Smart Phones

[mau1]

Mso, I think it's great that you write letters. Receiving a letter has always been a pleasure for me. They represent a thoughtful gesture, a personal touch and are meaningful. Writing a letter generally means organizing your thoughts and painting a picture with words. When something becomes too easy, like texting, or even firing off a comment on this site, we can make mistakes by being hasty and may regret it after the message is sent.

Having said that, the mobile phones today are becoming an indispensable tool with so many features at our fingertips. Keeps me in touch and organized. I don't think I could give it up. The landline, however, has bit the dust. So has cable TV. Netflix is now the only television I watch.
Oh, and I use hand-me-down phones that others have tossed in a drawer, chasing the next shiny toy. Consumer waste at its finest.

 

[olkofri]

I've a couple of iPhones, a 4 now turned iPod Touch and off the grid, and a 5S, the one I currently use.
Like with everything, there are pros and cons. So far, I'm willing to put up with the cons, but I don't like the direction these things and tech in general are going, so I try hard not to keep up with the Joneses. I don't want an app for everything, and I don't want to be linking my phone to everything. When I got my current car I looked into installing an alarm/remote opening system: I couldn't because all the ones available used an app; not only no, but hell no!

 

[mau1]

Olko, I second that emotion. I have a bit of a suspicious nature, and the fact that some apps have been hacked and your info is vulnerable justifies keeping things simple.

 

[olkofri]

You betcha.
More worrisome than hackers is the companies that sell the gadgets themselves and the gov't, though; they can bend you over and screw you way worse than any hacker/scammer/spammer. A year or so ago there was the initiative by SGI to have your driver's licence on your smartphone (!!). I was like WTF. Why on Earth would I want crApple, Poogle, or Micro$oft to have a copy of my driver's licence?? Don't they know about me enough already?
Beats me why anyone would want their entire life on their device.

 

[trouttimes]

They know all about you already down to the size of pants you wear.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

So far I ain't got no smart phones but keep satisfied with my 90ies Motorola Razar flip phones,and table top computer, all my buddies at work+my mom keep mocking at me why You ain't gotten no smart phone,You should have one,all people round have them and so on'I don't need web services on my phones yet that very service runs quite expensive ,monthly package incl.internet connection + free calls is like $20 per month,and all those smart phones looks so clumsy in use.Figuring what would happen if I'm going back to land lines and toss all them cell phones to dumpster.

 

[mikethompson]

We had a land line until maybe a year ago, internet phone was much much cheaper.

 

[ophiuchus]

I won't be making friends or influencing people here ...
I've been carrying one version of iPhone or another since 2007; my employer at the time gifted one to all full-timers (and many part-timers) shortly after they launched. I've since paired mine with an Apple Watch. I'm lazy enough that I don't mind being reminded to get off my butt once in a while, do deep breathing exercises, and take an extra brisk XX-minute walk before retiring for the day.
As far as the paranoia about personal data and analytics: They're all completely justifiable. Be careful what you install, be careful what you use, read the agreements and watch your apps' settings. 8O
::

 

[cigrmaster]

I finally got an IPhone but had to be dragged kicking and screaming. My old phone an LG with a keyboard croaked. I went to my local Best buy with my 2 daughters expecting to replace my phone with the same thing. Best buy had none of those old phones so my daughters talked me into a iphone 7.0 with the largest screen. After a while of trying to understand how it works, I got used to some of the more basic function.
The navigator function is probably my favorite.

I really like the Uber app and like the built in navigator.

 

[warren]

be careful what you use, read the agreements and watch your apps' settings.

And understand that with a wee expenditure and a minimal knowledge of the internet I can know more about you than you know about yourself. Things you've forgotten or, wish to forget, what you download/upload, sites you visit, credit card numbers, I can get a copy of your birth certificate, driving record, what cars you've owned over the years, your credit rating, utility costs, mortgage, previous addresses, military records, and more. It's all just laying around for the picking, some well protected ... some ... not so much.

 

[voorhees]

I have one. But I don't use it to its potential. Don't care too.

 

[tbradsim1]

One afternoon late wife had gone to Bingo, I was on porch, a dove was by me in the tree, I found bird calls on my IPHONE and dialed it in. The dove started singing, cardinal and blue jay started chirping, crow started cawwing, I had me a little bird symphony going. Buddy my dog liked it too.i smoked away.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Merlin? (An app that'll do bird IDs and calls)
I use my iPhone X extensively. Just about everything but gaming. "Don't leave home without it!"®

 

[piperbole]

As a millennial I'm attached to my phone hook line and sinker.

My alarm even reads me the news.

 

[brian64]

As a millennial I'm attached to my phone hook line and sinker.

My alarm even reads me the news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CeiPJaHuoQ

 

[piperusak]

I fully use my smartphone for business :D

 

[lasttango]

It's made teaching a nightmare. Kids would rather get suspended than give up their phone.
The kicker: 2 months ago, I was at a stop light. I gazed over to the side of the road and saw six people doing road construction.... Four of them were on their phones. This included the worker who was directing traffic at a busy intersection.

 

[verporchting]

LMAO, lasttango!
That's a sad statement on the 21st century, now that it takes 6 construction workers to not get the job done - in the old days it took 5 leaning on their shovels and 1 to supervise; now it takes 4 to frap about with their smart phones, 1 to lean on a shovel (soon to be an app for that - a "virtual shovel" I suppose) and 1 to supervise.
:rofl:

 

[condorlover1]

I own one but I turned all the tech stuff off on it so it is purely a device to make and receive calls. I had a Crackberry with roller ball for years but they changed the frequency and it wouldn't work. Shame really as I bought five on them brand new on Ebay. If Crapple ever bring out with a rotary dial cell phone in bakelite I would probably buy it immediately.

 

[coffinmaker]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUr6eN9-NlE