I don’t have a smartphone because
Don’t want to pay an additional $30/month.
Already have an iPod and Kindle to amuse me while waiting/riding Metro/Airplane
Seems most non-game apps provide info that can wait until I get home
Except for movie times and restaurant locations/reviews, but I research those before I leave the house (and the few times I don’t doesn’t justify the extra monthly cost)
I’ve found mine useful for alleviating boredom, accessing twitter on the go, and looking up bus timetables. I could definitely live without having one and in fact the battery life issues is swaying me towards getting a dumb phone the next time around.
I resisted even getting a regular cell phone for the longest time for similar reasons. Eventually I did end up getting a smart phone, and I have to say that your fears are unwarranted. I use it responsibly, I’m not on it all the time, but it does a lot that I really appreciate. I think you should go for it if you can afford it, as it won’t FORCE you to use it all the time, and if you aren’t wont to be staring/looking at electronics all day long, it’s not going to break you on that front.
That’s me. Since I work from home, I’m rarely not by my own wi-fi. So I can’t justify the $30/mo I’d have to pay for data just for the privilege of buying a smartphone from Verizon. There have been very few times in my life where I wish I had the Internet right now. If I do need to know something I usually text my brother and he looks it up for me. I’m 33 BTW.
I’m not against smartphones. I do have a Touch and I love playing games and reading the Dope from my couch. I just don’t leave the house enough to need data.
On BoostMobile it is an extra $5 a month. I still don’t bother since I have a tablet computer and there is plenty of free wifi around.
It’s a smart phone, not a miracle phone. 
Huh - I thought that any phone could send / receive text messages (assuming the plan doesn’t prohibit it?) - our last few “feature phones” certainly could.
Re getting a smartphone “eventually”, why bother? For the OP, you definitely can get by without one - while I love mine and would miss it if it were gone, there are fairly few situations in which I “need” it. Finding hotels etc. while travelling is one of those times, also the ability to check traffic maps on the go. Other times it’s awfully nice, but rarely anything that I couldn’t work around by doing a little planning before leaving the house.
For someone interested in some of the smartphone features, but not wanting to play through the nose for a data plan: get an iPod Touch, or any secondhand smartphone (but don’t activate it as a phone). Wi-fi will still work, you can still do games and other apps, you can still do email etc.
Smartphones are far from necessary today. I have one because it is provided to me by my job, if I didn’t have that, I’d probably still just have a dumbphone. In fact, my personal phone is still a normal dumbphone that’s just for calls and texts.
I do like the smart phone for some things, it’s nice to be able to keep up on my email from anywhere. I’ve definitely prevented a couple disasters at work from seeing and replying to email at night or on the weekends that would have been way worse if I didn’t find out until the next morning. It is nice when I’m bored, as others have mentioned, so I have a few games that I enjoy on it. I am generally against the idea of being in constant contact via facebook or twitter or whatever, so I very rarely check facebook on it. Sometimes its nice to be able to look stuff up on the run, but even that stuff I can usually just look up beforehand or wait until I get home. Regardless, while it is certainly quite useful for work, it’s definitely not essential personally.
So, if you don’t need it for work, aren’t addicted to facebook or twitter, and have other ways to entertain yourself in a waiting room or whatever, I don’t think there’s much justification for one, certainly not with the additional cost of the more expensive hardware and service.
ETA: I waited a long time to get a cellphone too, only got mine about 6-7 years ago when everyone else I know had one for a good 5 or more years before that. But it is definitely worth it because the convenience of being able to call from everywhere, reach people in emergencies. On top of that, I don’t need a landline, so it’s not even any more expensive. So, at worst, if you don’t want to be contacted whenever, I sure don’t, I just leave it home or in my car or just don’t answer.
And THAT, no doubt, is part of the problem - the assumption that ALL phones can handle texts. No, they can’t. Certainly, older phones can’t (and I tend to keep mine 5-7 years). As it happens, I didn’t want to pay for internet access so while mine has the capability of texting I purposely crippled it due to extreme poverty. I had to have a phone for work purposes (yes, it really was a requirement for two of my most recent three jobs) but I did not need to text and literally couldn’t afford the few extra bucks a month.
We’ve already had one poster mention it was required as part of his job, and even supplied by his company. Of course, if my boss wants to get me one for work purposes I’ll use it. I’m not opposed to the tech, I just don’t feel a pressing need for it and would rather spend my money on something else right now.
I know for trips people keep pushing the GPS feature, and while that does have its attractions, I learned to navigate in the days prior to GPS. I have an extensive map collection for my traveling, and prior to leaving there’s always Google Maps and a printer available at home. If I have to change/detour well, that’s what the maps are for. If I need a hotel on short notice I ask at a truck stop. While GPS/hotel searching at the push of a button would be a convenience I don’t view it as a necessity.
For the OP, you definitely can get by without one - while I love mine and would miss it if it were gone, there are fairly few situations in which I “need” it. Finding hotels etc. while travelling is one of those times, also the ability to check traffic maps on the go. Other times it’s awfully nice, but rarely anything that I couldn’t work around by doing a little planning before leaving the house.
Texting and the internet have nothing to do with each other, you know that right? You do not need to connect to the internet to receive or send a text.
Normally you can either add texts for about $5/mo, or pay one by one about 0.10 each to either send or receive. I understand being really low on funds and not wanting to pay additional fees, but there is no connection between the first part of your statement “I didn’t want to pay for internet access” and the second part “so I [shut off texting.]”
Sidenote: I always get the cheapest dumbphone on the plan (I’m too cheap to pay for data) and I’ve never had one that can’t receive texts. I’ve been cell-phone only since 1998.
Hell, yes, there’s a connection* if the phone company insists on bundling them together.* I couldn’t get them separate, I had to have BOTH and I would be forced to pay for every text sent or received - meaning all those people who spam my e-mail would start spamming my phone but I seriously doubt any of them would be willing to pay for what their spamming cost me.
So I made sure no one could force me to purchase texts.
Now, maybe things have changed since I last inquired, but since I don’t feel a need for texting anyhow I haven’t bothered to inquire.
I’ve been on the fence for quite awhile, and I might get a tablet before a smart phone. What I’d really like, is a tablet with an ear piece, or a tablet that would use a regular cell phone as a link to the internet. It seems such a waste to get a smart phone and a tablet, when they’re really the same thing, except that the tablet has a screen you can actually read.
I live in an areawith volatileweather patterns, and having access to current radar and alerts is more than worthwhile. (Plus I can play TapFish or WordsWithFriends while pooping at work instead of starting straight ahead. WwF is a nice mental exercise as well.)
I’m 33, male, and live in the SF Bay Area, making me the only guy in that demographic who doesn’t have a smartphone. I have a dumbphone which makes/takes calls and text messages just fine.
The smartphone boom roughly coincided with the birth of my first child, and the elimination of my wife’s salary from the books (she’s a SAHM), making a huge cell phone bill a non-starter. I’m also not on Facebook so I’m not missing much there. I do use Twitter, but I try to be sparing in my tweets (2-3 a day, only when I actually have something to say), so having a phone wouldn’t make a difference there, either. The only times I wish I had a smartphone is when I’m waiting for an extended period of time (quite rare) or when I’m looking for something while out of the house (infrequent).
I wanted the smart, but not the phone, so I got an iPod Touch. I can text and do all the smart stuff, with no monthly plan.
I have an Ipod Touch, but I’ve been thinking of getting a smartphone without a data plan, so I can have the functions of a phone plus the Ipod Touch without the hassle of carrying two things in my pocket.
The downside is that as far as I can tell, I can’t do this with an iPhone, at least not on the Verizon network. I would have to get an Android phone and use something other than iTunes for my music.
Heck, I don’t even get GPS for my rental cars when traveling. If there’s somewhere I absolutely must be, I make a route and alternate the day before and leave myself at least a 30 minute cushion for detours.
Right. Is it indispensable for me to have a handheld computer/PDA with a live data link always at hand? No. My telephone/messaging device is, and that’s only due to work requirements. Back in the mid-'00s I went around with a Palm T|E for scheduling and notes, and a little flip-phone for calls and texts and that was fine.
I held out on getting a smartphone until 2010, but I gave in finally mostly because I missed my PDA utilities. Since then there have been two other editions of the device and I’ve felt no temptation to switch just because. I’ve been averaging some 4 years between mobile devices so the latest and greatest feature set does not drive me. Does it work for what I need it? Then it’s good.
In a practical sense many of us have to deal with the expectations factor. People are sometimes stunned to learn that I am not following my networks real-time, that I kill all the “push” features so I have to deliberately open my mailbox or FaceBook to see what’s up there, sometimes hours after they tried to be clever (I do so to save battery life, and if it’s that huge a deal you will call me). But sometimes an employer will expect that you have a particular configuration of smartphone/portable communicator at hand so many people indeed are required to carry smartphones and even spare smartphones and it’s not their fault.
Sure, a dumb phone will save you $30+ per month, you don’t need a data plan. If you really don’t talk much on your cell get something like a TracFone, I got mine down to $7 per month average.
That said I think it’s still handy to have an iPod Touch (cheap), Android Tablet (cheap and bigger), or iPad (big and expensive.) Many places have WiFi internet, and of course there are hundreds of thousands of apps and games you can play with or without net access.
I’m in my mid-30s and I’ve never even had a CELL phone, let alone a SMART phone. Stickman has a smartphone, but that’s because it’s pretty much a requirement for his job.
I have always found that even though technology is available, I don’t always need or want it. After all, I grew up without it–we had a rotary phone at home until I was in high school and my parents didn’t buy their first computer until I was in my 20s. They still don’t have wireless or cable internet. They still have dial-up. I didn’t own an MP3 player until my late 20s and when that took a walk a couple years ago, I didn’t bother replacing it and I didn’t plan to replace it but I was given an Ipod Shuffle as a gift and I figured I might as well keep it and use it. I didn’t get an E-Reader until about a year ago and it’s one of the most basic models that was ever made.
Technology is NICE…but it’s not a requirement.
I don’t wish to own a phone that’s smarter than I am.
Currently I am struggling with two tins and a piece of string…