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I don't have a smart phone, just an old pay-as-you-go flip Tracfone that has texting and internet capabilities so I can check e-mails. I also have an old laptop that I rarely use. Both work fine so i will keep them but I will upgrade to a small (7") tablet computer soon - partly for the cameras on them. I find that they are better than a laptop & camera when travelling. No plans to get a smart phone at this time. Don't see the need as I rarely go online, talk or text. But then I don't even have home internet - well I do because my sister has it set up in her bedroom but I've never gotten around to getting a wi-fi router so can't use it. I go online at free hot spots most of the time because I'm rarely home anyways (outdoors in a beautiful place right now!). I like it like that so not only am I probably the last person on earth without a smart phone, I'm probably the last person on earth without home internet.
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Ditto herbgeek. If you don't want one, you probably don't need one. (And many who do want them, don't need them!)
You could get a texting-friendly phone if that's how your kids like to communicate.
No phone takes photos as good as a real camera can.
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I haven't read the rest of this thread, but my phone is an old one, and it's a TELEPHONE, and that's all I use it for, and I seldom use it. (Well, it does other things, but I don't use any of them since I don't even know what they are.) It even has an antenna! I can text, but it's a nuisance, since I have to hit the keys multiple times to get the letter I want, so I've let everyone know not to text me. DH has a "phone" that does everything you can think of, and he loves it. He can watch TV on it, and who knows what-all else. I don't care about any of that. I think he'd have an implant of some kind if he could. Ugh. When I need a new phone I will get one that's easier to text, but that's as far as I'll go. :~)
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"smartphone
A cellular telephone with built-in applications and Internet access. In addition to digital voice service, modern smartphones provide text messaging, e-mail, Web browsing, still and video cameras, MP3 player and video playback and calling. In addition to their built-in functions, smartphones run myriad free and paid applications, turning the once single-minded cellphone into a mobile personal computer."
Credit to PC mag for definition
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I had an old dumbphone that had lasted about 7 years. I kept saying that I'd upgrade when either sprint got iphones or the old phone quit working, whichever came first. Well, the iphone came to sprint first, so SO got me one for christmas last year. For the most part I love it. I can get online when I need/want to when I'm out and about, it's easy to text from, call quality is quite good, and the camera takes great pictures. The only thing I don't totally love is the size of the screen. If I were shopping today I'd probably consider one of the android phones with a bigger screen. Before doing that, though, I'd want to make sure that my iTunes purchases would be transferable.
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I'm glad to see from the responses here that I'm not the last person in America without a smartphone. My dd and dgd1 (!) both have them. My old Samsung makes and receives calls that I usually don't answer, and it texts. I don't need anything else, so there doesn't seem to be a smartphone in my future. And I find them too wide to hold comfortably (small hands). Dsil doesn't have one, either, but that is because he is always dropping them and breaking the cheap phones he uses now. And he can barely operate just the basics. So he and I get the cheap phones, while the other two get the pricey ones. But the price of these phones is really coming down. Dgd1 just recently dropped and broke her phone past repair. She bought it at Target, and Virgin Mobile, her carrier, sent her a Target gift card for $100 to replace the phone. When she went in to do so, the phone only cost $50; it had dropped $50 since she bought it in October! So she is one happy little girl!
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I forgot to mention that my business phone is a Sony-Ericsson flip phone that I purchased unlocked. That left me able to add Java apps to it so I've added a better Web browser and GPS software along with a couple of better utilities. I get 80% of what I get from my smartphone without a data plan (albeit with an even smaller screen). For as much as I use the business phone, it's fine. But it's not a path I would recommend to someone who just wants to plug in a phone and use it.
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I still don't have a smartphone, but I'm wavering. It would be very convenient to be able to check email while out, and it's also a phone, camera, and music player all in one, which appeals to the minimalist in me.
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No, no and a thousand times no. It's enough bother checking emails when I'm at home, why would I want to do that to myself when I'm out?
I'm with you Domestic Goddess - we must resist this enslaving invention..
