I love my smartphone and it makes my life easier and more fun. However, I couldn’t care less what choices other folks make.
In all fairness, a cell phone without a built-in microphone really wouldn’t be very useful for, well, much of anything.
Myself, I currently have a dumbphone and an (old) iPod Touch, and can tell from how I use both of them that it would be really handy to have the features of both, and then some, combined into a single device. So I will be getting a smartphone eventually. But right now, I just can’t justify the expense, as I’m currently pretty much in no-luxuries mode.
Transitioning now. I’ve resisted for years, and could really use one for my job (I freelance), because I hate the idea of them. But then I got my 6 year old phone stolen last week, so I’m switching over. I’m using Ting, which piggybacks on Sprint network. It’s $6/month for basic service, no contract, and call minutes/texts/data are split into separate tiers, and you pay whatever tier you’re in at the end of the month. I’m also signing up for Google Voice, which allows call forwarding to go through a VOIP service, texts to be sent as emails, and voice mails to be transcribed as emails – all for free. You can do this over WiFi, so my ultimate plan is to install an app that automatically goes to WiFi whenever it’s in range – at home or at the office – meaning I’d only ever have to pay for service if I’m “out and about.” And you can use pretty much any Sprint smartphone, I got mine (Epic 4G) for $20 on eBay.
That’s the plan, atleast. Could go very bad, and I still don’t like the idea of having a Smartphone. But this setup is cheeeeeeeeeeeeap and it untethers my phone from the phone I give people, so having it stolen is no big. We’ll see!
I’ve never owned even a cell phone, much less a smart phone. I have a landline and that’s all.
I just have my dumb phone, which I only got in 2010. The wife has a smart phone though. But my policy is not voting unless a poll is anonymous.
The Mrs. just got a smartphone today, for the first time. And only because her old one had broken, and they made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
I’m still holding out. My phone doesn’t even have a camera.
I have a TracFone that spends most of it’s time in a draw turned off.
I have no compelling need, nor could afford a smart phone or a tablet.
Ditto. Presumably I can text from it, but I haven’t the faintest idea how to go about it. I don’t even know my phone number.
I have a cheap $44 phone from Amazon and am doing the T-Mo pay as you go thing. I figure it’s costing me about $20 a month to have a phone, and I can text with it, but rarely do.
I have a tablet. Sure, it’s only wifi, but I bought it to read and watch shows on the bus to and from work, and I can live without internet access then and most other times. Public wifi is common enough that if I really really need internet, I could probably find it. Otherwise, I’m addicted enough to the internet at home and work and it’s probably a good thing that I don’t carry it around with me.
That and I don’t know if the small amount of internet use I’d get from the phone would justify the $60-80 a month extra a smart phone would cost me.
The stupid thing is that my 77 year old mother, who can barely use a computer, won’t get behind the wheel of their new car without being taken to a parking lot to ‘practice’ and probably wouldn’t be able to handle texting or even read a smart phone without reading glasses… Is insisting that she needs a smart phone because all of her friends have one. :rolleyes:
Aww crap. No smart phone but I do have a tablet, though. People can’t call me on it, so it’s better (for me) than a smart phone.
I plan on going back to an indestructible flipper phone when my renewal is up. Smartfone is nice, I guess, but I’m hardly finding it worth what I pay for a data plan.
Never owned a portable phone, still have a landline at home, but now own a tablet, which I can text on without a phone plan expense, (TextPlus) and find it the perfect device. No phone calls but I can get texts or iMessages. That’s enough for my needs. I hate the idea of everything being so small on a phone, to watch a video, or a game, or even to read. When tablets came along, I found them too big to be really portable, but then the minis came along and I felt like Goldilocks, it was just right!
And you don’t need a special application to text someone, just an email client. The catch is that you have to know their carrier, although I’d imagine you could spam bomb the big ones. For example, to text someone in LA on Verizon, I would email it to 2138675309@vtext.com. A big list here. Verizon also has @vzwpix.com for more complex messages like MMS. The Vonage way sounds easier, but if e.g. you have to borrow someone’s tablet/computer in an emergency and can’t install a program.
I got my iPhone a couple of years ago and I don’t understand now how I got along without it, but before I had it it didn’t seem like a huge deal. I’ve become dependent on it. The maps app has saved me many times, as has being able to check email on the go. And having basically a pocket full of puzzles, news articles, and video games has vastly increased my tolerance for standing around in long lines.
I’m not a big fan of them, don’t have one. I can see where they could be useful once in a while and I may make the move at some point, but I’m in no hurry. I’m not a technophobe, but I have a hard time getting my head wrapped around the point of having constant non-stop access to everything.
I think the thing that bothers me the most about the smart phone boom is how it seems that nobody is able to go without looking at them for more than a few minutes, and I think they distract people from the life around them. Maybe that’s the appeal to some people, I dunno. We went to Vegas a couple of weeks ago for the first time in about 6-7 years. One of the things that has always both amused and annoyed me in Vegas is how people walking down the strip or through a casino or shopping area will get distracted and just come to a dead stop with no regard to what is around them. On this last trip, I think that people with their smart phones made that 10 times worse than it used to be.
I haven’t. I work from home and when I’m out I don’t need/want the Internet. When I get home, I have the Internet again. I can’t justify $30/mo for a computer in my pocket.
If I could get an iPhone with no data plan for $35/mo like my dumbphone, and just use it as a phone and on wifi, I would buy one in a heartbeat. But nobody seems to offer that.
I’m not against smartphones. Think they’re great. Posting now from my iPod Touch. Just can’t justify the cost of a data plan.
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I can’t TELL you how dependent I am. The subway ap alone has changed my life and the life of the many people who come up to me for directions and I just whip out my handy dandy subway ap and send them on their way with a pat on the butt and a ‘god speed’ on my lips. I can read whenever I’m stranded in a long line or something, I have maps, gps. Man, I got this free scan documents app that is saving my sanity right now. I love my smart phone with all of my heart and soul! I shall never give it up and don’t know how I lived without it.
I voted for both of the first two options.
I’m happy not having to pay monthly data charges with my dumb-as-hell phone, but if I didn’t have to pay for it, I’d be happy to buy one.
You don’t have to pay a ton for data, just saying. If you have an off contract or unlocked GSM phone, you can go with Straight Talk and pay $45 a month for everything, voice, texts, and data. That’s barely more than a basic voice plan from AT&T and about $30 less than an AT&T plan with 3gb of data. Straight Talk does throttle your data after 2.5 gb, but if you use mostly wifi, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I brought my iPhone to Straight Talk and they sent me an AT&T compatible SIM card. I’ve been using them since January and I’m pretty satisfied with them.
Usually buy a Trac Phone 1 year card with triple minutes. That along with minutes carried over from last year amounts to about $8/month.