Ye Olde Pharte Cell Phone Dilemma

[DarkMeister]

Just curious what people use, as I'm at a bit of a crossroad here.
Looking for a phone. Always had a good one through work, but want my own. Basics that were important to me: great reception and voice-mail. That's it.

The dilemma is between a 'normal' phone and a smartphone. If some of you have the latter, what do you use it for? If, say, I'm on a trip, I could scan my email, do a search, whatever? That's on a trip - the rest of the time I live in the sticks (crappy cell reception) or am out and about doing stuff, not walking, head bent way down like a bird, staring down at a phone and texting, like I see many youngsters do.

My son is all "Oh man! You need one! Why? Uhmmm...why not?". Not sure why though. The diff in 'plans' is about twenty bucks a month, between a phone and a smartphone. Are they the next evolution of a laptop, or something?

A bit of research leads me to fear the smartphones. Many reviews mention 'freezing'; the technology changes daily; reviews rarely touch on its capabilities as a damn' PHONE.
I could get a free one with a 3-year plan - but it might be a paperweight 3 months in.

Then there is the alphabet-soup of 'new-improved' coverage. If I get a plain phone, will I miss out on something?  I could never find the original G-spot...yet there are all the G's, including G4, which is supposed to be so great. "Ooooh! Come to us! We have the new WKKP and GBMSA or BSBS coverage!".

Feeling old...

 

[Skinhead]

My son has one, and uses it all the time, GPS and mapping, runs pandora which provides tunes, and accesses the internet for weather and VRCC access.  I have a bare bones work phone, email and text (don't really like texting), but if I got my own, I would go with the smart phone.  It's like power door locks on a car, you never realized how convienient they were until the first time you got them.

[The Anvil]

I have  Casio GZone Rock. It's a Milspec flip phone. The reason why I haven't gone smartphone yet is because I need something rugged and durable. This is my third Casio Mil Spec and I have yet to kill one. I've dropped them out of airplanes ten feet onto concrete hangar floors, submerged them in water for a half hour (even taken pictures and video underwater) and subjected them to all kinds of abuse I can't mention. They're great phones, the whole GZone line.

But I would like a smartphone sometmes for the same reasons you mention. They're like tiny laptops now.

[Varmintmist]

I am a functioning Luddite.

I know all the tech, I understand the tech, I just don't see the need.

I understand texting, I find it a horrid waste of time and a poor way to communicate. A call can convey the thought, response, and counter response with actual information being passed in a hell of a lot less time. You can contact a lot of people with texting, you don't communicate with them.

I am old. I can read a map, I don't need GPS when I can whip out a peice of paper for 5 min and be done with it. I do scouts with a bunch of younger guys. It is amazing how they couldn't find their way out of a phone booth without GPS. Again, no need. A little applied skill beats the smart phone and the map doesnt need signal.

If I am on the road, the only thing that would be nice would be getting email. However, if they need me, they can call. I can get by without the joke of the day for a 100 years or so if need be.

[Titan]

I'm "older" than you are. But I love gadgets and I keep up with the latest in computer technology. Going back 4 years I remember thinking the same thing you're thinking. I spoke to a few people who used their "Blackberrys" and just could not understand why they liked them and why was it such a big deal to get email on their phone all day.

It wasn't until Apple's iPhone came out that I joined up with the so-called smartphone bunch. My iPhone is very important to me and I wouldn't want to be without it. But nobody's going to be able to convince you that you "need" a smartphone. I know people who don't even have a cell phone! Imagine that it today's world! But you will really have to figure out for yourself if you would enjoy, and use, all the things that a smartphone would bring into your own life.

Different people use them in so many different ways and find their own favorite uses. For my own favorite features, I find having the camera with me all the time has been a real joy. I can shoot still pics or video any time I want. My email is important. And the one thing that I never thought I would be doing is texting! It was "impossible" to me on a regular phone. But with a keyboard it's great! Whether or not it's a good thing for the people of the world to break down their personal interaction to text messaging is a subject for another discussion. But it has made it's way into my life in a big way. I'm way more in touch with a lot of people now because it's incredibly easy to just type out a few words and get an immediate reply without having to dial up, wait for an answer, go through the usual pleasantries and "how's your mom" stuff just to say "meet me at the service station at 3:00. My daughter and I swap messages at various times of every single day where we used to chat on the phone maybe a couple of times a week. I could go on and on and on about how much I'm liking that. But you might hate it and not want to be that "in touch".

I'm not a gamer but I do play a few minutes of some silly game once in a while. And I absolutely love having full access to the web and the ability to look up anything I want to look up at any time anywhere.

Oh! And I can make and receive phone calls!

This is just part of my story and everybody else would have a different one. How one uses a smartphone is  highly individualized. And it may not be for you at all. It's going to very difficult for you to imagine why you would need one and you might not like it if you had it. But you won't really know unless you try it. I didn't!

I will tell you that I'm highly prejudiced in favor of Apple products and the iPhone started it all. Everybody else followed along and copied Apple. To each his own, but I don't buy copies if I have the choice. I buy the real thing. That's just me. Don't want to start a war. Here's a link where you can read up on the iPhone.

Good luck on your choice!


http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/

[Michvalk]

I have a Blackberry. I do use text and phone. Surf the web, mostly for weather. Can't see the screen for GPS use on the bike. Some functions are too involved for real use on the road. I like internet access, but, not really necessary.

[Skinhead]

I am a functioning Luddite.

I know all the tech, I understand the tech, I just don't see the need.

I understand texting, I find it a horrid waste of time and a poor way to communicate. A call can convey the thought, response, and counter response with actual information being passed in a hell of a lot less time. You can contact a lot of people with texting, you don't communicate with them.

I am old. I can read a map, I don't need GPS when I can whip out a peice of paper for 5 min and be done with it. I do scouts with a bunch of younger guys. It is amazing how they couldn't find their way out of a phone booth without GPS. Again, no need. A little applied skill beats the smart phone and the map doesnt need signal.

If I am on the road, the only thing that would be nice would be getting email. However, if they need me, they can call. I can get by without the joke of the day for a 100 years or so if need be.

DAMN!!!!  You even sound old!

[Oss]

we have 5 phones on our verizon family plan

I was the only one with a "Stupid" phone until the trip to Minnesota a few weeks ago

Walking into Best Buy and they had a 699 SAMSUNG superdupersmart phone for free if I stayed with Verizon

You dont have to be a Yankee lawyer to know thats a great deal

Now I have GPS, weather, all the doo dads and can download all my music on one dang phone

Batteries only last the day though unlike my stupid phone which would hold charge 4 days
(Of course most of the time my phone was off       )

[designer]

I have a droid and SENA SMH10 for my helmet.. pandora, person to person, GPS and phone calls at my fingertips bluetoothed to my helmet.  Love my phone and  the headset for helmet. 

[DarkMeister]

Thanks for chiming in, guys.

Early this morning I was leaning to a flipper. In fact, something like Anvil mentions; the one that caught my eye was Samsung Rugby II. Can be washed, dropped, frozen and all the other bad things I've done to my phones.

However, the benefits of the extra functions on SmartPhones are useful, by the sounds of it.

Off to town and will see what's what.

[csj]

I only got into cell phone in order to have a rescue tool to get me
off the road if my bike broke down 'out there'.

My phone is a Razr, quite ancient, but it has gotten me off the road
5 times with a call to CAA.

The biggest concern for me was reception a-way up north,
but especially around Algonquin Park. My (then) research found
that Bell and Telus had the best cell tower coverage up there,
and that a Motorola phone had the best antenna for 'getting out'.

A friend recently showed me how a Iphone works, wow, the things
you can do! But it, and it's holder, are twice the size of my
present phone. Don't really need that big wad sittin on my waist.

[hubcapsc]

Any moron (including me  ) could use my cell phone...

I was a wreck site once, I was handed the victim's smart phone so I
could find his wife's number... that thing might as well have been a
block of epoxy... I handed it to a young person who gestured at the
phone a little and got the number to pop out..





-Mike

[Skinhead]

Remember Dick Tracy and the 2-way wrist radio?  I never thought I'd see it.  I'm STILL waiting on the flying air car though, I want one of those puppies!

[Valker]

I have  Casio GZone Rock. It's a Milspec flip phone. The reason why I haven't gone smartphone yet is because I need something rugged and durable. This is my third Casio Mil Spec and I have yet to kill one. I've dropped them out of airplanes ten feet onto concrete hangar floors, submerged them in water for a half hour (even taken pictures and video underwater) and subjected them to all kinds of abuse I can't mention. They're great phones, the whole GZone line.

But I would like a smartphone sometmes for the same reasons you mention. They're like tiny laptops now.

Casio GzOne Commando

[Brad]

Remember Dick Tracy and the 2-way wrist radio?  I never thought I'd see it.  I'm STILL waiting on the flying air car though, I want one of those puppies!

Get out your check book   

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7860966/Terrafugia-Transition-flying-car-gets-go-ahead-from-US-air-authorities.html

The Terrafugia Transition	powered by Aeva

[The Anvil]

That's exactly what we need, cars falling out of the sky landing on people's heads.

[bigguy]

I love the way my iPhone syncs with my mail and calendars. If I don't get an appointment into my calendar, I'm not likely to make it. An alarm goes off on my phone and I remember, "Oh yeah. I've got a Dr appointment."
Same goes for birthdays and anniversary.
I used the note pad on my phone to jot things down that I need to remember, make grocery lists, and store info I routinely need.
I've got a app called Gas Cubby that keep all of the data on my vehicles, VIN, License no, Ins. no. etc, but more importantly, it keeps track of gas mileage, and oil changes.
Music. Video (mostly of grandkids)
If I had a dime for every time I've used the camera. The wife sends me to the store for some girly product, and I know there are 10,000 brands, I just take a quick pic of the one she has and I can check at the store to be sure I'm getting the same one. When we were looking at flooring, I took photos of several types catching the price and info tag so we could comapre them later.
I've got a gps navagator app on my phone and fixed a mount on my bike for it.
Link to blog on iPhone navigator.
With the map app on the phone, you can easily find things. On a trip last year, I'd just pull up the app and search for things like, restaurant, or hotel. The unit will locate those close to you, and you can call them by simply touching the icon.
I keep at least one book or video on the phone so that when I'm stuck somewhere, I've got something to read or watch.

Oh yeah. I can make phone calls too.