I remember being filled with so much excitement back in 2007 when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. Since then, a lot of companies have hopped on the smartphone bandwagon and now these things are even [url=http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/smartphones-out-ship-feature-phones-worldwide-first-time-6C9635107]starting to outsell feature phones[/url].
But I still don't own one.
Since late 2010, I've walked around with the same iPod Touch (4th gen.) in one pocket and a flip-phone in the other. I have no data plan. I purchase pay-as-you-go minutes in $100 increments and the effective cost of my phone service is roughly $15 per month. I have no contract, and I can change my carrier whenever I want to.
Yet I've come to understand that a significant number of people these days are walking around with only one device that they pay closer to $35-50 per month to use, and are locked in to two-year contracts with carriers that place caps on their internet usage. To me, this system feels like a scam. I'm fully aware of the utility of having a GPS I could put in my pocket and being able to access the internet anywhere I could get a phone signal, but I still don't see myself investing in these devices any time in the near future.
[b]TL;DR:[/b] does anybody [i]not[/i] own a smartphone, or not think smartphones are worth their cost? Does anybody find smartphones and/or their services indispensable?
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i also do not own a smartphone and quite honestly i don't need one. i have a crappy phone for calling / texting and i have an mp3 player for listening to music. that's all i need when i'm on the go technology-wise and whilst it would be nice to have a device that does both, no phone i have found adequately replicates an mp3 player's functionality, sound capability or space for music. would it be nice to have GPS? sure. would it be nice to have the internet wherever i go? of course, and when i find a constant need for them, i shall consider acquiring something that fulfills those purposes. but right now i like being unconnected with the rest of the digital world when i'm outside enjoying the real world; in my opinion we humans spend far too much time staring blankly into boxes of artificial light.