I have my smartphone for free and you can too.
Pray America is waking
The smartest phone I would ever own would only have GPRS or EDGE dial-up service.
Nothing fancier. I usually place calls and texts. Unless I’m patching my cel phone to my computers, I only *need* GPRS/EDGE.
A Motorola RAZR would suit me well, if I could find either an unlocked model, or one locked to VoiceStream Wireless...I don’t remember Big Magenta ever selling the RAZR...back then, they were the laughingstock of the wireless industry...
2 years ago, for the first time in about 20 years, I went without a cell phone completely. I simply used an old fashioned answering machine at home...checked my messages regularly—and, had a very peaceful social life away from home.
I did get a smart phone finally last year. I use a cheap T-mobile plan. I don’t check email on the phone (too small to look at!), and I make a point of not fiddling with the phone when there are people to talk with present. So far, so good. And I notice a lot of people are getting more social....NOT being slaves to their phones.
Some business people are still slaves—and are rude and interrupting because of that (why are all calls more important than the present conversation?) with a blue-tooth stuck in their ear. However, I’m noticing more and more people are not using their phone for everything, all the time....it just takes discipline now, to be courteous.
They can have my smartphone when they pry it from my cold, dead hands. :^)
I have a LG G3 that I bought at Ebay.
I use T-Mobile and pay $30 a month. I get 100 minutes of talk and 5gb of data. I use Skype for the telephone service which uses the data. A minute of a call uses 1mb to 3mb so I really have well over 1,000 minutes. If Skype cannot connect I can use my T-Mobile app for the call. I do this rarely as it is not needed much.
Gee, I’d have never seen this if I hadn’t been Freeping on my Smart Phone...
I have an iPhone but I am not chained to it. I have always hated talking on the phone. When I get in my car, I turn it off. If anyone wants to get in touch with me, they can wait until I get to my destination. I do use it on trips. I let a family member know where I am on the road since I go out of state to see relatives. I do use the text feature to send messages to family members especially when they are at work. I had rather be reading!
I use a smart pocket notepad to place notes on people’s doors
Voting with my dollars:ok
Saving money :my smartphone saves me money, gps, price comparisons, gas app in car
More productive :My smart phone increases my productivity, google, apps, etc
Cut the surveillance drastically :somewhat. All cellphones are 'tracked'.
Eliminate the radiation risks :LOL
Engaging in more conversation :That is your problem, not mine
I’m not texting while driving :dumb phones can text, too.
I’m less distracted and more aware of my surroundings :My smartphone is a tool that allows me to interact with my surroundings more
I’ve got a 3G AT&T Go phone. 10ct/min, $25/ 3 mos minimum with rollover of unused $, text @ 20ct/text.
I could get data, but don’t. Plenty of wifi around for the IPAD when I really need it.
Cell phone is for people I like. All others get the answering machine on the land line, which we’re thinking of dumping.
I could see having a smart phone if I were a traveling businessman, but I’m not.
I have a smartphone tracfone. I pay $80 for a year of service and 1200 minutes plus the previous minutes I had from an earlier phone. I be set.
I don’t like phones, period. They interrupt whatever I’m doing. I have a smart phone because someone else pays for it. I only use it to make appointments and no one else has the number except my family (and the government). I take it with me in case of an emergency while I’m in the car. I don’t like phones.
Author Dishaw sounds like a clueless idiot. I went with a TracFone years ago. Anonymous and cheap. Costs me about $8 a month for a $100/year service card. And I can do text and voice, and have internet access. And it takes pictures. $8 a month. They have deals where you get double minutes or more for life, and it's plenty enough time. You need more minutes, buy a card at any drugstore and add them. For the last 5 years I haven't needed extra cards.
The phone's battery lasts forever (at least a week.) I have no data connection on that phone, also intentionally. I have enough computers around me all day long to worry about being away from the Internet for 15 minutes when I'm buying groceries. The Internet will have to wait.
I never had a smartphone, and I have no interest in getting one. They are just vehicles for selling overpriced data plans, along with unnecessary Web services, to the population. Services like Facebook are a modern version of Tamagotchi - a digital pet that requires constant care and feeding. Well, I have better things to do in my life; especially considering that social networks are yet another method of spying.
Any cell phone, though, can be used to monitor people. The author may be too optimistic here. Sure, he doesn't log into his Facebook - but any phone that is tied to an account is reporting its location to the towers - just so that the phone network knows how to route the incoming call. That information can be sent to authorities, and the FB login is absolutely not required.
Still, smartphones are more vulnerable to data theft by hackers. Your contact information, your photos, your browsing history and saved logins to banks - all that can be stolen and used against you. A flip phone that has no Internet access is far safer here.
In the end, of course, it all depends on what you expect from life. Someone who lives for others, someone who cannot imagine being disconnected from hundreds of friends, may not want to give up his smartphone. Someone who is perfectly comfortable with being alone may prefer to communicate when he chooses to, and only to those who he wants to talk to. Proliferation of smartphones indicates that most people crave for social contacts, even in such a primitive way as through social networks. If so, that's what humans are.
I am so lost, forget to turn on my call-only cell most days. What is it I am missing out on?
Saving money
((Still on board here)
More productive ((Ummm...what does he mean?)
Cut the surveillance drastically
((Er...okay. Just get that license plate off your car there and make sure you don't use credit cards then, too...)
Eliminate the radiation risks
((Tin foil hats help this, but wouldn't it be BETTER, if you just didn't have your phone glued to your ear 24x7????)
Engaging in more conversation
((So, about that phone glued to your ear...you are around people, but instead of interacting with them, you are one of those douchebags who has their head cocked downwards at 45 degrees when the phone isn't glued to your head?)
I’m not texting while driving
((Really? Are you such a moronic idiot that you are texting while you are driving? Really? Okay, put that phone back against your head with duct tape, and don't forget to use come kind of product to make sure that radiation is transferred efficiently to the soft tissues in your brain. For the rest of us, it will get you off the road faster.)
I’m less distracted and more aware of my surroundings
((Seriously. That means when you have your phone, you are unaware of your surroundings, while driving a one ton car in rush hour at 40 mph, texting, ignoring anyone in the car with you that you SHOULD be engaging in conversation with.)
Bottom Line: PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE TOO DAMNED STUPID AND IRRESPONSIBLE TO OWN ANY KIND OF PHONE, NEVER MIND A CAR.
Yes. I mean every single word of this.
I pay $30 a month for my smartphone with unlimited data and text.
I will note with full disclosure that I DID overlook the very last line of the article...
But that said, I was talking to the same audience.
LOL. What a sacrifice. I remember when there was no computer, no TV, and most people had no phone either.
You were lucky if the neighbor had one so that people could call in an emergency. My Grandparents used to drive into town to the telephone office to make a phone call, and that was a rarity.
And the phones at the neighbors, and the telephone office - they weren’t smart either!