Smartphones; what am I missing?

They seem too big and I can’t remember how many screens I have seen that were cracked and destroyed. If you like to fiddle with your phone all the time it might be for you. It could be that they are a status thing you need to have to be “in” with everyone.

You’re not smart enough B-)

You wrote: “I don’t see the point of going online on my phone, visiting Facebook and, forgive me, Fluther. Not while I’m out doing stuff. Plus I’m not interested in texting.”

I absolutely lurve you! I think it is shameful that people consider it higher priority to respond to texts and IMs when they are talking to someone face-to-face.

I have a similar phone on a 700 minute family plan, and a Kindle fire that is loaded up with apps. I only go online with it when I can do so for free. I check email, do searches, and use it for showing pictures and reports. I also waste time playing sudoku.

I have a Smart Phone – an iPhone to be exact – and I think it would be hard to find someone my age who didn’t have one. I was actually pretty late on the trend. I had a flip phone with Virgin Mobile all through high school, then I got another with Boost Mobile (both prepaid plans). I could hardly get online with these phones, but you don’t miss something you’ve never had. My first 3–4 [cheap] Smart Phones with Boost sucked. The screen would freeze up, they had limited apps, the signal sucked, and it was overall a bigger pain in the ass than it was worth. You get what you pay for with Smart Phones.

My mom, husband, and I all switched to our first non-prepaid plan with Verizon late last year, which is when I got my iPhone. I’m in love with it, I’m on it way too much, and I am basically dependent on it. In fact, I’m on it now.

You don’t sound like you have much use or interest in upgrading. If you like your phone, keep it. I think those cards will stick around for awhile but, even if they don’t, there are prepaid phones that you can load online with a debit card instead. Prepaid phones are here to stay, because there’s still a market for them. Even Verizon does prepaid now.

The cons of a Smart Phone are that they’re more expensive and more fragile (unless you have a good protective case like an OtterBox). There are pros, obviously, but only for people with an interest in texting, surfing the web, using apps, and taking pictures/video. You could get a relatively inexpensive digital camera for that last one and it would be cheaper than a trendy phone for sure.

So I say stick with what you got. No reason to spend a bunch of money on something you don’t even want.

I’m much like you, @Symbeline, but I for take the plunge.

I have an HTC evo 3 d on a prepaid plan. Since I rarely talk on the phone, the unlimited web and text with 300 minutes a month is pretty awesome. 35 bucks a month.

I’m Fluthering from it now. I don’t have cable or internet at home, so it was revolutionary to be able to check the weather before dressing for work. I can use it to move files from my work computer to my home computer, and I never miss an important email. Also, I have an awful sense of direction, so the sat nav is pretty sweet. Also, angry birds. Shuts up a four year old instantly.

I finally bought one a couple years ago, much after most of my peers already had them. I don’t use mine much. Mostly I text or make phone calls from my phone, and I don’t even do much of that. I do take photos with it at times, which has been very convenient at times. Yesterday my smart phone came in handy when I needed to call around to some stores. I was already running errands and all I had to do was google the store and click in the call icon. When I travel I have the 3g on the phone so I can email, facebook, even if I don’t have a wireless connection. Some hotels charge for wireless and some airports. At home I would just use my ipad or laptop for internet and email. Once in a while I use the map/nav feature. I have thought about going back to a regular phone, most likely I won’t, but I think about it to save the $$$.

Sorry, I can’t be of much help as I come down where you do. I have one. I don’t surf the web with it and I don’t send texts. it has a camera but I don’t use it.

One thing: when you give up on cards there are plans that you can get that do not have contracts.

You don’t want to be tuned in all the time? You don’t want to be able to network and buy things while driving, in class or a meeting, or while going to the bathroom? What’s wrong with you?

Oh!

My car is 25 years old, and I hate FM radio in this area. I download lectures into my phone, and listen to them on my commute. Drive Time U, I call it. ^_^

Look into the Walmart Straight Talk no contract plans. $45 a month (cheaper if you pay for 6 months in advance) unlimited talk, text and Internet. It is cheaper if you just want the talk, no text or Internet plan. You can get any type of phone you want from a basic phone like you have now to an iPhone. You pay for the phone of your choice and pay by the month. I haven’t found anything cheaper or better.

Nothing. If you don’t dig it, no need to look any further. I don’t get what people see in spectator sports, television, parties, shopping, motorcycles, guns, lawns, etc. I don’t need to be sold on them, however.

Regarding smart phones – if you haven’t been carrying around smart phone-type devices for 10+ years alongside your flip phone, then you probably aren’t in any need of it. I transitioned from 2 devices to 1 (smartphone) in 2009.

I have to say I never was a big cellphone carrier until I got my iPhone. I do love it. I don’t entertain myself with it at all but I do use it to check e-mail, text and of course, phone. Sometimes use the calculator and Fluther. Now that I’m single it enhances my social life but I do agree that making it a priority over face-to-face is bad.

Nothing, unless you run into a “killer application”. I know people who sold their car and now completely rely on smart car sharing, taxis and public transportation. A smart phone can tell you where someone left a car closest to your current position (in some city for example).

I prefer tablets over smart phones.

@mattbrowne I use each for different locations.

@livelaughlove21 iPhone: the smart phone for not so smart people (like most apple products).

I keed, I keed. I have one myself, but wouldn’t get a newer one if jailbreaking dies off.

I like my iphone because since I can jailbreak it I can tweak almost everything to what I want, from getting email and updates on the lock screen, video wallpaper, more icons on the dock/special icon layouts (gridlock) so the screen is cleaner, cusomizing system sounds, its endless.

I feel pretty much the same way, I guess. I do use a mobile device to access the internet, but it’s strictly wi-fi. The cost of smart phone service is a bit steep for me.

And, as I use my cell phone on a limited basis, I use pay-as-you-go, adding time every 60 days.

Unlike yourself, though, I don’t search around for refill cards. You can purchase refill minutes online a bit cheaper (and more conveniently) than what you’d pay with a card. There are many such sites you can purchase from, but I highly recommend you check out Calling Mart.

I have a dumbphone…about as dumb as anything out there. I can make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, and take pictures (although I never do that). There are plenty of such devices available at any cellphone store, and you can buy one for under $20.

Like you, I view a telephone as something for ring-ring-hello, not as a mini-computer. Also, I honestly don’t want 27/7 access to my email and the internet. I just think it’s healthy to be disconnnected for at last part of every day. When I see people 100% fixated on their cellphones while riding buses and subways, sitting in restaurants, and even walking down the street, I know that something’s gone haywire.

No smartphones or cellphones for me.
For one, I don’t care to be plugged in every minute of my life, for two, reception is sketchy in these hills and not worth the extra expense. I do just fine with my laptop and land line, and I am not out driving a lot at night where I could encounter an emergency situation. Too much hassle and extra expense for few personal benefits IMO.

It is a blessing and a curse. I love being able to access all the worlds information in an instant, but right now I’m lying on the couch writing this instead of helping my husband with the master bedroom remodel he’s doing upstairs. It’s really not the best invention for my marriage.

It’s like having a computer in your pocket. You can find products, businesses, addresses all using your phone. Need a map? Here it is.

@Judi The internet definitely hurt mine – but so did sailing.

I’m in two minds about my smartphone. I absolutely love being able to go online whenever I want and taking photos and being able to share funny moments with my friends, however I’m literally addicted to it, I end up going to bed really late because I always feel I need to post more pictures on tumblr or check up people’s profiles on Facebook. I can’t switch off. If I were you I’d wait as late as you can before you get a smartphone because you will definitely be better off :)

Haven’t read any of the posts above so sorry If I repeat something. I did read the whole question and was disappointed because I thought there will be zombies involved. Maaan. Lol. But yeah, your cellphone seemed zombie-ish at this point.

Felt the same way. I didn’t want a smartphone. First, it’s expensive and I don’t need it to surf. I have an iPad with dedicated internet so having it with a phone is redundant. Like you, I wanted my phone to just make calls and receive calls. So I had for years this unsophisticated no contract phone which I paid 50 bucks a month for.

But then, after a while, I ended up getting a much, much better phone. Which I have to pay for 60 bucks a month, again no contract and it’s a Blackberry-! My iPad is first series so it doesn’t have a camera. Now I could easily take photos of high quality resolution and send it straight to FB or email it to me for filing. And the Blackberry looks elegant and has lots more features like an alarm clock, which I needed.

I think that was a good compromise is what I’m saying.

@Symbeline let me add to the voices of jellies in complete agreement with your original post. Spot on!

An opportunity to contract early arthritis of the thumbs?

^^ cough…Android…Swype/Swiftkey.

It sounds like you don’t need one, based on what you want out of a phone. What I use it for is pretty different from you. I call people, but I also frequently send texts, I send pictures, I look up things online, find restaurants and business, make shopping lists and other reminder lists, use the maps for navigation, even find music with apps like Shazam. I also use it to play music. I feel like I’m properly using all the features. If you don’t need or want to do those things, then you don’t need a phone like that. If those things sound appealing to you, you might want to consider getting one. :)

Thanks for all your answers everyone. If there’s still a strong market for my zombie phone, I believe I’ll keep that for the time being. Maybe some time in the future I’ll make the change, but not now. I asked a lot of my friends too, but a lot of people use this for the reasons that I’m not interested in, so I don’t really see a point in paying so much for something that I’ll probably only use for calling. I guess unless I were to get addicted to it.

Some points here that are interesting though; weather updates. I admit this is pretty convenient, and my friend has a smartphone where the weather prediction is actually really spot on and detailed. But as I say, I’m old fashioned, and the way I check on the weather is by looking outside my window when I wake up. Seems so simple lol. Of course, that doesn’t tell me what it will be like later, but I do have websites I check for this.

I admit though, being able to find addresses and maps is damn convenient though. I use google mapping for this usually, but if you’re out and about and don’t have access to a computer, that would be handy. My phone technically can do this, but it takes like two dollars away from my card for spending like one minute on the internet, and the screen is so small. XD

As for gaming on the phone well, for me, video games are something you do on a big TV haha. I have Tetris on my phone though lol. And PacMan.

Thanks for helping me out with the perspective here. :)

I have an iPhone, and I like it. The camera is nice. Maps are convenient, since I get lost a lot. It’s easy to google things, if I need to. I use it as an alarm. It has all of my music on it. I can check the weather. (I live in Alaska. People are constantly asking the temperature) It’s pretty cool to have, but I could honestly live without it. I mostly just use it to contact my mom, and check what time it is.

I use mine to surf the ‘net during breaks at work, like right now.
I use it as a GPS with traffic updates.
It’s my camera and music player.
It’s my scientific calculator (I have an HP48G emulator)
When I want a book, whether it’s a PDF copy of a gaming rulebook or Machinery’s Handbook – 28th Edition (a reference work for my trade), it’s in my pocket.
This in addition to it’s uses as a phone.

To all of the Luddites and other people who still live in the last century, cellphones are for your convenience, not the convenience of others. If you can’t screen calls or ignore a ringing phone then even a landline is too much for you. You’re only as connected as you want to be;

I’ma votin’ for cangs n’ a rope, ayup.

I got my first, and only, smartphone last year. I haven’t looked back since. I used to have a very old flip phone that I used for emergencies. I ended up getting one because my family/friends kept hounding me to do so. I chose to go with the Samsung Galaxy S2. However, pretty much everyone I know has an iPhone. My smartphone is like a mini-mobile computer to me…so very handy to have. I’m glad I got one. I didn’t need it but it is very useful to have.

Basically, I consistently use it for:

- Maps/GPS
– Checking prices while out shopping
– Texting
– Checking email and internet browsing
– Taking/sending photos.
– Radio/music
– A few games (mostly word/puzzle ones)
– Reading books
– Calendar/appointments

My phone isn’t attached at my hip at all times, but I usually take it into stores and such while out. I never take it out while I’m with someone unless I’m showing them a picture or they want to see the phone. Oh, and I rarely use it to actually talk on, lol.

I’m an information freak and love that I can look up anything on the go.

@Plucky – I LOVE having IMDB in my pocket when I’m watching a movie. Who the frak is that guy, anyway, and where have I seen him before? Oh, yeah, he was on that one episode of Little House on the Prairie!

I love computers and the Internet but when I step out into the real world I like to leave all that behind me. My old iPhone I use for calls and texting only. The screen is too small for the Internet.

@jerv – I was resisting going there, but it’s true. I think Fluther (in general) has more technological aversion than the people I know in real life, although I am a software developer, so my sample might be skewed.

That said, I suppose I could at least describe a typical day’s use of my smartphone…

- I wake up to my phone’s alarm. I use Gentle Alarm, so it gradually increases in volume, avoiding a startle in the morning.
– It provides me with a quick glance agenda of my day.
– It tells me how long it will take me to get to work based on the current traffic conditions so I can plan accordingly.
– During my commute, I listen to podcasts (via bluetooth to my car stereo).
– Throughout my day, I am notified of any appointments I have. If it is a doctor appointment or something for my kids, it will proactively calculate driving time to the location by monitoring current traffic and warn me when I need to leave.
– I use it to maintain my personal and work check lists.
– During lunch, I often meditate, and I use Insight Timer.
– During lunch, I often go for a walk. During those times, I listen to podcasts (headphones).
– Again, when I need to be home at a particular time for a kid’s activity or my wife has class, it will warn me based on current traffic when I need to leave.
– On my commute home, I listen to podcasts and/or occasional music (bluetooth to my car stereo).
– If on my commute, someone calls me, the person’s photo and info will appear in front of me (my phone is mounted right in front of me) and I can choose to answer phone by hitting answer on my bluetooth receiver. Phone calls are completely hands-free and clear.
– Throughout the day, I am looking things up and maintaining my busy schedule using Google Calendar and tasks.
– I have daily reminders throughout the day that remind me to do things that are not necessarily appointments.
– At night, I read books (Kindle app) and browse the web.
– I watch the occasional Netflix movie or youtube video at night – or part of it in bed.
– I take photos of my kids whenever possible, and they are instantly uploaded to cloud services of my choice. I can then share them with family.
– If I need to check a review if I find myself in a store, I scan the upc code and it will give me reviews and the price online.
– If I want to find a local restaurant, I can find a place through Yelp and other services. I also write reviews on those services.
– When I need to go someplace I have not been before, I simply touch a button on my phone and state, “navigate to [place] in [town], [state]”, and it brings me directly to that place. I can be on foot in a strange city and it will give me walking directions or in my car and driving directions.
– I have Roku streaming device for Netflix and Amazon Prime. The remote is useless, so I use the Roku app to have access to a full keyboard.
– I do not go to the bank. Occasionally I get expense reimbursement checks or other checks. I use my phone to deposit the checks by taking a photo of them.
– I fax all documents via my phone (take a photo and send fax).
– I scan all important documents with my phone and store for future reference.
– I have organized, searchable documents available via cloud services so any info I need is with me at all times. My accountant needs my 2010 tax return? I can send that to her using my phone from the supermarket.
– I can expand my software development knowledge via the web and Pluralsight streaming tutorials.
– When my kids and I are outside and see the night sky, I can pull out the phone and point it to what we are looking at and it shows me exactly what it is. For example, last month we were wondering what a particularly bright “star” was – it turned out to be Jupiter. Amazing.
– When I go to Starbucks, I pay by hold my phone up to the scanner. After x number of drinks, I get a “free” drink.
– When my daughter has trouble with a math problem or a question about homework that I don’t happen to know, I can pull out the phone and get the answer immediately.
– During the weekends, I bring the kids on hikes. I use an app that monitors my hike and gives me stats on distance traveled, as well as the actual trails we took. If we get lost, I have a way out (allows me to not worry about being adventurous). I can then send my entire hike to a friend and recommend it.
– When I walk during lunch or at night, it can tell me how far I walked and how long I traveled.

Anyway, those are just a few of the ways that I use it. But not everyone has a super busy schedule, 3 kids, and an information addiction. So I get if smart phones are not “calling you”. Everyone has a different lifestyle. I certainly don’t want my aunt, for example, getting a smart phone. She really wouldn’t use it, and it would be one more thing I would need to provide tech support for.

Just for the record here, I don’t have an ’‘aversion’’ to technology. Disinterest and aversion are not the same thing, mind you. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have a fancy TV or a PS3. although I do have an aversion towards Sony’s shitty firmware updates that never do anything except add bugs and glitches to my gaming experience.

@tom_g I love the Star Chart app!

@Symbeline – Sorry. Didn’t mean to apply that you did have an aversion. I have been here long enough to have avoided certain topics around technology because it seems that some people see technology as ____, yet don’t consider tv or video games, telephones, or pencils technology. The aversion is more of a declared, smug aversion – and not necessarily real. I would categorize it as the same phenomenon as my great grandmother fearing the telephone, or my grandmother cursing her desktop. It’s also highly inconsistent and dependent upon lay (non-tech) mass media’s reporting of tech and its “dangers”.

@Symbeline Now you know part of the reason I ditched consoles and became a PC gamer.

At lunch today my girlfriend showed me the App for Walgreens to reorder meds. You just scan the bottle from what I understand and it reorders it. Much easier then calling and typing in all the info.

I agree a phone is a phone. Makes calls. I really couldn’t be bothered with a smart phone. In fact dammit, I am buying a pager!!!

I almost wonder how much age has to do with this divide. I know very few people older than me that care about smartphones, and most aren’t really into computers beyond doing the very basics. So I have to wonder how many of the haters are over 40.

@jerv 31 here, but as I’ve said, I’m not a hater. And I like computers. I just don’t understand them well, but I try.
Also on a totally non related note, speaking of the PC…why the hell do console ports of PC games always have bugs in them? Or did I get unlucky with my selection? (Risen 2 and Sacred 2, the latter being nowhere near as bad as the first for gltiches and fuckups) Never played no big name PC games like Skyrim, so maybe their translation was better…I know consoles are inferior, but Christ, don’t developers test this shit out before porting PC original games to consoles? XD

I would myself consider PC gaming, but compared to console games, I find that the variety in genres and types is severely lacking. :( (although I heard it is getting better than not even five years ago)

@tom_g Well yeah, people saying that technology is the Devil’s work, or that smartphones should be banned. You know, like teens always being on them…I agree, that would probably be annoying if I actually cared, but it’s not the phone’s fault, rather than the person’s behavior, or therefore ah reckons. (ain’t no better than a savage with a sword, nay?) We have technology all around us, and if we didn’t have it, probably a hell of a lot of things would suck.
But there is something funny about what you’re saying…there’s probably a word for it, and I don’t know what it is, but…people on the internet who say they hate technology. XD

@jerv lol…at 56 (my birthday was yesterday), I’m not a “hater” at all. If I had the money, I’d buy all kinds of electronic who-zees that do amazing things with a flick of a switch. In fact, one of my co-workers named me “Inspector Gadget” because of my fondness for electronic toys.

There came a point, though, where technology exploded and these novel gizmos became the norm. Unfortunately, my income hasn’t grown as fast; it’s simply impractical to purchase every shiny thing-ama-jiggy my heart desires.

@jerv Actually, most of the people I know, over 40, had smartphones before me…even my 73 old grandma got one before me. However, all the people my age and younger (who I know) had them before me as well (except my partner). I’m 35 and my partner is 42. Not sure what all that means, lol. I forgot what point I was pursuing :P
As @SABOTEUR stated above me, I could not afford the extra expense of something I really didn’t need. Mobile phone use is expensive here. We have been doing better financially, though, in the last couple years.

^^^ Yeah…that’s it! Smart phones are wonderful…

…I just don’t really need one.

(So my cash flow doesn’t justify owning one.)

Pushing 70 here and I love my iPhone. I use it for just about everything mentioned above. And I love to play backgammon on it. Sometimes I even make calls on it!

@jerv – not everyone over 40 is a luddite! Just some of them.

@rooeytoo Wow. I’d love to have an iPhone…an iPad, for that matter…but it ain’t gonna happen. What makes it worse is my 4 daughters have iPhones (my wife’s niece pays for the service), so I’m constantly reminded at how far I’ve fallen from being “Head Techie” of the household.

(((sigh)))

@SABOTEUR Yeah iPads are cool but you got to watch out for those iPeriods

@rooeytoo Not all rectangles are squares, but all squares are rectangles. All I’m saying is that younger people don’t hate them; I never said older people can’t love them.

@SABOTEUR Remember; the average $3,000 PC from 2012 has more power than a $30,000,000 supercomputer from 1996. That will show you how far tech has moved, and make you feel real old.

@jerv I was thinking recently how amazingly easy pc ownership is these days…considering the possibility anyone wants one now that we have pocket versions that pretty much serve the same purpose.

I’m finally getting around to disposing of old magazines and books concerning pc maintenance and troubleshooting. Don’t need ‘em anymore! Click a button now and software troubleshoots my PC for me. As big of a headache it was, I kind of miss the days of figuring out how to keep my PC up and running.

(Old indeed…)

@SABOTEUR I didn’t think 39 was old until I remembered drooling over the (then) awesome SE/30 with a “blazing” 16MHz CPU and 1MB RAM back in my high school days.

I also fought the urge for a good amount of time, but now that I have one…Hell, I use it to surf the internet more than I do my own computer. I have the Iphone 4S and it totally kicks ass. Highly recommended.