Fortunately, work is paying for it, as I would have been quite happy to continue with my old phone until they eventually switch off the GSM service.

Anyway, my impressions after a few weeks... Meh!

Ok, I know that work wants me to access my exchange email 24/7 (as if) and be able to do other 'modern' stuff with it, but seriously... what a waste of money.

I find that I have absolutely no desire to find 'apps' for it, I feel no need for mapping and/or navigation services (I'm quite capable of working it out myself) and as for games... honestly, if I become so bored I need them to pass the time, please shoot me.

As for the phone itself... large, heavy, short battery-life, long recharge time... what a bargain.

Bottom line, I'm looking at this expensive toy sitting on my desk (doing nothing) and wondering, what the hell do most people do with these things that is actually necessary and/or useful?

Listen to podcasts while working around  the house or on the way to work.

GPS to find places that I've never been.

Reading news and other useless crap while eating lunch or waiting in line for stuff.

Texting/IM'ing a few friends.

Phone calls.

None of it is important, but it's all in one device, so it's less other crap to carry around.

May not be your cup of tea but I couldn't imagine life now a days without my smart phone.  I've been on one since '05 too.

9 minutes ago, ScanIAm wrote

Listen to music while running.

Listen to podcasts while working around  the house or on the way to work.

GPS to find places that I've never been.

Reading news and other useless crap while eating lunch or waiting in line for stuff.

Texting/IM'ing a few friends.

Phone calls.

None of it is important, but it's all in one device, so it's less other crap to carry around.

Of all the above, the only one I feel any need for is Phone Calls.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing the right of everyone to make their own choices, just wondering how much of this 'need' for a smartphone (and need to constantly upgrade it) is actually just a case of people finding excuses to use something expensive, that they really don't need in their life, but have convinced themselves that they 'must have' it.

Yes, they are unnecessary, but so are a lot of things. If not for unnecessary, we might still be living in caves.

For example, recently I had to go from Hongo to Jimbocho. I've been to Jimocho a few times before, I roughly know how to get there, so it would've been a simple matter to walk to the nearest station, look at the subway map, and figure it out that way. Instead, I search from "my current location" to where I needed to go on Google Maps, and it recommends me to take a bus instead which was much faster.

I'm out and about, and suddenly get a hunkering for sushi? Just search for the nearest kaitenzushi. Need directions in an unknown city? The taxi driver in that foreign country doesn't understand which hotel you're telling him to go to? Show him the map on your phone (previously I would always print maps for this purpose when I travelled, now I get to save paper). And there's no need to carry around fold-out maps or Lonely Planet guidebooks everywhere I go anymore either.

Couple that with the ability to read using the Kindle app when I don't have my actual Kindle handy (e.g. waiting for the supermarket check out), or quickly check Facebook (or indeed Channel 9) whenever I have to wait for a bit, and I think it's pretty useful. It also doubles as an MP3 player when I'm working out.

I think in general...it's an upgrade from having to carry your laptop around when you're not planning on diving into a desktop app.

Herbie

7 hours ago, elmer wrote

Bottom line, I'm looking at this expensive toy sitting on my desk (doing nothing) and wondering, what the hell do most people do with these things that is actually necessary and/or useful?

You could say the same thing about how most people use a laptop or a desktop PC.

You don't go out in loud bars and nightclubs posting images on Facebook, Twitter or any of the social stuff so therein lies the perplexity. Pretty much every kid under 25 on my Facebook has at least 1000 to 2000 images of themselves and their friends, whereas we have to hunt through negatives and photos that are starting to decompose due to damp, and loath the resolution of black and white photos and kodak disposable cameras. It is a generational thing.

The amount of reading that I've been able to do since getting a smartphone has vastly increased.

Actually, I've been doing a lot more reading than was ever possible with physical books since my last Texas Instruments graphing calculator. I had some software that used a font optimized for the TI-89's pixel size. I read several books one year on my calculator.

8 hours ago, magicalclick wrote

Join some event and have its address in the calendar event. Take some photos of your family at night and share it on facebook.

The calendar on WP is definately a MVP here. I mean... it's actually one of the feature that people like it over the desktop counterpart.

Some of us aren't walking datebooks with an uncanny ability to remember every second of every day.

Also, I can't imagine why anyone would willingly try to drive somewhere at night to someplace they've never been, unable to read unlighted street signs in a residential area, with people going twice the speed limit behind them and not have a nice lady come out of their car speakers saying "turn left."

Not seeing a need for a GPS device or an unpaid, uncomplaining, electronic personal assistant that can recognize what you say and act upon it is, in my opinion, the exact same thing as not seeing a need for a gas station map or a computer with Outlook installed. 

I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer things to be easy to do instead of a hassle.

6 hours ago, Craig_​Matthews wrote

When someone stops me in the hall and asks me to take care of something by a certain time, I press a button, say "Remind me in 45 minutes to do blah blah blah" or when I need to remember something, I go "Remind me when I'm at Lake Road and 5th to stop for milk".

Some of us aren't walking datebooks with an uncanny ability to remember every second of every day.

I understand that need, although I have to say that I found the simple to-do and calendar services on my 6310i adequate (if a bit cumbersome) for that type of requirement.

Still, I guess I should have been a bit more specific and said that I don't get the need for top-end smartphones (which my Lumia 920 definitely is) and that I think most people (particularly Apple users) are being hoodwinked into believing they need the latest and greatest to survive and/or fill in the 'empty' time.

I also don't get the need to be constantly attached to it, although it's probably a separate argument, but stepping outside at lunchtime today, and I found myself dodging every second person with their face glued to their smartphone, paying no attention to where they were going or who they were colliding with, and unable to hear the traffic as they stepped out in front of it... and it made me depressed to see that, almost Huxley-like, scene.

However, it's not that I'm anti-smartphone per-se, more that I think these things are now massive overkill for what people really need from a device, and yet everyone seems convinced they need the latest and most powerful one they really can't afford, and then burn more money on bandwidth and apps with totally unnecessary use of it.

My 6310i was as tough as nails (I swear it would survive a nuclear armageddon)  and I used to charge it once a week, although I could make it last twice that on a trip, by not using bluetooth.

There are things on my Lumia that are definitely an advance - multiple alarms is a big plus, having a camera is useful, and the syncing of contacts is a huge advance over what I had, but most of the rest of it I would happily live without, in return for longer battery life.

I believe that the company could have provided me with a Nokia 620 (or even lower spec if one existed) and it would have been perfectly adequate for what I really need to do, and I suspect it's perhaps true for the majority of smartphone users today, who just spend most of their time with twitter and angrybirds.

23 hours ago, ScanIAm wrote

Listen to music while running.

Listen to podcasts while working around  the house or on the way to work.

GPS to find places that I've never been.

Reading news and other useless crap while eating lunch or waiting in line for stuff.

Texting/IM'ing a few friends.

Phone calls.

Listen to podcasts working around  the house or on the way to work.-- mp3 player

GPS to find places -- map

Reading news and other useless crap while eating lunch or waiting in line for stuff -- take medication for ADD

Texting/IM'ing a few friends -- take more medication for ADD

OK, I'm being facetious.  Maybe.

I suffered a serious illness.  I was in the hospital for along time and then unable to work for several months.  One of the things I did to save money while I was unable to work was get rid of my cellphone.   During my recovery I rarely left the house, and when I did my wife was with me and she has a phone.

That was 4 years ago.  Today I'm fully recovered and back to normal.  And I still don't have a cellphone.  Not only am I saving hundreds of dollars a year, but even better is the freedom.  Want to get in touch with me?  Send me an email.  Or call my home and leave a message on my answering machine.  I'll get back to you when I feel like it.

Best thing I ever did.

1 hour ago, elmer wrote

I also don't get the need to be constantly attached to it, although it's probably a separate argument, but stepping outside at lunchtime today, and I found myself dodging every second person with their face glued to their smartphone, paying no attention to where they were going or who they were colliding with, and unable to hear the traffic as they stepped out in front of it... and it made me depressed to see that, almost Huxley-like, scene.

Well, Windows Phone was supposed to address that issue...the whole not opening an app for everything and the info coming to you. I never use my Lumia for more than 5 min at a time...on average 5 sec bursts (while walking somewhere or waiting) in which I look at my start screen to see if there's anything interesting, and then I shove my phone back in my pocket.

The data plan is definitely a waste of money. I use T-Mobile pay-as-you-go instead and spend about $15 per month in calls and texts.

The data plan is definitely a waste of money. I use T-Mobile pay-as-you-go instead and spend about $15 per month in calls and texts.

I do think it depends on your line of work, if you are running mission critical 24/7 operations, then being instantly contactable is a necessity.

3 days ago, elmer wrote

*snip*

I think most people (particularly Apple users) are being hoodwinked into believing they need the latest and greatest to survive and/or fill in the 'empty' time.

 

60% of all smartphones are running Android http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21387371

I have managed to convert a whole house hold, dad, mum and daughter to android. A few weeks ago I used the speech recognition and their son who has an iphone could not believe his eyes (or ears)

Yesterday I was at a car dealership and pulled out my windows phone HTC 8x and the lady could not stop saying what a lovely phone it was, I told her had iOS at home, but that it was old fashioned

Apples days are numbered, and if the rumors of  total OS *-up today are true, check their stocks at the end of the week

4 days ago, Heywood_J wrote

*snip*Listen to music while running -- mp3 player

Listen to podcasts working around  the house or on the way to work.-- mp3 player

GPS to find places -- map

Reading news and other useless crap while eating lunch or waiting in line for stuff -- take medication for ADD

Texting/IM'ing a few friends -- take more medication for ADD

OK, I'm being facetious.  Maybe.

probably, but I can do all that with one device, not one device, a map, and a handful of stimulants.

I suffered a serious illness.  I was in the hospital for along time and then unable to work for several months.  One of the things I did to save money while I was unable to work was get rid of my cellphone.   During my recovery I rarely left the house, and when I did my wife was with me and she has a phone.

That was 4 years ago.  Today I'm fully recovered and back to normal.  And I still don't have a cellphone.  Not only am I saving hundreds of dollars a year, but even better is the freedom.  Want to get in touch with me?  Send me an email.  Or call my home and leave a message on my answering machine.  I'll get back to you when I feel like it.

Best thing I ever did.

I don't have a wife whose phone I can borrow.  On purpose.

I've also had numerous occasions where having the ability to text someone immediately has come in handy in my private life.

Just sayin.  And good to hear you aren't still ill.