I refuse to give in to the social pressure of "Smartphones"... well kinda...

[TheVrolok]

I use mine daily at work. Would be a pain in the ass not to have one.

 

[pontifex]

You don't get it do you? I AM OP btw, I want to have a smart phone dont mind sending some money upfont but not $60 extra per month. $360 = $15 a month. So by doing so I save atleast $45 a month and still look kewl!

why have a smart phone an not use the features?

 

[Gintaras]

Before so called smart phones, it was:

And, same as with computers, same with phones - there is no catch22 - if one is smart, other one is an idiot...

Do google: "human intelligence is a lethal mutation"....

 

[rh71]

As someone who's recently jumped on a data plan, I can attest that it's distracting. Anytime I have downtime, like I'm sitting at the table waiting around, I poke around on the phone. It's a mini computer. It beats talking about nothing and twiddling your thumbs. But it's still sad that people do it rather than "socialize".

The other thing I wanted to say... remember when these computer thing-a-ma-jigs were for nerds? Now everybody is texting and browsing on their phones. Everybody knows what an MB or GB is. And even Kaley Cuoco knows what beta testing is.

 

[janas19]

As someone who's recently jumped on a data plan, I can attest that it's distracting. Anytime I have downtime, like I'm sitting at the table waiting around, I poke around on the phone. It's a mini computer. It beats talking about nothing and twiddling your thumbs. But it's still sad that people do it rather than "socialize".

The other thing I wanted to say... remember when these computer thing-a-ma-jigs were for nerds? Now everybody is texting and browsing on their phones. Everybody knows what an MB or GB is. And even Kaley Cuoco knows what beta testing is.

Yep. I agree with you buddy. It's great computers are becoming so much more accessible, but there are drawbacks to the culture to consider as well...

 

[Ichinisan]

Love my Droid X. It's so damn useful. GPS anywhere so if I get lost or in traffic, I can reroute easily, or if I'm in the city with no idea where to go, can look up a quick restaraunt and get turn by turn directions.

Can look up opening and closing times and phone numbers in seconds, once forgot to bring a document with me, so I just loaded up my email and downloaded it and showed the clerk the document and he accepted it. I can also look up train times easily and have an entire schedule that updates in real time.

Also been streaming music because I don't have an MP3 that can hold my music collection.

I don't see why some people have such an aversion to phones, the sheer convenience to having almost everything available at the palm of your hands is amazing.

I don't have facebook nor do I have a texting plan. I use it for productivity, and if people can't see that, I don't really know what to say except to stop being such a luddite.

This. This. This.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

If you do any shopping without a smart phone you're wasting money. Can't remember how many times I've looked up amazons price for something I was looking at in a store. If the price was ridiculously cheaper online I order it there. If close I'll buy it in store. Especially helpful at places like Fry's that will price match an online store.

 

[DesiPower]

If you do any shopping without a smart phone you're wasting money. Can't remember how many times I've looked up amazons price for something I was looking at in a store. If the price was ridiculously cheaper online I order it there. If close I'll buy it in store. Especially helpful at places like Fry's that will price match an online store.

Only things I buy off-line are grocery and clothes.. Amazon Prime ftw

 

[Ichinisan]

Only things I buy off-line are grocery and clothes.. Amazon Prime ftw

You can get those from Amazon too. You can even "Subscribe and Save" for regular deliveries of consumable grocery products.

 

[KillerCharlie]

I just got my first smartphone with Verizon and I have $20/month unlimited 4g data... beat that! I got that because of an employee discount from the big employer in town, didn't think it'd be that good though.

Having a smartphone is much better than I thought it would be. I rarely sit in front of my stupid desktop anymore. There are so many quick tasks that you can do quickly with a phone it's ridiculous:
email
movie times
addresses
weather
ski conditions (my favorite so far - just glance at my phone at 5am and go back to bed if it sucks)
traffic
directions
store business hours
check online prices
recipes

Plus you can do these things where normally you'd just be sitting there. It frees up the time at home.

My massive galaxy nexus fits in my pocket way better than my old small flip phone did since it's much thinner. Battery life sucks but it's usually not a problem. There's no way I can ever go back.

 

[shortylickens]

For all you assclowns worried about what its doing to our brains and culture and shit, go read The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr.

 

[OverVolt]

I see people looking at their smartphones a lot too, but before then, they would just be staring off into the distance waiting for whatever it is they are waiting for (in a line, on the train, etc.).

I have a smartphone because I like the many uses they have. I completely understand people not liking them, but trying to act like you're better than them because you only have a dumb phone is as stupid as people who do the opposite.

That is one of the best ways to learn new things, by being bored. People had learned skills like "talk to strangers" and when everyone had this skill waiting in line wasn't so bad.

 

[SlitheryDee]

That is one of the best ways to learn new things, by being bored. People had learned skills like "talk to strangers" and when everyone had this skill waiting in line wasn't so bad.

People are boring as hell though. Talking to them is rarely more interesting than whatever reverie I zone into while waiting in line. I mean I could pretend to care about how the lack of rain is drying out the roses that the granny ahead of me is wasting her final years on, or I could whip out my smartphone and find out if Dr. Goodweather will survive the vampire attack in the latest kindle book I've downloaded. One of those activities has me swaying on my feet trying to stay awake, the other I've enjoyed for my whole life in some form or fashion. Except for in rare instances, people are boring as shit. Most of them are just more willing than I am to waste each others time pretending they're not.

 

[saratoga172]

What area are you in? How is service with Sprint?

I'm in Dallas and Sprint's service sucks big ones. Our work phones are on Sprint. We've got iPhone 4s's. Most of the time I can talk and make/receive phone calls but I really can't use data.

Sad too because my work pays for the unlimited hotspot function. I haven't used it once. Maybe if I had a 4g phone it would be decent. My average speeds from the speedtest app are around .4-.7mbps.

For comparison my personal Verizon phone gets about 1.2-1.5 on 3g last I tested. Not blazing but works fine when I'm not on 4g.

Having said that it seems to be primarily an iPhone Sprint thing. Seems most other phones do a little better on 3g. And those speeds are after they did the upgrades to their networks. When I got the phone in November I was lucky to get over .3mbps.

 

[Madwand1]

So every human being know to me has a smartphone, I am only one left in the social and work circle who does not have one...

If so many people around you have data plans, ask for one of them to turn on a mobile hot-spot and give you access at times / when you need it. I've done it for coworkers, and it's not a big deal. Not all the time of course, as it drains the battery faster and most "unlimited data" plans are not really that.

 

[Ichinisan]

I'm in Dallas and Sprint's service sucks big ones. Our work phones are on Sprint. We've got iPhone 4s's. Most of the time I can talk and make/receive phone calls but I really can't use data.

Sad too because my work pays for the unlimited hotspot function. I haven't used it once. Maybe if I had a 4g phone it would be decent. My average speeds from the speedtest app are around .4-.7mbps.

For comparison my personal Verizon phone gets about 1.2-1.5 on 3g last I tested. Not blazing but works fine when I'm not on 4g.

Having said that it seems to be primarily an iPhone Sprint thing. Seems most other phones do a little better on 3g. And those speeds are after they did the upgrades to their networks. When I got the phone in November I was lucky to get over .3mbps.

Your 4S is stuck in CDMA mode with Sprint's network. The hardware is capable of GSM HSPA+ (which many phones / providers call "4G"), but Sprint's CDMA network cannot do HSPA+.

My brother has an Sony Ericsson Experia Play, which has HSPA+. Get's incredible speed on AT&T. Even my 3G GSM iPhone 4 gets download speeds > 4mbps on AT&T.

 

[Vic Vega]

I refuse to give in to the social pressure of "Smartphones"...

Never go full retard.

 

[saratoga172]

Your 4S is stuck in CDMA mode with Sprint's network. The hardware is capable of GSM HSPA+ (which many phones / providers call "4G"), but Sprint's CDMA network cannot do HSPA+.

My brother has an Sony Ericsson Experia Play, which has HSPA+. Get's incredible speed on AT&T. Even my 3G GSM iPhone 4 gets download speeds > 4mbps on AT&T.

Right sprints network doesn't to hspa. So on the iphone I'm limited to their crappy cdma network.

When I had my iphone 4 on att I could reliably get 4-5 mbps. I'd say I averaged about 3-4 though. It was more than adequate. And their 3g between was pretty good.

My verizon 3g speeds are about 1.5-2 tops. 4g is anywhere from 20mb to 50mb. Average is about 25.

My point was that I'm limited to the crappy cdma speeds on spring regardless of phone capability. The network is lacking.