| I also still use a dumb phone (flip phone, no internet, no apps). Here's my logic for not getting a smartphone: 1. similar to the author of the blog post, I appreciate the idealistic benefits of not having a smartphone. I already spend too much time on the internet, and I feel no desire to spend more time online. Additionally, I've somewhat come to enjoy asking people for directions in cities when I'm lost (particularly when I don't speak the language of the city). 2. Cost. As of now, the only times when I think "A smartphone would be convenient" is when I'm in a new city and I don't know my way around. I figure this only happens for a couple of weeks per year for me, and the small amount of convenience a smartphone would add is not worth the cost of a phone. I recognize that I would probably get more hooked on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/whatever and that I might view that as utility if I owned a smartphone, but right now I view that as a time/productivity cost to avoid. 3. Shit like http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listenin... . I have much less idea what sort of things are happening on a smartphone compared to a desktop/laptop, and I don't think I'm satisfied with the current state of mobile security. Also, having a smart phone is essentially moving the sensors closer to yourself (front facing camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc) and leads to a much more intimate form of computing. This just makes the eventual privacy violations even more damaging. On the other hand, here are some things that made me wish I had a smartphone: 1. Currently, I wish I could use Simple (formerly Bank Simple) for my banking. However, "to be eligible (for Simple), you must: Own an iOS device with iOS 5.0 or higher, or an Android phone running Android OS 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) or higher.". :( 2. I'm in the process of writing an application that needs to know if I've completely tasks (real world offline tasks) at given times. Without a smartphone, I can push requests no further than email, which I only see when I check my laptop. Being able to push requests into my pocket would be very useful. 3. I'm somewhat interested in gathering personal data throughout the day (such as heart rate, how many steps I've walked, etc). A smartphone is pretty much necessary to use any products like Jawbone UP that allow this. I realize some of my reasons against getting a smartphone directly contradict some of my reasons for wanting a smartphone, but I think that's actually very representative of the mixed bag smartphones are. |