$MART PHONE$, What am I missing?

[DWSmith]

Hmm, I have an IPad that does exactly the same as my phone and everything is backed up...all devices password protected.
iPad is for in the house so I get the luxury of a bigger screen. They work in tandem - if I get a message it comes through on both devices, if I take a photo I can access on either phone or iPad.

This is sort of the reasoning I used to justify a Kindle Fire last spring. (My wife was also mildly nudging me to get the Fire.) A basic phone and Fire together make a good combination and perform well as a substitute for a smart phone but with a larger screen. I tried. Believe me I tried. I gave the Fire to one of my sons Saturday. I just didn't use it.

My wife uses her smart phone like a laptop computer. She reads news articles, manages the bank account, pays bills, does facebook, uses it for email, listens to music, etc. I miss her.

[Snoop Puss]

^^ Well, if you didn't use the Kindle Fire, maybe you don't have a need for a smartphone.

[Guest]

If you are starting business you should look at card readers. People don't carry cash and want to pay by card. Cheques are pretty redundant. Card readers cost as little as £20 to buy and for a small percentage you can take payment so long as you have a smartphone....even in a field.

Shhhh! I was trying to ignore admitting to I will be getting one for business use. When needs must and all that In my field it certainly won't help. Had a Smart phone when I used to volunteer and if I am lucky I can walk around looking for a signal in front of the garage.

[Scarlet]

Kindle fires are something else! They are full of adverts, aren’t user friendly and I don’t think it’s linked to the App Store?, I’ts linked to @m@zon......my niece and nephew use them as game consoles. I don’t think you can compare them to smart phones.
I think it depends on what you do everyday, if you are at home lots perhaps it’s easier to sit at your desk?

[Scarlet]

If I am lucky I can walk around looking for a signal in front of the garage.

I think you’ll find a newer phone will have much better reception - it will also depend on your provider coverage. Check it before you go with the cheapest.

[veggiechicken]

I'm not Smart enough to have a Smart phone - so its no good asking me!

Having just looked up what a Smartphone is - I think I have one In theory it can take photos and has internet access but its all such a potch that having tried it a couple of times its too much effort for too little reward. The operating system is so old that its incompatible with most apps. Its PAYG and I put £20 credit on it a year ago and I still have £11 left.
Scarlet, its the one you had to answer for me at the RHS show.

[DWSmith]

I have decided that for me a smart phone is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

I'll stick with the flip-phone which I already rarely use.

Thanks for the input everyone!

[Scarlet]

^^^^^yes! Fist thing to learn when having a phone is to know how it sounds when it rings and how to answe it

[Scarlet]

I know I love mine - but I don’t like sitting in front of a computer and I am out and about quite a bit....my husband sits in front of a computer all day, is a whizz at software and can configure anything..he isn’t interested in a smart phone, he does everything he needs at his desk....all his phone requirements is to use it to call out in emergencies, has a chess game and is the correct size to fit in his cycle helmet
So it depends what you do day to day.

[DWSmith]

Having just looked up what a Smartphone is - I think I have one In theory it can take photos and has internet access but its all such a potch that having tried it a couple of times its too much effort for too little reward.

Yep, that's another thing I've wondered about. My little flip-phone can browse the web, play music, run apps, take pictures and forward them with text messages, has bluetooth so I can use it over my car's bluetooth system or my bluetooth speaker at home, oh, and it can make phone calls too lest I forget.

So just what does a smart phone have that my flip-phone doesn't have? (I seldom use what my flip-phone can do except talk and occasionally text.)

Update: Maybe the smart part of a smart phone is the user. That would make my flip-phone a dumb phone.

[Rosemary7391]

I can do pretty much everything I do on a computer with my smartphone. DWSmith - does your flip phone connect to WiFi? If not any internet access is going to be really expensive. I like to be able to log onto the work servers and check various things, but I'm not a typical user!

My mother has just acquired a smart phone. So far she's managed calls and texts, plus emails - I can now send her links to websites (useful when I'm online shopping for her) and photographs. Her old phone didn't do picture messages, plus they cost me to send - whereas if I'm at home I can email them for free. She doesn't do computers so this is all new stuff to her!

[DWSmith]

DWSmith - does your flip phone connect to WiFi?

No. That's what the new phone plan will take care of; unlimited data. But for me, I have no desire to access the internet from a phone. The Fire was good for that but I just didn't use it enough.

This site is as close to social networking as I get. Although I have tried them out in the past, I don't use facebook, twitter, etc. I just don't care to use them.

[Kirk]

As it seems like anumber here I don't have one, mine is not even a flip phone, and it seems the provider has forgotten me as it is PAYG but last time I out money on it was 2012. Not sure why it is still doing anything but it is.

It is for emergencies, but is an old one but very slim, big reason I chose it. Cannot set the date now as it had no idea of 2017 and so less of 2018.

I am debating a "smart phone". But do not want a contract item. My use is really minimal. Just not sure if another PAYG is really best. I literally may not use it in 6 months. But having a sort of number that is maintained immaterial of usage is the main thing.

These sim free phones seem half reasonable, but quite a few get poor reviews. Even if you discount the reviewer is looking for the all singing, all dancing models. Saw one recently that is sim free and not expensive and the 2 reviews were positive. May have found a candidate.

Thoughts are to get a sim only package, the least expensive. Did speak to BT about theirs a few months back and a "selling point" was something like 300 texts a month. I pointed out that would last me a year, maybe more. They seem still geared to the younger generation who may have their phone running constantly as they walk in front of a bus. Not someone that may use it some single digit number of times a week.

Reason for one is the bigger screen, phone calls, texts and emails.
The one app I suspect that I would find useful is a map. However any map app would need the phone to be set to use a free wifi connection. I distrust the providers and do not want o find they have downloaded the whole UK map, gone over some limit and stick me a bill for £10.

Personal finding is that BT talk of their million+ hotspots. well I have BT broadband and a tablet and it never connects to a BT hotspot anywhere. Never connected to one in Cambridge, Norwich or London in the last 6 months. This is what concerns me about the data side. For a map of whereever I may go I down load as an offline map the relevant google bit of the UK.

Be interesting to read what others find. But at present my thoughts are a sim free phone, around £60 for the one I bumped into, then the least costly sim only package. Which seems to be £5 a month with GiffGaff or £4 a month with Car Phone Warehouse.

[Scarlet]

I’m not sure what giffgaff is like in your area...but my OH uses them and the coverage isn’t brilliant but he is happy.

I have a monthly contract with a sim free phone for myself and my two teenagers. I have enough data to plug my phone in the car and use it as a sat nav...I’ve never gone over my data - the kids could easily! I pay £10a month.

[veggiechicken]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghgghh - my mobile phone just rang!! Thought it was you Scarlet to wind me up!
It was the neighbour who's moved to Scotland Took me ages to realise what was making the funny noise, then find the phone, then work out which bit to touch so that she could hear me.
I blame DWS for raising this topic