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Are smart phones worth it?


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Are smart phones worth it?

  #1 (permalink)
 
lrfsdad's Avatar
 lrfsdad 
milwaukee,wi, usa
 
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Hello,

I'm assuming a large part of the community here has a smart phone. I'm wondering if they are worth the cost vs. a regular cell phone. I don't have one, but my wife does. I use hers to mass delete my emails and that is about it. I have had my own business for a couple of years now, and I havent come across too many situations where one would be necessary. I'm also not on facebook, and I consider emails mail, meaning they don't need to be read instantly.
I guess I consider them more handy then necessary, more like a toy. Please comment on your experience.

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  #2 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
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Yes of course.... I can't imagine not having a smart phone for about the last 8 or 9 years. Even before the iPhone, I at least had phones that had internet and email...

Mike

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 trs3042 
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Big Mike View Post
Yes of course.... I can't imagine not having a smart phone for about the last 8 or 9 years. Even before the iPhone, I at least had phones that had internet and email...

Mike

Ditto that.

Rick

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  #4 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
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BTW, if you are a power user, buy Android. If you are a grandparent or under the age of 10, buy an iPhone.

Let the flame wars begin!!



Mike

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 MWinfrey 
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Deciding to get a smartphone is very personal. I was in business as well and never found it necessary to have a smart phone. My business was computer and network consulting for small business and personal. Like you I treated email the same as mail and would get to them when I wasn't actively engaged with another customer. In fact, when on a customer's site, in the office working on a customers problem, or on the phone with another customer I MAY answer the phone just to take a message or I would let the call go to voice mail or to another one of my employees. So, I never developed the requirement for a smart phone. That worked very well.

I sold that business.

Now I am retired and doing a number of other things. I first got my smartphone because I teach horse riding lessons and all of my clients have a smartphone and update me with lesson times, cancellation, etc via text. What a life saver that is. I get the text and either reply immediately or delay until a more convenient time. I don't get interrupted any longer.

For a while I was using a VPS for my automated strategy trading. I could leave my desk and connect to the VPS via a remote desktop app running on my smartphone and still babysit the strategy to make sure it didn't have a party while I was gone.

Nice to have feature is simple communication from friends and family via text. Don't have to invest in verbal communication when a simple yes or no is all that is needed to answer a question. I still call when longer duplex types of communication is necessary or if I just want to hear their voice.

I do very little web surfing on the phone. But I will use the web to read something from time to time. However, I will usually use my iPad that I won in a futures.io (formerly BMT) contest or computer for most of that.

Hope this helps.

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 rmejia 
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Are you asking if the device itself is worth it or the additional $ for a data plan. I definitely would never go back to 90's dumb phones. I love the iPhone but it's expensive without a contract. The Nexus 5 seems to be reasonably priced, unlocked. You could just have the regular phone plan and use wifi for data.

Like most things, technology (smart phones) are probably not necessary (like food & water) but they are nice to have, it's a convenience for me. Though "worth it" is very subjective. $100 monthly for one person can be a lot, and for another not so much.

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  #7 (permalink)
 
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You can get prepaid plans pretty cheap, I stopped using contracts a while ago and started buying my phones outright and using a prepaid plan, because it was far cheaper in the long run.

I am using an LG Optimus G Pro which I bought several months ago for $450 or so (much cheaper now), and a $40 a month AT&T pre-paid plan or so w/unlimited minutes and 2GB data. Plenty of data for me since I am on wi-fi 99% of time.

$100 a month plans are just expensive financing. If you plan to keep the phone for 1 year or more, it's cheaper to buy it outright, then sell it on ebay in a year for 50% of what you paid for it. You still come out ahead by not having a carrier based $100 a month plan.

Mike

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  #8 (permalink)
 tgibbs 
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I need something to keep me connected with futures.io (formerly BMT) when I am not at my computer. @Big Mike hasn't set up his can and string yet so the Iphone is my go to in order to see what is going on around here

Oh and I am over 10 and I hope 26 can't be considered Grandpa, so

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  #9 (permalink)
 
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 wldman 
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FIVE iphones on my monthly at&t bill. The kids regularly hit me with data overages (three per month) to the point where the monthly phone bill approaches 400 or even 500 bucks. I think what Mike said is that I can buy phones outright and then use prepaid to get the budget line under control. I will look into that. Thanks guys. DB

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  #10 (permalink)
 
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 Big Mike 
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Looks like it is $60 a month now for unlimited minutes, texts and 2GB data on AT&T:
Prepaid Cell Phone Plans, GoPhone Plans, & Prepaid Smartphone plans from AT&T

Verizon also has $60 unlimited/unlimited/2GB:
Prepaid Phones & Prepaid Plans: Cell Phone Plans - Verizon Wireless

For data keep in mind you should be on wi-fi pretty much everywhere so 2GB should be enough for most people.

You can find better deals, check sites like Coupons and Deals: The hottest coupon codes and cash back forums where people post limited time deals. There are some special plans like as a "Wal-Mart" customer for example, etc, that you need direct links for.

Last, if you have a day job at a big corporation, many times there is special corporate rate pricing you can get, even just as an employee.

Mike

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