are your mp3 player, ready to provide music. They are a portable gaming device, which can acquire and run new games from anywhere. They are a personal organizer allowing you to manage your day.
Saying "I don't need a smartphone because my cell phone works just fine" is like saying "I don't need a computer, my typewriter has served me just fine." It may be partly true, that particular aspect may not be a significant improvement for you, but to reject the rest of it on those grounds is to ignore the true potential.
would be?
On the flip side, for some people a smart phone is all the computer they need. ~$150 upfront and $30 a month for all the information you can eat. That's a great deal.
But seriously do they spend thousands of dollars on this stuff? The way it stands now people spend a LOT on these things. Luckily I locked in on Virgin Mobiles 25$ unlimited data plan.
love is just extroverted narcissism
I've heard the same argument: "I don't need a phone with all that crap." For people who only want voice communication, that's great, but some people miss the point: many of us don't buy "phones" to yak at each other, but rather for mobile computing which happens to let us make phone calls as well. I was ready to ditch my last cell in favor of a Galaxy tablet with a bluetooth headset, but they ended up being crippled in that respect (and massively expensive), so I went with the Galaxy S instead.
:-/
My Android device isn't a "phone" any more than an automobile is a giant mobile cigarette lighter. Yes, you can light a cigarette with it (and also listen to radio and keep warm in cold weather, etc.), but the primary function of the machine is for transportation. The primary function of a "smartphone" is as a portable Internet-connected computer.
To be fair: it is kind of pathetic that I can't wait 20 minutes to check my email, etc. while I'm walking or riding the bus, but there you go.
When did Roblimo turn into a curmudgeon?
If the only app I could ever install on my smartphone is Google Maps, that alone is worth the price of admission and why your dumb phone will always be vastly inferior. But then again, if you're so dang cheap, you probably don't get out much, anyway, and don't need Google Maps.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It seems only right to publish our experiences..
Several years ago we had 2 cell phones on sprint with a serious corporate discount (I no longer worked there for teh company, but sprint did not care) and a freak'n land line...
we paid 45 of so for the landlines and LD, ever hate a bill with thousands in fees (what the heck is a universal service charge of 7.50 a month) plus 70 for the cell phones.
We decided to cut the cord and get an unlimited cell plan, we went with Cricket, spent 2 years wit them, last year I got the DW a android for xmas, our plan went up by 10$, but the DW loves her droid. Since I do not do a lot of calling, I went with a plan from page plus, worked out to around $8 per month for about 120 minutes a month... it can be low as 3.33 if you do not call much....
Last Feb I splurged and got a VM smart phone with the $25 plan.. like the authors wife..
I have found that I now call more with it,I have gone over the minutes a few times, wonder why... We got mad at cricket and went with straight talk at $45 a month..
Bottom line, we tossed the phone company and the cell service, we are getting as good cell service as before and we save a bunch of $$ per month, take that ATT and Sprint..
I am thinking about getting rid of my smart phone, I use the data portion sometimes, but I am having second thoughts, is it really worth it...
Internet - went from cable to bare bones DSL, from $45 a month to $10.. never did miss the speed down grade, after my year was up, the DSL provider did not change the plan.. which was okay with me. We then moved, the DSL company could not get their end working (they said I should have service, but the modem never would connect, I tried several times to work with the the drones, but each time they have to go down their script.. I estimate that I would need a 3 hour window to let reach the conclusion that a truck roll was needed.. (no signal at the house end..) I went back with cable, intro rate.. next year I may see if we can get DSL up, I still get a bill from them for $0.00... go figure..
We have cable service for TV, we tried netflix, but did not like the programming choices.. Next year we do Dish when the intro rates go up...
Just my 0.0000002 cents worth
Carrying a smart phone is far easier than carrying a cell phone....and a GPS, and a music player, and a digital still/video camera, and a PDA, and a portable game device......
I do have enough pockets in the cargo pants I usually wear for all of those things, but combining them into one also leaves me room for a wallet, pocketknife, keys, papers, change, etc
Otherwise I'd need a backpack.
I have an HTC Desire
To me, the device is not a phone, it's an ultra-portable minicomputer and pda that happens to be able to make calls, thus saving me the expense of having to buy a phone as well :)
I now officially have Vagina Envy.
My job requires me to have access to web applications.
I can simulate it using a different browser, or my phone.
Email notifications are exceptionally important for mobile techs. I've provided mobile support, I've needed a smart phone.
I use it to tether internet if I need it on the go.
I receive and respond to inquires or get additional information by email.
It syncs with my appointments so I can keep track of them all on the go.
Do I need one? No. Is it damn handy? Sure.
Chances are most people in general don't even need a cell phone, they're just convienent.
Also - anyone getting a new plan say in B.C with a dumb phone will not get a plan for 4$, just a little bit more lands them data. They did it intentionally to encourage people to upgrade since the price difference isn't much different.
So...your point is moot.
iPod Touch: That's the way I went.
The trouble is that it took three years for there to be a serious competitor to the iPod touch. From 2008, when iOS 2 introduced the App Store, to 2011, when Samsung finally brought out the Galaxy Player, were three years without a pocket-size Wi-Fi-only tablet with Android Market access.
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