Yeah, this is what I am thinking. I currently pay $50/quarter for my phone and usually have credit left over. So I don’t want to add a data plan, but it seems like that is most of the point of a smartphone.
I normally write everything down on 70 million pieces of paper, which I then lose, so I am hopelessly disorganised. I can almost always find my phone, so it occurred to me a smartphone might help me keep track of everything. But it seems like overkill and I wouldn’t really use most of the features.
Well, the other alternative is to buy a wifi only device. They don’t have the steep price entry points a full fledged smartphone would. An iPod Touch, for example. I use mine as a calendar, shopping list, to do list, email repository, Web browser, music player, etc., and I think they start at around $200. Much more sensible if you want to avoid a data plan like the plague, which I can sympathize with.
I’m not going to repeat what others have brought up, but instead try to bring up new uses.
Except this, since I see nobody else has mentioned it. Tapatalk has some advantages over a browser:
[ol]
[li]No ads.[/li][li]A nifty “participated threads” view, which the browser doesn’t have.[/li][li]Might be more stable - I’ve never had to log in.[/li][li]It’s also formatted properly for the phone screen, which a browser isn’t.[/li][li]Loads pictures automatically.[/li][/ol]
I also store all my photos online, which are instantly accessible anywhere. So I can answer questions like: what model is our TV? What hotel did we stay in during our trip in 2010? When was my cousin’s wedding?
Now that Flickr gives 1 TB storage for free, I think anyone can do this.
Without data access, your options are lessened, but they’re still useful. You could use them for reference (world clock, unit conversion, dictionary/translation, spirit level), I just input the expiry dates of all my vouchers in an app so I won’t miss one again, with some preparation you could put some favourite photos/videos to carry with you all the time (and you can be creative with this - I keep nutritional information for McDonalds and Subway), even odd apps like a heart rate monitor or white noise generator.
Replying to emails from needy faculty that expect instant answers.
Calendar
Occasional texting/chatting
Very occasional search for information or directions
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure it’s worth the price of a data plan (currently a $60/month share of a family plan). If money was tighter I’d definitely drop it. As it is, I’m tempted by cheaper plans, like a $30/month plan from T-mobile that includes unlimited data but not much talk time.
I use mine for texting, hated the non keyboard for that, much faster with the smart phone. Lots of Words With Friends. Knowing when my email comes in, I will write an email on my phone, but I’d rather use the computer to type something long. I’ve also not used my iPod in months since I can put a 32gig card in my phone and have a good amount of music with me. I rarely talk on my phone, but I don’t have a whole lot of people to talk to anyway.
Data plans are quite expensive here so the usage of my smartphone is pretty limited. It is used for calls, alarm clock, calculator, and destroying those green pigs ( Angry Birds ).
Email
Text
Phone
Weather updates
Internet access
Making tee times
Calendar
Entertainment (games)
Golf course GPS
GPS navigation
Finding a business/restaurant/attraction nearby
I don’t think it’s quite as dire as that for day-to-day use. Between home and office, wifi covers 75%-80% of my day. The data’s more convenient on weekends and vacations.
alarm clock
email
weather
map my walk
listen to music
facebook
texting/making phone calls
I use the calendar instead of a diary
my roster goes into the Shift Worker app
shopping list
make notes to myself (stuff to do, buy etc)
check my Watch list on Ebay
If I’m without a book, I read on the phone Kindle (easier than I thought it would be)
Find the nearest loo, ATM or coffee shop (this one has saved me more than once)
Look up drug interactions etc on Micromedex
Play freecell
Make sure I don’t miss out on ebay bids
Find my way around (map app)
pics for my job (posting and sending to fellow employees back at HQ)
pics for my life (posting and sending to family members)
reading e-books when I’m stuck in line somewhere (DMV for instance)…
So many other things
I recently bought myself a new smartphone off ebay and mistakenly did not make note of the sim card size it used. Lo and behold, when it arrived I found the old phone used a regular sim card and the new phone a micro sim card. I had to wait about a week for a sim card cutter to come in the mail to resize the card for my new phone. In the meantime my new phone was stuck without a data plan (the old phone was bricked so I couldn’t go back) That was when I found out just how convenient a data plan is. I kept opening things then doing a forehead slap when I realized I didn’t have data. I also happened to be traveling to the city that weekend and that’s exactly when I use my data the most. I had to plan everything ahead at home, download maps to the phone, pick all the places before I left, etc… just a huge pain when you’re used to being able to do things on the fly. Also, the wifi at work is situated in such a way that the toilets are just out of range. Really put a damper on my visits to the throne.
I use my phone for (in no particular order):
An alarm clock (it’ll wake me up even in the event of a power outage!)
Email
Texting
Game Playing
Subway directions
Train arrival/departure times
To-Do/Grocery Lists
Geocaching in the field
Checking movie times
Depositing checks
The guidebook app for storing convention maps and con schedules without having to carry around a huge bulky book the whole time I’m there - I cannot stress how much better this made my convention visits, if you go to conventions
Any light internet browsing if I feel inconvenienced by starting my laptop, which means things like facebook, goodreads, tumblr, random “When did the Red Sox finally win the world championship again?” searches
And finally, extremely rarely, actually as a phone (I don’t like phone calls)
I don’t watch video, play music, or use GPS in the car off my phone. I have a dedicated MP3 player. As a rule, I do not bog my phone down with music because of that. Video I do rarely. It’s convenient, but I use my laptop more. I have a dedicated GPS, so I don’t use my phone in the car for that unless I’m seeing traffic congestion and I want to know how to avoid it.
Because I do a bunch of things but don’t actually talk on the darn thing despite it being my only phone line, I use the t-mobile $30 a month unlimited data + text but 100 minute plan. It is perfect. I actually do most calls as VoIP at home so they don’t use my minutes anyway. It’s also a non-contract plan so I can use whatever phone I want, whenever I want, and cancel whenever I want. It’s also the cheapest plan available for smartphones. Practically tailor-made for me. When I need a new phone, I just buy last year’s model off ebay for a modest couple hundred bucks and pay $30 a month for the plan. Saves a ton of money this way over contract plans that subsidize phones.
ETA: You don’t know how much you will use a smartphone until you actually have one. I thought I got by just fine without one for a long, long time. Then I got one and it has made my traveling life 50 times better. Smartphones can do a zillion things and without experience with one it’s difficult to tell just how great weird app X is gonna make your life.
#1 thing I do is traffic, every day before I leave work, using Google Maps, which I have found is more accurate than the other maps traffic maps I have access to.
Others
GPS when I’m away from home
Texting
MP3 player, when walking my dog
Email if I’m away from a computer
And the best - I have a list of the books, magazines and classical music I own on my phone, so I can look up books I find in used books stores to see if I own them already. I’ve saved a ton of money discovering I own something I’m sure I didn’t have. I do this with a simple pdf file, but I’ll do something smarter later.
Camera sometimes also, also alarm. I rarely watch movies or videos.
I do not have the slightest interest in “apps” apart from maps.
However recently I have googled the odd query such as where the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sits (Middlesex Guildhall). My phone (Motorola Defy) doesn’t have a large screen and I am all thumbs so its frustrating to use beyond texting and phone.