# Dumb Smartphone Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765 "2014-07-10T13:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/21 "2014-07-12T14:02:37Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > With most phones, there are a variety of options for assigning rings, as well as ignoring unknown numbers. i should look into it, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/22 "2014-07-12T14:03:33Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > They will, to a damn man of them, pretend that plastic is a negative. In fact, plastic casing is better for almost any practical purpose and makes for a lighter device, too. When my fiancee got an iPhone I told her to treat it like a $700 piece of glass, because, well, it _is_ a $700 piece of glass. But she continues to stick it in her back pocket and sit on it :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/23 "2014-07-12T18:09:55Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > Another question: I’ll be traveling to Canada this fall. I’m assuming roaming data is about a billions dollars, so the best thing to do would be to turn it off and leave it in my suitcase. Are voice rates so expensive it would be for dire emergencies or only, or would a quick phone call home “call me back on my hotel phone at …” be reasonable. Since you are on Verizon, this won’t help you, but maybe it will help out somebody else. On my T-Mobile account, data roaming is free in most of the world, and if I am on a WiFi network, I can make WiFi calls for free. Regular voice network calls are around a buck and a half a minute, depending on what country you are visiting. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/24 "2014-07-12T20:34:16Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Bolding Mine. > > _Definitely not_. iPhones are not specifically bad, but they are not nearly as well-built as a comparable top-tier Android phone (well, maybe Sony stuff).Apple spent their most recent budget on appearance more than solidity. The devices look nice, because of the metal, but they’re generally worse all-around in terms of robustness, resistance, and durability. > > This is one area where I cordially despise most of the reviewers you can find. They tend to pay too much attention to the look of the device and less to the case utility. They will, to a damn man of them, pretend that plastic is a negative. In fact, plastic casing is better for almost any practical purpose and makes for a lighter device, too. > > This is not to specifically say the 5S is a bad device if you like it (note that more and more customers seem to consider its size a negative, as does Apple). I declared _jihad_ against Apple many years ago for entirely different reasons. Do you have cites to back up any of what you’ve said, or is it just the jihad talking? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/25 "2014-07-13T01:40:21Z")
I use Waze instead of google maps. Either one should be turned off if you’re not using. They’ll burn your battery. Like other users, I use Web, I prefer Chrome browser over Safari, for some things, and apps for others. Mail, app. Ereader, app. Facebook, app. But lots of things are just fine on the browser. Save the apps for things you do a lot. Play around a bit. It’s a brave new world. I prefer the iPhone to Android options myself. But I’ll refrain from kicking the hornets nest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/26 "2014-07-13T01:56:09Z")
One thing about apps is they often can do a better job of caching data, which makes it quicker and more bandwidth efficient when refreshing content. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/27 "2014-07-13T02:04:22Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Do you have cites to back up any of what you’ve said, or is it just the jihad talking? Well, there are lots of sites that document that the iPhone is smaller. As someone who bought the Moto X primarily for its smaller size, I see that as a major advantage of the iPhone. (I know next to nothing about phone construction. Mostly they seem to work until you want a new one for the nifty new features available.) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/28 "2014-07-13T13:38:23Z")
I don’t have cites handy, but I did make phones for over a decade. Full metal enclosures tend to interfere with the antennas, resulting in either larger phones or poorer reception. Poor reception turns into bad battery life. At least two phones I worked on were mostly plastic housings, but very strong. We used to throw them off a second floor balcony for fun, and the only thing that happened was the battery door popping off. I’m not a mechanical engineer, but I suspect we used thicker plastic, compared to what is common in modern devices. Metal might allow for more strength in a thinner package. As for the comment about reviews - my experience is that you can find a review with whatever slant you want. I can’t tell you the number of reviews I read about a shiny new product and it’s “innovative” feature…which was something we had done five years ago. Not saying the products weren’t good. Just that the thing that made them good wasn’t specifically the part the review was touting. It was more about the usability of the feature, or the marketing around it to make people think it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/29 "2014-07-13T16:03:48Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > btw, do smartphones have anti-spam features for sms? Not iPhones, but Android has blacklisting apps (not sure if they require jailbreak). What I do on my iPhone is add all the numbers I don’t want to a contact, which has custom ring and text tones - all silent, and no vibrate as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/30 "2014-07-13T19:07:26Z")
I do realize there’s advantages to larger screen sizes, but at the same time I must be about the only one that’s bothered by large objects in their pocket I wonder if phones will keep getting bigger until they merge with tablets… But I’m thinking if I install Google Maps, Search, and Chrome, and Youtube I can for the most part stay away from Safari, Bing, and Apple Maps? How much of Google Maps be reasonably cached- a neighborhood, a city? a state? I’m assuming it’s easy to connect a phone to available wifi networks? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/31 "2014-07-13T20:19:21Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > I do realize there’s advantages to larger screen sizes, but at the same time I must be about the only one that’s bothered by large objects in their pocket I wonder if phones will keep getting bigger until they merge with tablets… > > But I’m thinking if I install Google Maps, Search, and Chrome, and Youtube I can for the most part stay away from Safari, Bing, and Apple Maps? How much of Google Maps be reasonably cached- a neighborhood, a city? a state? > > I’m assuming it’s easy to connect a phone to available wifi networks? On an iPhone, yes. Very easy to connect to wifi. Choose Settings \> Wifi and it will show you all networks available to you. Tap the one you want to join. If it’s a public wifi, like in a Starbuck’s it’ll probably display a terms of service page. Just check “I agree” and you’re in. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/32 "2014-07-13T20:26:22Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Not iPhones, but Android has blacklisting apps (not sure if they require jailbreak). > > What I do on my iPhone is add all the numbers I don’t want to a contact, which has custom ring and text tones - all silent, and no vibrate as well. iOS 7 has a block list. You could just add those contacts to the block list. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/33 "2014-07-13T22:20:52Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > On an iPhone, yes. Very easy to connect to wifi. Choose Settings \> Wifi and it will show you all networks available to you. Tap the one you want to join. If it’s a public wifi, like in a Starbuck’s it’ll probably display a terms of service page. Just check “I agree” and you’re in. On Android too; there’s nothing to it. The menu options may be slightly different from iOS but the principle is the same. Lately, however, when at a coffee shop I’ve usually found that their public WiFi connection isn’t any better than – and often not as good as–the local 3g/4g signal. I have Sprint, but with unlimited domestic roaming. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/34 "2014-07-19T14:35:57Z")
How secure is the fingerprint data? Like could hackers or law enforcement get at it? ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/35 "2014-07-20T03:43:19Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > How secure is the fingerprint data? Like could hackers or law enforcement get at it? Speaking only for Apple’s Touch ID, it’s pretty secure. The architecture of Touch ID vectorizes the data it scans of your fingerprint which is then encrypted and kept completely inaccessible from third party apps, iOS itself and even the A7 chip running the device. No picture of you finger print is stored. And just as important, the data is never sent anywhere, so it never goes to Apple’s servers or iCloud, nor is it included if you make a backup. So, at the very least, a hacker or the law would need physical access to the device. And even then, the decryption keys needed to access the data will be lost after five unsuccessful authentication attempts or if the device has been left locked for 48 hours. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/36 "2014-07-20T06:30:20Z")
first you get them used to the idea of submitting to fingerprints, then you introduce Skynet later as a feature. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/37 "2014-07-20T06:36:23Z")
To the OP. MDcastle. Given the responses, it appears there is no such thing as “Dumb Smartphone Question” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765/38 "2014-07-22T11:56:57Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i should look into it, thanks! Also if you’re musically inclined you can put together a tune/jingle in GarageBand and save it as a ringtone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-smartphone-questions/692765.md?page=1)