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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.
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 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!
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!
Which carrier offers such a plan in the United States?
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
That's fine, though I'd definitely nit pick on what you say you pay. I pay $115 a month for unlimited text and data, plus generous voice minutes on two phone lines. So if you were being frugal about minutes, text, and data you use you could doubtless pay more like $40-45 a month (maybe even as little as $35 if you shop around) for your plan. That said, in response to you and the original poster, the answer is clearly "no, I don't need a smartphone." I also don't need a dumb phone. Or cable. Or a TV. Or a computer. I could clearly exist and probably even be happy without any of these things. All of them are nice to have however, and in my opinion worth what I spend on them.
I get a *lot* of use out of my smartphone. Of major purchases, I'd rate it below only my workstation computer and my car on the "things I use a lot" list. I play with it, keep in touch with people on it, use it to get around a my new home city, keep notes on it... I don't *need* it, but if you told me I could only keep one electronic device... I'd probably pick the phone. It *can* do everything my computer can (though often not as nicely), does lots of extra stuff like GPS, and is very portable. I wouldn't be thrilled to do away with my desktop or my TV, but I'd probably get rid of them before my phone.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
My smart phone replaced my cellphone, my GPS, and my PDA. My PDA replaced my calculator, acted as my MP3 player and schedule (sync'd with Exchange/Outlook) replaced a shit load of reference books (now in PDAs, spreadsheets, RTFs, and text files and fully searchable!), provided a secure place for all my passwords and gave me pocket CAS. I also use it for some basic network tasks, SMTP, ping, tracert, etc., and remote desktop access. Internet access eliminated the yellow pages directory and lots of other reference materials. My biggest concern was in putting all my eggs in one basket would I be SOL when my battery died, the phone died or was misplaced? Well it hasn't happened yet and I like being able to ask my phone to find a drugstore when I'm traveling and get an up-to-date listing as well as from the navigation program's built-in POIs. For me having all this in my shirt pocket is very convenient. The downside is that the OS is no longer available and I will have switch phones someday and do without a few of the conveniences to which I have grown accustomed, and pay for new apps to replace existing ones. Do I need a smartphone? No, but it simplifies my life greatly.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
I have an LG Optimus V on Virgin. The phones are $150ish, $25/mo (think it's $35 now for new subscribers) gets 300 min, unlimited text and data. It's not the flashiest phone around but I'm just too cheap to pay $80/mo or more for a phone. I had a dumb phone until April 2011, and now that I've gone to a smartphone I'd hate to go back.
> Ever go to a restaurant and look around at what people are doing? Sadly, a large % of them have their smart phones out
Different people have different expectations when they go to do dinner, I suppose.
But here's a recent example from my life. I was just out to dinner but one of my friends couldn't make it because she was sick. During the course of dinner we were talking about a movie and none of us could remember the actor we were thinking of. One of us pulled out our phone and looked it up. That was handy and added to the conversation. As dinner was wrapping up, I was able to text my sick friend to ask what she wanted us to bring to her from the restaurant. Maybe if you had looked at me at those times, you might have thought I was engrossed in my phone instead of the dinner and companionship at the table - but that wouldn't have been the case.
But like you say, different strokes for different folks. Much better they're texting away quietly than talking loudly. I was just in a place that had a sign, "no cell phones, there's a phone booth in the back if you want to talk on your cell phone". Odd way for that "technology" to come back.