I have to admit, I love my smartphone. If I am out and about, it's nice to be able to look up an address or a sports score or whatever on Google. However, I hadn't realized how much others like them. In a USA Today "Snapshot" (RingCentral survey of 380 smartphone users) the question was: What is the only thing you can't live without. Amazingly, here were the results:

Having intimate relations - 41%

My smartphone - 40%

Morning coffee - 17%

Checking social networking sites - 3%

What the hell is a smart phone? And what good is it if I'm not smart enough to figure out how to use it?

Gadgets - bah!

I tried to buy a mobile phone that made phone calls and sent and received texts AND DID NOTHING ELSE.

Guess what? It's impossible. I was told that there is no market from them, something patently untrue as I was trying to buy one.

So my phone, still the least complicated on the market has loads of functions on it that I have never used, will never use and don't even know how to use.

I tried to buy a mobile phone that made phone calls and sent and received texts AND DID NOTHING ELSE.

There's one over here in the States called the Jitterbug which is marketed mainly to grumpy old farts and members of the AARP (a lobby group for same). I don't think it does text messaging though. But the buttons and displayed digits are huge. I'm sure it's unavailable in the UK as it tied into a plan, but you might contact them. Maybe they can expand into the markets overseas.

[Disclaimer: I, too, am a grumpy old fart, I work for a company that is developing an OS for mobile devices, and I have no affiliation with the Jitterbug company.]

Oh I could have done without the texting, though for once I confess that it is actually a useful advance to have.

Phone plans are another thing.

My mobile phone usage is so low that any kind of plan is a waste of money. I use a pay-as-you-go system and generally I only use about thirty pounds a year.

I am a fully paid up grumpy old fart, and getting worse.

As a GOF I'd also like to see a basic call and text-only phone. The one I use has umpteen features which I never or rarely use. I have used text and the phone several times, but either I have tried out some of the other functions out of curiosity, or don't even understand how they work.

For instance I've used the camera a couple of times, but only to test it. If I were to set out to take photographs I'd use my digital camera. I concede, though, that it is possible that the phone camera might be useful if I want to take a shot unexpectedly. I have an iPod should I want to play digital music; the phone has an inferior set of headphones and a smaller memory capacity. I suppose it could be useful, but my enthusiasm for walking around plugged into the iPod waned a couple of years ago; I hardly use the iPod now, and can't see much use for the phone as an inferior substitute. The list goes on ...

It's funny because I am looking to replace my old cellphone. I already own an iPod Touch which is an iPhone w/o the camera, GOS, and telephony (though I can make calls on Skype when connected to wifi). I don't make that many phone calls (either from landlines or cell phones), so I will not be getting an iPhone. I am looking into phones using Google's Android OS, as it might be fun to write an app for Android, and as opposed to iPhone, it uses Java rather than Objective C. (About the only time I really rely on a mobile is when I am abroad, and my old GSM phone no longer seems to work in Europe. Not sure what changed, because it used to.

All I really know about mobile use when abroad can be summed up in two sentences.

a) it's expensive
and
b) most British mobiles don't work from the US

it's expensive

Last time I was in France, working from our Montpellier office, I went to a tobacconists and bought a cheap SIM to put in my phone. It worked great and was cheaper than my plan in the States. (Of course, I was using a friend's old mobile he lent me for the trip so it actually worked. My phone was out of commission the entire time.) While on the train travelling from Belgium to Germany, I noticed that many passengers changed SIM cards at the border. Something I have never seen in the States. Lots of new startup sounds and ringing phones, etc.

I have probably logged a total of ten hours on my mobile phone in the eight years I've had it. It tells me that I have missed messages, and tells me how much money I have on my pay-as-I -go plan. I don't know how to retrieve messages. I think it costs extra. I only use it when traveling. I am not sufficiently important that I need to talk to people while flying, driving, walking, or biking.

BTW: I think AARP is the sound made by a dyspeptic Old Fart. I certainly make it.

Saw a story the other day about AT&T refusing to stop cable for a dead man, even though his relatives brought a death certificate. They said they needed his personal code, which only he knew.

My mother-in-law started our cable account and it was in her name, since she lived with us, but I paid the bill every month. When she died, we continued the account because they wanted $20 just to change the name.

We recently switched to another company but Cox refused to stop the cable until my deceased mother-in-lae OK'd it. I was miffed and content to merely give back the cable box and let them try to collect from her, if they could. But my wife brought a death cert to make them end the contract. How did these corporations get so much power?

quote:

which is marketed mainly to grumpy old farts and members of the AARP

A friend told me she was visiting her mother in a rehab center. Her roommate's husband was deep into his 80s. He told his wife that he would be right back, but he had to go check his email. I thought that was great!

I confess that I do use my smartphone, though I rarely talk on the phone itself. I check my email, text every so often, use Google maps, look up a word, check something in Google, etc. I've never been a phone fanatic; I'd rather email, text or... of course, post.

Ah...and I just remembered another use of my smartphone.

I was shopping (I know; there are no shoppers on Wordcraft) and found a purse that I thought my daughter might like. I took a picture of it and sent it to her. She didn't like it and that was that. Had I bought it for her, taking it back would have been a hassle.

quote:

While on the train travelling from Belgium to Germany, I noticed that many passengers changed SIM cards at the border.

Yeah, the EU had the idea to standardize on a single cell phone system decades ago; unfortunately, they didn't standardize the billing system, so that card you bought in France would charge you big eurobucks to make a call from Germany. My European friends showed me their little plastic baggy of SIM cards (one for Greece, one for France, one for Sweden...) -- and, of course, each with a different number...

Smartphones are the Swiss Army Knife of urban life. I use my Droid to mark where I parked, check prices (barcode reader app connected to Google), listen to Radio France during my commute, deposit checks by taking a picture of them, get the BBC for free (thanks!), and as a GPS navigator in my car.

I use a gramophone myself, and it isn't too smart.

Neveu, have you really become that senile that you need to map where you parked your car? I simply tie several balloons or raccoon tails to the antenna. Yes, an antenna. Shows how old my car is.

Yes, I've heard those Droids are great.