Is a smart phone necessary to stay current?

Who has free smart phones - and is there a minimum monthly service agreement?

My wife and I each have somewhat smart phones (text and email) that cost less than $9.00 per month.

 

Sorry, Ian, but I think that still qualifies as a dumb phone. Not insulting your phones or anything but...

 

Wow! Just respond in 30 seconds or you don't get a job? No pressure or anything like that.

 

Sorry, *cell phone. We only have a land line.

 

Yes - but that only works from home. How do I make my "Is this the right toy?" call or "I'm at the ice-cream store. What kind?" call. Or, from the supermarket, "Who wants what on their Opa Johann's homebrew giant pizza tonight?" All that Grandpa stuff.... :smile:

I'll spend the $12.50 a month. If you don't need the kind of service I need, then the Magic Jack is fine. BTW - it wasn't too good in Canada at first -- I think the big Telecom guys were somehow freezing them out on available numbers - but I hear it's OK now.

Johann

 

^^^But that's the beauty of old school living; you can't make those calls outside, but people also can't bother you with calls away from the house either ;-)

But, technically, if you just HAVE to be current , you could always get a cheap smart device with air service and use the MagicJack app. Apparently, this works like a cellphone but I have no firsthand experience with it.

 

OK, that makes more sense. I thought you were some kind of monk for awhile there.

 

They can't now, if I turn the cell-phone OFF till I use it. I don't though -- the only "bothersome" calls I get are telemarketers. I got lots of them on my old land-line, but only get one a month or so on my cell. I can deal with that. I LIKE to make calls outside the house, as I've indicated.

How much lugging-and-plugging of multiple devices and jacks do I want to do? (A: none - no matter if it saved me my whole gigantic $12.50 a month!) No smart-devices for me until I'm smart, and that'll be a long time coming. :smile:

I saw a couple I know to be long-term (years) welfare recipients yesterday - both had Ipod Touches with 'em; she also had an IPhone and he had an upscale Android smart-phone. If the electronics-makers have penetrated this down-market end so well, I'll pass...

Johann

 

Cookderosa its time for intervention. You must get a smart phone instantly. And get a tablet with the Kindle app on it. Then have your book published to the Kindle. I did 60 minutes on the elliptical yesterday reading a college textbook on the kindle. That wouldn't have worked so well with a $150 hardcover book. The Kindle (my iPad) allows you to change the font size to something comfortable for distance reading like while on the elliptical. I do have a fondness for physical pages but I leave that to my fiction books. For school and work I go electronic.

 

LOL...well, you should know my book is available on Kindle- in fact it's free if you have Amazon Prime, so you should download it straight away
Seriously though, I just don't need a phone- and I don't really get the difference between a smart phone and a regular cell phone (don't tell me- I don't have brain space) but my kids have all thrown up their hands in frustration at the speed in which I've (not) embraced technology. They all have ipods and apparently have figured out how to call, text, etc. using their ipods. I've never bought them any aps or songs or anything- so I think they've hacked it, because they can do everything on their ipod....in our house depravity is the mother of invention.

 

There's a lot of free stuff available without hacking. (Not that it will stop those who want to hack!) My grandkids have used the Face-Time (I think it's called that) app to call other Ipod owners. I'm pretty sure that's free -- not that I'm particularly interested, myself. There are a lot of free apps, and even more very cheap ones they've bought using Apple gift cards. One GOOD Apple resource that's free to all, including PC people is ITunes University. There are about 60,000 hours of lectures available at no cost from that segment of ITunes.

I'm with you on the minimal tech front, Jennifer. If you figure you don't need a cell-phone, then you don't. I like mine - it's my only phone and saves me money, but I realize it's not for everybody. Mine was a gift, and although I can certainly afford it, I don't know whether I'd actually have gone out and bought one.

The new devices, tablets, readers etc. may be "game-changers" if people say so -- but they ain't gonna save the world. No new device or machine ever does. That couple I mentioned will still be on welfare, no matter what. The best you can hope for is that the new gadgets might make SOME people's lives better to some degree. I sincerely doubt if the good derived by some will be anywhere near commensurate with the total spent by all. It never is.

I kind of like retro-technology. I've always had a computer of some sort since about 1982. Now, my son teaches computer subjects in high school. Several of my oldies, (Timex Sinclair, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC etc.) have made it into his "computer museum" at school. At home, I have a second-hand P4 desktop about 5 years old -with a brand-new flatscreen monitor. I also have a Sharp laptop from 1988 - no hard drive, two 720K floppies. It still works, but I think those CGA graphics were the leading cause of blindness in the 80s! It cost $1800 new, and was obsolete when I bought it for $100, in 1993. I've had my $100 worth of fun many times over!

Johann

 

Jennifer, you have a book you wrote available on Kindle? Is it about cooking? I would love to get that for my wife who loves cookbooks and cooking. If you really have one, what is the title?