
Why do you need a Smartphone? - lukethomas
http://lukethomas.com/why-do-you-need-a-smartphone/
======
Fuzzwah
I'm somewhat famous in my circle of friends for not having a smart phone. I've
used a nokia 6100 for the last decade. My thinking was very much like Luke's.

I wanted a small, light phone which could make and receive phone calls and
text messages. The side benefits of being amazingly tough, having a battery
life of a week or more and being a talking point also helped.

I'm a geek so I'm nearly always on a computer. When I'm away from a computer I
actually enjoy the feeling of being disconnected.

For the last 3 years I worked doing IT support for small businesses, I didn't
have a GPS device in my car. My co-workers didn't know how I survived. I just
planned better than they did, printed out google map directions and worked on
having an excellent memory.

I did cheat some what and stole the bosses wireless internet dongle so in
emergencies I could just plug it into my laptop and be online from anywhere.

I'm now living in the US and have the exact same phone as Luke.

~~~
davimack
I'm in a similar situation, although I actually bought a GPS, just 'cause I'd
been out of country for so long that the roads had changed.

I've a Blackberry, but with no services active except for voice and text, via
AT&T's GoPhone plan - pay $2 on the days you use the phone, and get unlimited
text and voice on those days; pay nothing on the days you don't use it.

It's an immense savings, and I'm by no means in a low-wage job or a college
student - I just look at it this way: why pay for a plan which would otherwise
fund a round-trip for two to Europe, every year?

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w1ntermute
> The truth is that memories are made in “unfortunate” situations. I once
> visited a terrible restaurant with friends of mine. The food was cold, the
> atmosphere was horrible, but we had a great time, and it’s something I will
> remember for years to come.

Yeah, and hitchhiking across the country can be a memorable experience too,
but that doesn't mean you should always avoid flying so that you can make some
memories in "'unfortunate' situations".

~~~
lukethomas
Valid point - but do you need to tweet, check-in on Foursquare, and check
email constantly throughout the day?

~~~
w1ntermute
I've had a smartphone for 3+ years, but I don't use Twitter or Foursquare, and
I only read/reply to email on my phone when it's absolutely necessary.

I _do_ usually use my phone to check for restaurant reviews though, or product
reviews if I'm in a store. Google Maps is also extremely useful. I see no
reason to eat shitty food if there's a good restaurant just down the road.
Unfortunately, most restaurant rating services (like Yelp) aren't too accurate
these days.

~~~
illuminate
"Unfortunately, most restaurant rating services (like Yelp) aren't too
accurate these days."

The scores are, but in aggregate, I have a decent experience with Yelp
reviews. As with any user-generate content, there are plenty of opinionated
idiots, but I can generally quickly skim them to find out if they're an idiot
or not and discount their negative/positive ratings.

~~~
w1ntermute
The problem is that in large swathes of the country (outside of the largest
cities), there aren't enough reviews to get an "aggregate" opinion. So it's
easy for outliers to sway the overall rating for any given restaurant.

~~~
illuminate
Well, in those cases I usually just read the text of the review and see
whether it's from someone who would give 5-stars to any Applebees, or whether
the person is slightly more aware of what decent food should taste like. It's
imperfect, but the results on Yelp are slightly more curated than what's come
before. I like their system better than their user generated review
competitors, at least. The users seem somewhat more literate.

------
imgabe
If you're a broke college student, yeah, you probably don't need a smart
phone.

Of course nobody _needs_ one in the way they need oxygen or food, but if
you're an average professional adult with a reasonably good job, the $100 a
month is not that great an expense for a combination music player, camera,
GPS, social networking, and, oh yeah, a phone too.

I went with the unlocked phone and prepaid SIM route, so it's only $50 a
month. I feel like I'm beating the system.

~~~
herval
The fact that most telcos in US offer _cheaper_ prepaid plans with the same
resources (unlimited voice/sms/data) than their 2-year-lock-in counterparts
still surprises me... Is the lockin there really just to offset the price of
the subsidized device?

~~~
aspratley
The term subsidized, to me, seems misleading. On a contract you're usually
buying the phone on credit and paying it off in your monthly contract charges.
I wish there were more transparency in contract pricing. Ie. this is the cost
of the phone this is the, data, voice etc. Then you could compare deals
fairly. The sim only and pay as you go at least give you a chance to see what
you're paying for the voice/data/texts without the phone cost.

If you're on a 2 year $100/month contract probably $30 a month goes to repay
they phone cost the rest for the service insurance etc. If you don't upgrade
straight away or get a big discount at the end of the contract you're
effectively giving your mobile operator a massive profit jump.

~~~
herval
exactly - which makes the prepaid plans A LOT more interesting: all you have
to do to cancel is _stop paying_ , and the plans are cheaper than the long-
term ones. I'm not sure you can "finance" the phone directly with your credit
card, though, but if you can, then it makes even less sense.

I'm saying this because prepaid plans, in every other country I lived in, were
absurdly expensive, if compared to the post-paid ones...

------
chadgeidel
Am I the only geek who really loves my smartphone? It seems the popular "geek-
chic" position to have these days is "you can have my old-fashioned phone when
you pry it from my cold, dead, fingers". If anything, my smartphone doesn't
have ENOUGH features, but that's currently due to the "dumbed down" mobile
experience that many websites and Facebook seem to be content with giving me.

I can't wait for semi-Augmented-Reality with Google Glass and always-connected
Internet with (hopefully) better carrier coverage.

Edit: The contract is too expensive though - I'm paying for tethering as well
(AT&T) and with my work discount that puts me just over $80/month. I know,
switch providers... (AT&T and Verizon are my only "real" options where I
travel).

~~~
graue
I don't think the author is saying his old-fashioned phone is chic... just
economic. As a college student, he doesn't have a lot of disposable income,
and to him the benefits of a smartphone don't justify the cost, even though he
admits his feature phone is “not sexy” and “looks funny”. A lot of tech trends
are really about fashion, but that couldn't be further from the case here.

Edit: also worth noting, you can go the iPod Touch route and have all the
wonderfully geeky benefits of a smartphone, but only when wifi is available.
If you usually are in range of wifi, it could make sense... see my other
comment about how a friend of mine does it.

~~~
chadgeidel
You are correct of course. The author is very clear on this (which is one
reason I upvoted the article). However, I do have many friends with this
opinion who CAN afford smartphones.

Even worse - I have friends that have expensive smartphones with the expensive
data/text plan plan and would be better-served with an old dumbphone with a
keyboard (for texting) and a iPod touch!

------
marshray
Just ordered my third smartphone, a Google Nexus 4. After a Nokia Lumia 810
(gave to wife), and previously a Google Nexus S (handed down to daughter).

I don't tweet from it, or do Foursquare.

I did some emails on the WP8, but use my phone primarily for SMS and
maps/navigation.

I very occasionally tether a laptop or tablet, usually just to fetch a file
while in an airport.

What I _want_ to do on my mobile device is software development, almost any
language will do. I know it has a very small screen, but without my glasses on
I have this really neat microscope-like vision.

When I get my Nexus 4, I'm thinking of putting a Linux-from-scratch type of
system on it. If I can still use it as a phone, and program OpenGL ES with a
keyboard, I would be happy as a lark.

Just a data point, since you asked. :-)

------
cageface
Americans pay way way too much for mobile data plans. In Vietnam I get
unlimited data for $4/month. Speed is throttled after 500mb but there's no
hard cap.

------
graue
At the end, the author suggests getting an iPod Touch. A friend I just visited
in NYC does this. My friend has an iPod Touch he uses to make Google Voice
calls when wifi is available (which is most of the time). He also has a
dumbphone for making calls/texts when they're absolutely necessary and wifi
isn't available. The dumbphone is prepaid with a very small allowance of
minutes and costs him $10/mo.

I felt inspired by this setup, but the truth is I do rely on using Google Maps
when in unfamiliar places, and that requires a data connection. To a lesser
extent, finding local business listings/reviews without wifi comes in handy,
too. I don't need it all the time, but when I do, these features are crucial.

If it were possible to refine my friend's idea by using only one device (say
an unlocked Nexus 4), and getting a small prepaid data plan as well (say
500MB/mo), I'd consider doing the same. Does that exist?

~~~
sguha
Check out TMobile's prepaid plans <http://prepaid-
phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans>

If you can deal with very few minutes the $30 100 minutes/unlimited everything
else is a great deal. Nexus 4 would work on this

~~~
graue
Not bad at all. I'm surprised there's not an even more affordable pay-as-you-
go option for data, though.

------
guylhem
I have a credit-card sized phone - straight from china, works like a charm.
USB charge last for 3 days

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERJkSrqOcEk>

Call me when smartphones reach that size so I can replace my N900 (because a
camera is the only thing I miss in such a tiny phone)

------
dpark
Because I don't have my own car. Just having public transit info at my
fingertips is enough reason for me. I'm not really sure how I would get around
in new/unfamiliar areas efficiently without my phone. Obviously it's possible,
because I used to do it, but it was far more hassle. Add to that driving
directions for when I _am_ in a car, a music library in my pocket, and it just
makes sense (for me).

It's absolutely a luxury, and I could certainly survive without one. Frankly,
though, its not the first luxury I'd give up. I'd do without cable, without a
television, and without a clothes dryer before giving up my smartphone.

P.S. Turn off email notifications. You don't need to be alerted every time an
email comes in.

------
frooxie
> I thought paying over $100/month for a smartphone didn’t make a lot of
> sense.

I pay $10/month for mine (including the cost of the phone).

> but my assumption is that you are like me, and constantly near a wifi
> hotspot

No, I'm hardly ever near one when I need to use my phone.

------
jerf
Republic Wireless just opened up to the general public:
<http://republicwireless.com>

I like it. I don't love it, but I like it, and I definitely like the price.
I've learned that it's best for me to annualize my recurring bills so I can
think about them clearly, and $40/month vs. $110/month adds up pretty quickly.
(I have two lines in my house, but my $110/month was on a "feature" phone, a
term I can not use without using scare quotes around the word feature. A
single person is looking at $20/month.)

Obviously this just addresses the price issue. I'm not talking about the other
stuff.

~~~
jonny_eh
Might as well just get Straight Talk at $45/month, then you can use any
unlocked phone, and aren't forced to use that one model that Republic offers.
But I like how they're thinking outside the box.

~~~
jerf
That's $600/year for me more than RW, and I'm fine with the Defy XT so far.
(I'm coming from a "feature" phone, so it's a huge upgrade for me, even if
it's nothing special by Android standards.) I don't mean this as a bad thing
per se, just observing that's $600/year difference, which isn't trivial for me
(though affordable).

------
jaredsohn
I think the most important use of a smartphone is the maps app. Not getting
lost anymore (provided the battery isn't dead) is hugely beneficial.

~~~
pitzips
To add to that, the cycling lanes on google maps help me not die by staying on
safe roads.

------
arikrak
Its true that people dont always need a data connection, and an ipod would be
one alternative. However, there are ways to get smartphones for cheap.

I discuss a few options here: <http://www.zappable.com/2012/07/smartphones-
for-cheap-ii/>

------
Lenad
You can also buy a chinese smartphone for less than 100$ and use only the free
wifi near you.

(I am also biased by the fact that in France we have unlimited call, messages
and data connection for 20€ ~ 25-30$ per month)

~~~
krapp
I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini I bought jailbroken off of Ebay for about 100
dollars. I use a pay-as-you-go card for calls and free wifi for the internet
-- except for the part where I don't dare login to anything because anyone
could probably root it on a whim, it's pretty awesome.

~~~
lukethomas
What pay-as-you go card do you use?

~~~
krapp
T-mobile. Payments through their website are a bit broken though, currently
the only way I can put more minutes on is to use the refill cards, they don't
seem to be able to accept my debit card.

------
Steko
I pay about $58 a month for my AT&T iPhone contract with no texting plan and
an employer discount. That includes fees.

Were I a college student on a tight budget I might migrate to an iPod mini
LTE, a bluetooth headset* and VOIP apps (Talkatone for Gvoice). You could
throw an iPod touch in there or not. Assuming you went with Verizon that's $25
a month base with no contract.

* Picking the right headset seems vitally important here; some work smartly with Siri where you just tap the headset once or twice to activate voice control.

------
DanBC
I don't need a smartphone. I've been happy with the cheapest Nokia I can buy
from the shop each time I've needed to change phones.

Recently I wanted to use a phone to get some Internet (for maps and WWW) when
out and about. So I got a Wildfire S (it's small and cheap) and will get some
kind of data plan from somewhere.

~~~
nsm
Agreed! If you aren't app crazy, just want basic email/calendar/contacts and
maps, then Nokia is the best. Rock solid hardware and offline maps!

------
technotony
Why are you looking at the high end phones? I agree they don't make much sense
financially. If you go with Virgin Mobile they have a $35 a month unlimited
data plan with 300 minutes a month (easy to stay within if you use google
voice on a computer for longer calls). Phones start from around $99

~~~
technotony
You can also buy grandfathered virgin plans on eBay. These are $25 a month for
the same offer. You can buy one of these plans with a smartphone for around
$70. Eg: [http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-month-Grandfathered-Virgin-
Mobile...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-month-Grandfathered-Virgin-Mobile-
Beyond-Talk-Plan-LG-
Optimus-V-/321031690234?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item4abefad7fa)

------
ixacto
Because facebook is a waste of time, and if you put that $100/mo for 45 years
in an IRA with an index fund you will have enough money for at least _some_
heath insurance in old age/senility (may you live to 120). This is coming from
someone who graduated college last august.

------
robryan
My number one reason is for commuting. I catch the train most days. Sure I
could just read a book but often I prefer to read articles online.

Sure you can use a tablet for this but if you want to carry a phone anyway
cuts down on what you are hauling around.

I am not a big fan if pulling my laptop out on the train.

------
Zash
For calls and texting, why would you need anything more advanced than a 3310?
Altho I do like my N900.

------
hollerith
I found it significantly harder to avoid "procrastinating" on an Android
device than I do on my Mac (so I no longer own an Android device.)

iPads are less "problematic" in this regard than Android devices although
probably more "problematic" than Macs. (Have never tried an iPhone.)

------
sskov
You don't. I've been debating this for a while and I'd rather have the extra
money in my pocket every month. It's a luxury and if you want it, you'll have
to pay. I know many successful people who do not have them, so it's not an
absolute.

------
bcbrown
I still don't have a smartphone. I have an old clamshell phone, and I'm happy
with it.

------
eshvk
I dunno, I got a smart phone only after I left school. The only primary reason
I have a smart phone is so that I can check Google Maps. Everything else is
expendable.

(Yes, I am one of those people who hasn't upgraded to iOS6 yet. )

------
Tichy
He recommends an iPod Touch for 300$ - hasn't heard about the Nexus 4 yet?

Is mobile internet really 100$/month in the US? I pay 10€ a month for 1GB, and
there are cheaper plans available, too.

------
hayksaakian
Don't some carries have free smartphones with plan nowadays?

Its just progress. Like why drive a 2012 Camry when a 2001 Camry can do the
same job?

------
smashu
I don't, as I'm always surrounded by computers (at work and at home).So I just
bought a Nokia 113. Exactly what I need.

------
mikeevans
How does Google Voice reduce minute usage? It still dials your phone and uses
your minutes, doesn't it?

~~~
devicenull
You can use VOIP solutions with it (GroveIP is one, it works okay), or just
call from your computer.

------
sjs382
Segmentation. When I'm not working, I stay away from a PC but I stay connected
using my phone.

------
jiggy2011
because everyone else has one and complains if you don't reply to emails
within 30 seconds?

~~~
caster_cp
I don't have one, I feel I don't need one, and no one has ever complained
about me taking too much to reply to something. As a matter of fact, as I take
my time to reply to something, I usually change my mind about what to say,
about what's important and what's irrelevant...

And, no, $100 a month isn't nearly close to an acceptable price to mitigate
random "complaints" about a possible "reply lag"

------
bmsatierf
All I need is a John's Phone, which I've been using since it was released.

------
champbox
Nice article. Adaptability is the key to sustainability.

------
bmasci
How else will I play LetterPress with my brother?

------
drivebyacct2
Once again, moderation isn't an option.

It is possible to own a smartphone, use it sparingly and _gasp_ not have it
tied to your corporate email.

~~~
eertami
Yeah I get that same feeling from all these "productivity" stories. It just
seems easier to not do these things, rather than write about the weird ways in
which you restrict yourself from doing them.

Also phene you seem to be hellbanned.

------
WayneDB
For just $35/month and a one-time purchase of about $100, you can have a
decent enough smart phone:

[http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-
talk-...](http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-
plans/overview/)

Hopefully the coverage is good in your general area as it is in mine. (It used
to start at $25/month if you signed up about 2 years ago like I did. I am
grandfathered in on the $40/month/1200 minutes plan even though there really
is no contract...)

My 2 year old LG Optimus V running Android 2.3 can do just about everything I
need it to, which really isn't much. Mainly I use it for Phone, Texting, Music
and Maps/GPS. Everything else is just icing.

