Originally Posted by
Rollfast
Smartphones are a pipe dream that cost a lot of money and that's why the wireless assistance program Virgin operates uses TEXT-ONLY cellphones. If my computer moves, I am either cleaning or it's being stolen. I am not sacrificing my food budget nor my bike budget nor the small amount I spend to feed my cats as I LIKE my cats and I don't need a cellphone vs. friends and somebody paying attention when I'm not doing well and helping. If nobody responds or they hide behind them, cellphones are weapons, as surely as a nuclear bomb. One useless wired phone is more than enough and I've got the total bill down to just over 72 dollars a month or nearly one tenth of my fixed income and covering the DSL and unlimited long distance as well for four more years.
We had smartphones. Then life happened and we ditched the service plan. Now we have pocket supercomputers, no phone service on these devices. Anywhere there is free wifi, we are connected online. I see used phones like I have -- Apple iPhone 3G -- going for very much less than $100. Plus, I get a clock w/ alarm, MP3 player, camera, ebook reader, game player, voice memo recorder, notebook, sketchbook, etc. all in a pocket size unit. When I was 10, I'd have given my left nut for something as cool as this.
You don't have to use the phone part of smartphones for them to still be remarkably useful little devices. Like getting online at the library utilizing their free wifi when all the public workstations are occupied...