Fighting obsolescence..... - do you REALLY use a smart phone, and if so, how?
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Wait, don't you mean the virgin Connie Swail? Flynn
Flynn Arrowstarr / Regular Schmoe wrote:
Wait, don't you mean the virgin Connie Swail?
[Theme from Dragnet]
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
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charlieg wrote:
$549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly
I don't think so. Apple iPhones, Motorola Droid 2 & Droid X are all approx $200 with a 2 yr contract.
charlieg wrote:
Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful?
Don't have one yet. I have an iPod Touch for mobile wifi use that keeps me happy for the moment. I'm planning that in 18 months when my daughter & son are out of college, the current 2 year contract on our standard phones ends and my satellite dish contract ends that this great confluence allows me the opportunity to switch my home ISP & TV provider, cancel my landline and upgrade the wife and me to smartphones with data packages for less money. Time will tell.
Mike, I guess my point is that people are willing to give thousands of dollars over a period of time. All for the smart phone, so I'm trying to understand the value. cg
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
I miss plain old PDAs. I don't need a phone. I have one already that makes calls and only costs me an average of $10 per month. Now, if I could get a smartphone with just the data contract, I could handle that, but I refuse to pay iPad prices for an "unlocked" phone. Right now, I have an iPod Touch (it was from my card's rewards program), which is sorta what I'm looking for, but I'd love to have a data plan with it so I can use it everywhere. Right now, it's mostly used for reading (Kindle and Stanza), and music. Sometimes a few games, but nothing major. But, honestly, I'm looking for something closer to this[^] device running either WM6.5, WM7 or Android. Of course, for the price, I could live with the limitations of WM5. :-\ Flynn
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I'm avoiding getting a smart phone... Sure, all of the gimmicks would be nice... Having google maps on hand for when I'm wandering around downtown... Having a better keyboard for text messages... For a while, I even avoided getting a camera phone, because I figured the more complex the device, the more likely it was to break before my contract expired. Now, my only reason is that I don't want to spend an ADDITIONAL 20-30 bucks a month for a data plan, when I'm already paying over 50 just for a low-end voice/text plan... Verizon is ridiculously expensive, but they really do seem to be the only carrier with decent coverage in this area.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
Now, my only reason is that I don't want to spend an ADDITIONAL 20-30 bucks a month for a data plan, when I'm already paying over 50 just for a low-end voice/text plan...
That's a big chunk of my problem as well. The fact that I'm paying for 3 or more times as many minutes a month as I use isn't that big of a deal because the landline I didn't buy would have ended up costing that much even before long distance fees were added in. $30 for a data plan I see myself using infrequently and that doesn't come close to being able to replace even crappy small town cable internet is something else.
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Verizon is ridiculously expensive, but they really do seem to be the only carrier with decent coverage in this area.
Same here. I guess hills and sky scrapers are all the same to them. :cool:
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
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Mike, I guess my point is that people are willing to give thousands of dollars over a period of time. All for the smart phone, so I'm trying to understand the value. cg
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
I'm thinking it will be great to have one device that is equal parts: telephone e-mail machine SMS web browser camera GPS notebook music player video player game player book reader I travel now and again and having one device with one AC charger for all these functions would be great.
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Well, so far, I'm not hearing a very compelling reason to worry about smart phones (unless I want to develop an Android app). After freeing myself from the evil clutches of Verizon, I just don't want to go back to the dark side of ANOTHER monthly bill. Setting aside the statistical blip of Ennis hacking his way past a firewall ;), I like the idea of time tracking, and I guess the maps would be nice. If I needed to monitor remote servers, web access would be a benefit. Everything else seems to be a gimmick to get you into the mode of "just got to have one" come to the dark side. Perhaps it's that most of us sit in front of laptops/monitors all day. I just cannot see the need to read my email that much. Facebook, I mean, social networking sites are out of the question.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
charlieg wrote:
come to the dark side.
we have cookies....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
charlieg wrote:
Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone...
I do not own one, let alone use one.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Man who follows car will be exhausted." - Confucius
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charlieg wrote:
Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone...
I do not own one, let alone use one.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Man who follows car will be exhausted." - Confucius
DavidCrow wrote:
I do not own one, let alone use one.
"My dog has no nose." "How does he smell?" "He can't; he has no nose!" Is what you're basically saying. :-D
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
Here are some of the things I regularly use my phone for:
- GPS navigation when going somewhere new. It's especially useful for ad hoc trips - for example, you find out store X doesn't have what you need, but it is carried at a different chain, chain Y. Put chain Y into the search box and get driving directions to the closest store within 10 seconds. On our honeymoon I used Google Maps to go all over San Francisco by bus with ease, simply by telling it where I wanted to end up - no need to consult bus routes or schedules. Also I was out once and decided wanted to visit a friend I had never actually visited before. Texted him, he sent his address, and I copied it into Bing maps, and voila - directions.
- Music player - I don't even own a dedicated MP3 player, because my phone not only has a good portion of my music library, but it also has internet radio and my GrooveShark playlists.
- Instant messaging - I can chat with friends on the go, or step out to do some errands while waiting for a client to get back to me, without worrying about him getting online and finding me gone.
- Camera - good for quick snapshots at times when I wouldn't be carrying around my regular camera, or for taking a picture of a product or shelf tag that I want to look up later.
- Looking up products or facts - if I want to know if something is worth buying, I can look up reviews, or if someone asks a question I don't know the answer to, I can look it up on the spot.
- eBook and RSS reader - if I have some time to kill and am away from my computer, I can read a book or catch up on the latest from the sites I follow.
- Quick work fixes - I can RDP or Telnet/SSH to a work server to make a quick tweak without getting back to my computer.
- Agenda/lists - I keep a running list of my agenda, todo-list, and other lists on my phone, for access any time. I jot down ideas there too.
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
Nope. No cell phone either. Hate the damn things.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
- Occasionally I use the 'phone' function that I discoverd not long ago. I can talk to other people on my iPhone! Cool.
Amazing isn't it??!!
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
Wait............ A camera you can talk on?! I WANT ONE!
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
charlieg wrote:
So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code
That's what I would use the 'public' folder of my Dropbox account for...
charlieg wrote:
Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful?
Define useful...mines a SatNav, iPod, camera (when I'm not toting my big old D300!) as well as being an internet browsing communications device. Skype is very handy when you're abroad - the calls are so cheap compared to telcos... And of course, ubiquitous internet access lets you sort out all sorts of arguments...
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!
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I have an iPhone and use it constantly for: - Email (triaging emergency emails, quick replies, and social chat only. Serious email on the desktop) - Taking, swapping and viewing pics. Far, far more than I realised I would - Reading the news (Aussie news, gadget news, weather news, PhysOrg - endless news!) - As an iPod while cycling - For directions while (often) lost via Google maps - For weather reports so I can determine how wet and potentially fried I will get while cycling - Occasionally I use the 'phone' function that I discoverd not long ago. I can talk to other people on my iPhone! Cool.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
It took me ten minutes to figure out how to call from my Nokia 5230
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
The phone i own was sold at 1 Euro in a promotion event. So the smart phone descision had not to be made. It has a Multi-MP Camera, MP3-Player, UKW-Radio and some other crap and can phone too. Internet access is possible, but the price is a mystery, so stay away from that option. Until it breaks i think about the smart phones as much as i think about porsches before my mercedes breaks.
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
I have been addicted to mobile computing since the early Palm days. Now I have a Nokia N900, and in addition to my own apps (an English/Finnish translator program and a bespoke text editor) am using it for XMPP chat, internet news, email, photos, calendar and sundry other apps. You can also send SMS and make phone calls! I get that the iPhone is great, but for me being able to run (most) Linux apps on my phone is amezzing. Can't imagine life without it.
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Needed to get something from one of my remote servers but couldn't access it from the company PC. My smart phone couldn't access it because of it's size for whatever reason. However, I was able to write a Windows Mobile application to get the data I needed onto my phone and then I blue tooth transferred it to the computer to put it onto a USB dongle to bring it to someone else's computer who was allowed to print.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
If that isn't doing it wrong, kill me now... :laugh:
Posted from SPARTA!!!!!!!!!! 2.0. Don't forget to rate my post if it helped! ;)
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It took me ten minutes to figure out how to call from my Nokia 5230
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So, I'm talking to a friend who needs to give me some source code... he doesn't want to email it, so I tell him to burn it to a CD. He gives me the :wtf: look, and asks if I have a USB drive. First I laugh, then I start to whimper. I realize I am stuck in a time warp - pre USB drive era. Now, I have 4 of them in my pack, it's not that I don't use them, it's just that I scared myself thinking 10 years ago. So..., I get CP's newsletter and see all of the flashy announcement of the Android app contest. Hmmm, sounds cool. I go out to Dell's site to look at their new Streak. Mind you, I am NOT a smart phone lover. In fact, unless it's a customer, I really don't like cellphones. But perhaps a smart phone would be useful, etc. :omg: $549 for a 5" display and the privilege of a long term contract? I'm guessing the other Android phones are priced accordingly, and I know about the iPhone. Seriously - do any of you techies actually USE your smart phone for something useful? Hell, I remember when the next big data driver for the wireless companies was video. So every phone now has a camera. The magazines I read indicate that laptops are sooo old school, and that the growth area is all in mobile apps on these little machines. So, I'm looking for some practical examples.
Charlie Gilley You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house. "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
What do I use my smart phone for? Well... 1) Checking for and replying to emails 2) Managing my calender and tasks 3) Social networking stuff 4) Playing games 5) Browsing the web when I can't be bothered to wait 30 seconds to boot up the laptop 6) Finding out whats happening in the local area and finding new places 7) Reading reviews of products and checking prices before I buy 8) Listening to music 9) Downloading podcasts 10) Satellite navigation 11) Checking the weather 12) Reading news feeds 13) As a calculator Oh and of course making phone calls :) I'm not just reading out a list of apps here, I really do use my phone for all of the above.
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Ian Shlasko wrote:
Now, my only reason is that I don't want to spend an ADDITIONAL 20-30 bucks a month for a data plan, when I'm already paying over 50 just for a low-end voice/text plan...
That's a big chunk of my problem as well. The fact that I'm paying for 3 or more times as many minutes a month as I use isn't that big of a deal because the landline I didn't buy would have ended up costing that much even before long distance fees were added in. $30 for a data plan I see myself using infrequently and that doesn't come close to being able to replace even crappy small town cable internet is something else.
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Verizon is ridiculously expensive, but they really do seem to be the only carrier with decent coverage in this area.
Same here. I guess hills and sky scrapers are all the same to them. :cool:
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
I'm king of in the same boat as you guys. However my thinking is this: Nearly all the smartphones out there have Wi-Fi built in. This means that you do not have to use your cell provider's data plan whenever you are w/in range of a wi-fi hotspot. So, why am I forced to buy said data plan just to have one of these phones? I have every intention to hold out until data plans become part of the normal charge to your cell bill, and at much less than $30/mo (I, too, am on VZW). I just think it's ridiculous that they force you to have X plan if you want Y phone, even if Y phone can avoid using X plan altogether. :mad: