Mike, I keep making generalities with respect to my needs because I can only speak for myself
Then why don’t you say it’s for YOUR NEEDS. You say it like it’s a FACT…TRUTH…that applies to everyone.
But, even the cheaper rates are much more and the limited data transfer on them begin to make smart phones no more user benifiial then dumb phones.
That is NOT a statement about how it benefits YOU…You seem to be stating it as a FACT…when it is NOT.
Bottom line, you can't wrap your mind around and don't understand I do not want or need to combine functions the smart phone gives a person FOR THE PRICE THEY CHARGE FOR THAT SERVICE.
Again because YOU don’t want to pay for those features doesn’t mean other people don’t. You’re the one trying to make the argument (unsuccessfully) that there is no need for smart phones. Just because YOU don’t need it doesn’t mean they aren’t convenient or wanted by other people. I keep saying YOU may not have a need…but then you keep arguing in general terms.
@MikeInNH, your statement.
You’re the one trying to make the argument ( unsuccessfully) that here is no need for smart phones.
Some of My statements…
Smart phones are definitely more convenient for many
I would definitely have a smart phone except for the (additional) (cost)
Guess you have a reading comp. problem when I acknowledge that smart phones are convenient for many…and I would have them if they were cheap enough. And you say…I try to make an argument that there is no need for smart phones. Good grief !!! We both have too much free time on our hands.;=)
For the last time; I won’t buy speakers like yours because they are too big and expensive and I won’t partake of smart phones till the price of the contracts is more reasonable OR I find more of a need for them.
But, even the cheaper rates are much more and the limited data transfer on them begin to make smart phones no more user benifiial then dumb phones.
First off you’ve made this statement a few times…which is totally BOGUS. You can get a cheap nation wide data plan for $45/mo.
Then you make this statement like it actually means something…
You need WiFi ready smart phones cause you can't afford the extra data add on costs to watch movies, down load large files, communicate with your computer and a plethora of other things my IPod touch does for free, without a monthly fee.
You’re saying that the IPod with wifi is CHEAPER because you’re connected to wifi to watch a movie or communicate to a computer…or anything else…Yet how is that possibly an argument…when you have this EXACT SAME FEATURE WITH YOUR IPHONE. It’s completely free when connected to wifi.
But, I suffer with the inconvenience cause my golf membership is paid for.
Are we talking about a putt-putt membership. Because the cost difference for a data plan with some of the cheaper plans is less then $200/year. Not some ungodly number you think it costs.
Those of us on fixed income will live with the inconvenience.
Fine never said you should. But there are more of us who would rather have that convenience. Since you’re a golfer like me…I have a nice golf GPS app on my phone. Has over 2000 golf courses in it’s DB. Nice to know on an unknown course how far you are from the green. Another device a smart phone replaces.
All the things a smart phone does for you either should not be doing while driving or saves such minimal time otherwise
Then you don’t understand the technology. GPS on a smart phone works EXACTLY THE SAME WAY as my Garmin. Voice control. In fact it sounds like the same woman.
IPod’s are fine…I just can’t see getting an IPod when the cost of a data plan for my IPhone is only $15 more then the unlimited talk/text of a non-smartphone. The convenience of NOT carrying around all the different devices that one device does is well worth it.
You can get a cheap data plan for 45 dollars…is in your words…bogus. You get a basic talk text with limited data and not enough to use a Smart phone to any of it’s worth while advantages. Worthwhile data plans BEGIN at $70 to $100 plus a month. Btw, the phone is still in use for me while I am on wifi with the IPoD. http://electronics.costhelper.com/cell-phone-plans.html
If all you do with your phone is use it for gps once In a while…you need to read your own fine print in your own plan if you think you’re only paying $45 a months. Limited talk and text and minimal data. This is a sample of bogus adds that don’t tell you data limits. http://www.straighttalk.com/wps/portal/home/shop/phones
Dn’t try to take pictures and send them with this plan, except with wifi …and if you do, read the number of GBs you have and don’t go over. iPod…take a gazillion pictures, wait till your connected then send without monthly charge… $45 a month is a dream cost and gives you no more useful minutes and text then my $27 dollar a month plan and certaiinly makes no sense to me. I have much easier seamless connectivity to my computer with my apparatus along with many more usable music apps and functionality. I use it for my dj work and would think of tying up an expensive smart phone. http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/individual.html?cm_mmc=PaidSearch--Awareness--Bing-_-Generic-MF&cm_mmca1=bing&cm_mmca2=smartphone%20plans&cm_mmca3=p
Here is another where 2GB a month for $60 a month which is Very limited and doesn’t get worthwhile till $70 a month. Heck, quality photos on an iPhone camera are can’t send recieve many of them and still use internet capabilities…Cell towers are very expensive Internet providers…deal with it. I have ! Now we are up to a savings of $600 a year and I have paid my walking membership…or buy three new apparatus a year…and, all the inconvenience I have is to use wifi. I can better do that on a fixed income in retirement then have that extra 50 to 70 dollars a month taken out of my account. So $45 a month gives nothing more then I have now…if I want more, I WILL have to pay more. http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans-new.html#fbid=fE3CsMHjfBT
Worthwhile data plans BEGIN at $70 to $100 plus a month
Who says??? I suggest you do some research. Based on what YOU said…there is no way you NEED a $70 data plan. My youngest has a very cheap data plan on his Iphone. 90% of the time he’s doing any kind of data transfer…he’s on wifi at home…THUS not using any minutes of his data plan.
Dn't try to take pictures and send them with this plan, except with wifi ...and if you do, read the number of GBs you have and don't go over. iPod...take a gazillion pictures, wait till your connected then send without monthly charge.
HUH…and I can send all the pics I want without touching my data minutes by connecting to wifi. But I have the added benefit of connecting to the internet without a hotspot or being at home…at a minimal cost. Not some $100/mo.
So $45 a month gives nothing more then I have now....if I want more, I WILL have to pay more
That’s a funny response, saving all data usage using WiFi. Gee, I do that too.
…do you want a price list for IPods models so you can really save some money ?
It’s not the technology that’s beyond me. It’s wasting money away just to impress people.
My parents both use tracphone, they have basic phones that they use to make calls and mostly when its required, The GPS that my dad bought for less than $200 has paid for itself on many trips particularly when we’ve gotten lost while not using it and had to find our way back to the interstate. Smart phones are great if you actually use them enough to justify the monthly costs.
@OlyDoug
My daugher and son both have smart phones. But, she is a traveling PT and finds constant connectivity and convenience necessary both for her patient location, treatment and evaluation and her own kids schedule and communication. Plus, she is in constant communication with her brother it seems, the geek of the family, who works for Microsoft. I can’t begin to tell you how much use he has for it. But his business provides it as part of his package and my daughter gets a stipend for hers. My wife and I on the other hand, are retirees on fixed income and I too haven’t found a need to justify the additional cost. My wife has been considering one for a year. She now has a basic, tiny tracphone and I send her on trips with the IPod which she uses to email me and take and send pictures, info and can access our computer, Skype and watch movies. The GPS sits in stowage in our travel car. Havn’t come up with anything cheaper…yet.
That's a funny response, saving all data usage using WiFi. Gee, I do that too.
..do you want a price list for IPods models so you can really save some money ?
One smartphone is all I need. Fits nicely in my front pocket.
I purchased a factory refurbished unit, updated the maps, (which doesn’t really seem to be necessary) although the LM model means lifetime maps, and it has worked like a charm -almost as charming as its $89 price.
I much prefer paper maps for pre-trip planning. On a recent trip, Pittsburgh suburbs to Quakertown, PA, I planned a trip that hit Altoona for the portage RR historic site, State College, local roads to the E to go through Amish country, pick up I-80 in Danville, then PA 309 to Q-town. (Oh, and no tolls that way.) I could’ve got off 80 earlier to see Centralia, but been there already.
Can’t imagine any easier way of doing that than on one piece of paper.
Also, my GPS simply WOULD NOT route me correctly on a PIT–> Las Cruces NM trip. The correct way is to get off of I-40 around Amarillo, then head SW on US rtes until just N of Alamogordo. Even on “shortest route,” though, dummy insists on taking I-40 into Albuquerque and hanging a left!
(of course the classic moment was, at my estination there were unnamed dirt roads. Dummy says, “In 100’, trun left on ‘CAM-in-owe nooove’!”)
True, but the reolution generally stinks. A 5" diagonal screen vs a map that folds out to 30" or more. It can be done, but the map is cheaper, simpler, and better.
Oh, and phone based GPS [inhales vigorously*] relative to a stand-alone unit. Saying “why pay for a seperate GPS?” is like saying “why have a desktop computer with internet access when a smartphone does that (poorly)?”
Selfishly, I must confess that I find a GPS convienient, even when I know the route, in reminding me when to turn when my attention is elsewhere. I like the reminder that while fighting for space three lanes over, how much distance I have to complete the task. I can easily miss an exit listening to golf jokes by the crew with out a friendly reminder like, “recalculating”. That doesn’t make me a very attentive driver but I do find myself paying more attention to my driving then road signs. I feel they are safer, at least for me.
True, but the reolution generally stinks. A 5" diagonal screen vs a map that folds out to 30" or more. It can be done, but the map is cheaper, simpler, and better.
You can fold it out…but I still need my reading glasses to read it. I don’t need my reading glasses to read my IPhone app…I just make it bigger. You can get much more detail on the Iphone GPS app then any map I’ve ever seen.
Maps are archaic, as you need someone else to read it in traffic if you miss a turn in unfamiliar areas you can’t easily pull over. . I keep them in my car alright, just in case but hearing " recalculate" is gratifying. What I really like about GPS, and I suppose some apps on smart phones too, is they track speed zones if you miss a sign going through towns. I generally travel about 5 mph over. If I miss a drop from 55 mph to 35 mph on undivided highways, I’m in big trouble. The gps stays on. The maps ? They are most useful if we miss a rest stop and need to commune with nature. Maps for me are strictly for back ups.
The desktop is going the way of the dinosaur. Within 5 years it will disappear as we know it.
My 4G phone is nearly as fast and doesn’t carry the baggage. The only thing I use the desktop for now is huge file transfers.
My phone is Wi-Fi hotspot enabled. Sometimes I use my wi-fi tablet for GPS mapping/directions with a huge screen no standalone GPS can come close to competing with.
I tend to think the people who are anti-phone are either using antique hardware or just don’t use it enough to realize the added benefits of a complete package in one device. I gave all my garmin units away shortly after making the transition some years ago. Never looked back…