[barbeler]

Serious question this - honestly.

About six months ago I thought it really was about time I got up to date and bought one of these "smart" phones. I had a perfectly serviceable Nokia C1 01, but it was on Orange PAYG and getting too expensive.

I really wanted one of the smaller Samsung Galaxy models, but was lured by what seemed a brilliant offer from TalkTalk of a Nokia Lumia 520 with a 1 gigabyte per month data allowance a huge call allowance and unlimited texts.

The Lumia's far too bulky in the protective wallet that it most definitely needs. I hate carrying heavy or bulky items around with me; I hardly ever carry a wallet for that reason, preferring to stuff money into my pocket.

So far I've struggled to use more than 200mb of data a month because I simply can't find a use for it. Doing anything on the internet is pointless because of the screen size and the idea of watching the iPlayer seems ludicrous.

The media player is crap, so I prefer my mp3 player. Likewise the camera, which also isn't worth using. I've downloaded a spirit level app, which I'm sure will be useful one day, although I can't think when.

I've tried logging onto my team's football forum at half time, but posting anything is fiddly as hell, as well as being rather pointless. I'd rather simply wait until I get home.

I have absolutely no interest in Twitter. I couldn't care less about the latest tweet from some thick-as-pigsh1t celebrity and any news can also wait perfectly well until I get home.

So when you see all these people walking about and twiddling, what on earth are they doing? If it was cost effective to get my old Nokia unlocked and have a better value sim card put in I feel sure that's what I'd rather do. I'm also fed up with receiving security alerts from Microsoft, telling me that someone has logged into my account - every bloody day.

And they can stuff their Bing button where the sun don't shine.

[klendathu]

I'm not sure what kind of response you want really

Get you old phone back , and leave this new technological withcraft alone

[alan1302]

Sounds like you are having buyers remorse!

[nafanny29]

Windows phones are worse than my old Nokia 3310!!

[alan1302]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nafanny29

Windows phones are worse than my old Nokia 3310!!

In what way?

[lee18xx]

I use mine to listen to music. Email text and chat to friends and family both local and far away. I use it to phone people. I use it to access maps when I need directions. I book and check train times. I play games when I'm bored. I read books on it. This list is endless really. I couldn't imagine life without it

[cnbcwatcher]

I use mine for:

The obvious ()
Texting
Writing emails on the move
Web surfing when out and about or when the broadband is down
Gaming
Taking photos
Checking the weather forecast
Reading the news
Shazam'ing songs to find out what they are

It's like having a computer in my pocket. I couldn't imagine life without it now!

[Aye Up]

I think sooner or later we are going to come to a point a cross roads if you will, down to how the mobile industry connects the next billion people. It may seem stupid but on a worldwide basis smartphones are very much in the minority. There are swathes of countries who don't have infrastructure to support smartphones.

I think this is going to come undone for manufacturers.....the focus seems to be on smartphones. Yet it was dumb phones that acutally kept Nokia with its head above water.

There will always be a market for a "dumb" phone. I upgraded my parents to a Moto G, whilst they like it they don't even use half the functions on it.

To the OP, if you think its a bad decision then consider a Nokia asha serious phone it has some of the functionality of smartphones but still in a standard phone way. There is nothing to suggest you can't bridge both worlds should you want to.

I might add as well, you aren't alone in how you feel! For although I have several devices (which I probably don't need). I do yearn for the days when we could strike up conversation at a bus stop and not look like perv or freak. Nowadays everyone is buried in their shiny toys. I think some time in the not too distant future there will be a fightback and feature phones will start selling by the bucket load.

[David Mills]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

It's like having a computer in my pocket. I couldn't imagine life without it now!

Totally agree, I used to wake up and put my laptop on to catch up but now I just use my phone as it's so much easier to check everything as it's very computer-like. So it saves me putting my laptop on.

I use it to check my e-mails.
whatsapp (which is amazing as some of my friends have moved across the World)
Instagram
Twitter
Play music
Alarm
Timer - which is great for me when I' putting stuff in the oven then going out of the kitchen. Also use it for exercise as well if I want to a 2 minute plank.
Watching youtube videos. (especially good for times when I can't sleep and watch in bed)
Skype
Ordering stuff on ebay. I actually find it much easier and faster than on the web version.
Downloading songs from Amazon.
Guitar tuner - app works just as well as an actual tuner.

And a few random apps, I love apps were I can record and change my voice at the minute.

I got my phone a year ago and I am ridiculously happy with it. I think technology is at such a good level when it comes to convenience, everything that I could need to do I can do, anything else is a bonus.

[MGS4SnakeRulez]

WhatsApp
YouTube
Snapchats
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Netflix
WWE network
Gaming
Web browsing
Ebay
Amazon
Banking
Texting
Taking photos

[stud u like]

Photos
Videos
Facebook
Spotify
Amazon
Youtube
Dailymotion
Games
Torch

[Lidtop2013]

More like what DONT I do on my iphone 5S lol as said smartphones are like computers in your pocket, not only do they do the basics of a phone like calling/texts, they do basically everything else too.

[Lidtop2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stud u like

Photos
Videos
Facebook
Spotify
Amazon
Youtube
Dailymotion
Games
Torch

Out of interest what do you watch on Dailymotion that you can't find on YouTube? I thought YT had everything lol

[barbeler]

Quote:

YouTube
Snapchats
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Netflix
WWE network
Gaming
Web browsing
Ebay
Amazon
Banking
Texting
Taking photos
Videos
Spotify
Dailymotion
Games
Torch

I've tried to collate those suggestions into a single box so I hope it works.

Some of those are interesting, for instance web browsing; my Lumia 520 isn't one of the smallest phones, yet I still find the screen far too small to view any websites properly. The idea of watching a video on it seems very strange. Surely it can't be enjoyable - after all, that's why most people seem to buy the biggest TV they can afford.

The keyboard is also an issue for me. I found that I could actually compose a text more quickly with the old C1 01 button-press method than with the Windows keyboard - it's just too small and fiddly so that I'm forever correcting mistakes. For that reason I'd never use it to buy something online, where accuracy is paramount. Banking - never!

I never play games and I absolutely hate Twitter, but I accept that's just a personal thing. I had to look up Dailymotion but I see it's videos again. I can see how I might resort to it if I was stuck inside a tent when it was pouring with rain, but I'd never use it for that otherwise - just wait until I get home and watch it on a decent sized screen.

Spotify's a good one. I can see the point in that, but I've been too mean to pay for mobile use so far. I might think about that one.

So at least I know what people are doing now. I wouldn't dream of looking at Facebook when I was out of the house and especially if I was with friends. I just don't feel the need to know what everybody's doing or saying all the time. Twitter's like a mixture of irritating adverts and reading the scribbles on a toilet door. I don't care about breaking news - it can wait.

At least I now know that if TalkTalk ever put the price up I can safely tell them that they can have their phone back.

Oh, nearly forgot... phone calls - my old Nokia was far better at that. So much easier to hold as well.

p.s. It would have taken me an hour to type this on my Lumia keyboard

[sethpet]

I manage my life through my phone

Is my diary
My means of contact and communication through voice, messaging and email
Banking
Entertainment video streaming (netflix, iplayer, youtube etc)
Music player (spotify)
Internet
Shopping online
Hopefully soon nfc payment card
My house is controlled via apps on phone (lights, power sockets, drive gate, garage door)

But then I spent the required money on the note 3 to do this, your experience is less as you went for a cheap option that's not upto the job.

[fmradiotuner1]

Use both my S2 & S4 For
Radio
Music such as soundcloud
youtube
Facebook
Web sites
messages
calls
Camera for video and photos.

[stud u like]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lidtop2013

Out of interest what do you watch on Dailymotion that you can't find on YouTube? I thought YT had everything lol

Soaps and Sci fi.

[darrenmc]

I mainly use my iPhone for texting/iMessaging, listening to music, browsing social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and occasionally browse the web on it if my iPad and Macbook are out of reach. Very rarely do I play games.

[GamerGirl]

I was a latecomer to the smartphone phenomenon too, having had my Galaxy Note N7000 for about 2 years now. I use a Three 321 PAYG sim in it as I then pay for data at 1p per Mb if I ever need it when I'm out of the house, but am usually on WiFi. I don't make calls.

BUT....I confess to mainly using my old qwerty feature-phone (with a second PAYG sim) to text people as I find it quicker than using even the brilliant swiping technique of the Swiftkey or Google keyboards on the smartphone. I obviously have fingers that are too big and often hit the wrong combination of virtual keys (even with the 5.3" screen!) .
I use the smartphone as an easy way to use the following without having to be in front of my PC, and all done over WiFi unless it's not available.

Camera
Pixlr Express to edit photos
Upload photos to online storage
Clock/Alarm/Timer
Make notes/reminders
Gmail
Google Calendar
Google+
Hangouts with family
Text messaging
WeChat for VOIP & texting my sibling in America for free
Chrome browser to look up stuff
Google Play Newsstand personalised news feed
BBC Weather forecasts
Feersum UK TV Guide to check programmes
Listen to podcasts downloaded onto SD card
World radio on TuneIn Radio

[coopermanyorks]

Sounds like the op was talking into buying something that wasn't right for them

[jchamier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aye Up

Yet it was dumb phones that acutally kept Nokia with its head above water.

Interesting comment. I'm sure I read that Nokia was making lots of feature phone handsets but making less than 5p on each one. Hardly worth being in business for that.

[barbeler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by coopermanyorks

Sounds like the op was talking into buying something that wasn't right for them

Quite honestly I think you're correct. I felt as if I was missing out on something by not having a smart phone. As it turns out, I haven't found anything I need to do on it, rather than simply waiting until I get home and doing it more efficiently on my computer.

It's all down to personal circumstances I suppose, but I feel as if I would have to engineer things to do with it, rather than doing things that I actually needed to do. One day I might be grateful of being able to use it to find an exact location in a strange city (perhaps even my car) when on foot, but that's just about all I can think of.

Horses for courses as they say.

[aurichie]

I use my 64GB iPhone 5s GOLD to make phone calls and send text messages. I have no interest in all other gimmicks cool kids use their phones for nowadays. But I must admit the iPhone is an incredible gorgeous piece of technology that is a joy to hold and show off in public - especially the gold model.

[Mark in Essex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aurichie

I use my 64GB iPhone 5s GOLD to make phone calls and send text messages. I have no interest in all other gimmicks cool kids use their phones for nowadays. But I must admit the iPhone is an incredible gorgeous piece of technology that is a joy to hold and show off in public - especially the gold model.

You send text messages on yours.... WOW!

I just use my G5 to make the odd call.

[Mark in Essex]

Honestly though I use it for the following:

Calls
Texts
Whatsapp
SatNav
Calendar
Internet
Music
Streaming Internet Radio (inc car)
Calculator
video recording
TV infra red remote controll
camera
App for jogging
Banking
youtube
tourch
Instagram
Alarm clock
sleep pattern app
UK Hot deals
News
iPlayer etc
Kids games
my games
traffic reports
countdown timer
timer
egg timer app
photo album (have every single photo on my SD card)
podcasts
EMAIL
Tripadvisor
restaurant hygiene rating

And I'm sure there is a lot I have forgotten.