[Peter_Gazzard]

if I want the internet I will use a computer

[Stig]

About a year ago a friend of mine purposely went out and bought a 'dumb phone'. She regretted it quite quickly when friends are using WhatsApp and she can't even check the weather forecast.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Gazzard

if I want the internet I will use a computer

A lot of people might think you look a bit stupid using a computer while you wait at the bus stop or on the bus...

[ramraideruk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

A lot of people might think you look a bit stupid using a computer while you wait at the bus stop or on the bus...

And you can't check to see when the next bus is actually coming.

[SkipTracer]

I’ve got a modern dumb ZTE 3G, 2G phone In the glove compartment of the car for emergency backup simply because the battery last for weeks in stand-by and that’s about all a dumb phone is good for apart from talking.

Texting on a dumb phone is more of a chore than doing text on a smartphone.

[Richard1960]

Nope i get my bus tickets on my mobile get train tickets via an app on the mobile and e tickets, put meetings and get an alarms, i carry a couple of thousand music tracks via Apple Music,i have films on my mobile too.

It also makes calls.

[Richard1960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramraideruk

And you can't check to see when the next bus is actually coming.

I can i have an Arriva app on my phone and it tracks buses via the app, so you know yours is coming or........ .....not. !

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard1960

I can i have an Arriva app on my phone and it tracks buses via the app, so you know yours is coming or........ .....not. !

Also try bus checker for Android, it does live bus data and isn't specific to any one company.

[gashead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Gazzard

if I want the internet I will use a computer

Yeah, and if you need to take a photograph of something, you can always run home, pick up your Box Brownie and be back within the hour. Who needs a camera on their phone when it's that easy without one?

[Richard1960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Also try bus checker for Android, it does live bus data and isn't specific to any one company.

Great stuff technology in action ..............................Went a bit wrong with one of my mates though he looked on the tracker according to it the bus was about a mile away, he went to walk to the next stop and it come over the hill, and he had to run back quickest bus ever.

[tghe-retford]

I downgraded from a smartphone to a dumbphone (well, feature phone) for a number of reasons:

- Increasing price of data packages and lowering of data allowances. You can buy a cheap Chinese phone (even those are increasing in price considerably) but its worthless if in most places, you can't afford to use its main selling point - data! For listening to radio, DAB+ works well and has as much, if not more coverage than the mobile networks around here.
- As tablet sales decrease and people use their larger sized phones as tablets, phone companies (who also make the tablets) are vastly increasing the price of their phones to financially compensate for the loss of money they made via tablets.
- Its nice to detach from the Internet when out and about.
- Operating System updates for Android are a game of roulette and for the lower end priced phones, becoming more likely to be dropped shortly after the phone is released. The lower end phone manufacturers and ROM producers are also struggling financially whilst the upper end such as Google, Apple and Samsung are making healthy profits.

When the cost of a smartphone and SIM Only contract is approaching 10% of an income for a low paid person and exceeding many of the outgoing bills someone pays, its time to reflect and reassess whether a smartphone is viable financially and personally.

A feature phone would do better if it was a balance between modern apps (using something like the Android Wear OS), its small size with keypad and 3G connectivity with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, with even higher spec'd but very basic smartphones being sold for less than even a decent dumbphone now, I can't see that happening. It may well be in the future for everyone its smartphone or bust.

[Mark C]

Do Internet Cafes still exist (in the form of having a physical PC you can use ?)
How times change, even as recently as 2012 I used an Internet Cafe in South Africa
to make a Skype call, though I plugged in my lap top, rather than use the cafe's hardware.

[neo_wales]

They do still exist in some parts of the world but I suppose most have been replaced with wireless 'hot spots' so often found in hotels/bars et al.

[planetf1]

It's a personal choice, but generally more and more internet use is mobile. I certainly do an increasing amount via my smartphone.

The PC is used for work (I'm a software engineer), writing documents, and "heavy lifting" like DSLR photo editing or in-depth research, but most ad-hoc use - some email, interacting with friends, shopping, travel directions, looking up information about the place I'm at to augment the experience is all mobile

In fact my phone isn't used much for "phone" calls nor "texts"

[de525ma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Gazzard

if I want the internet I will use a computer

Absolutely not.

- Boarding pass (who wants to print a stupid bit of paper, or stand in line behind luddites at airports resolutely faffing with bits of paper to find their reference number, then getting stuck on the world's most simple user interface)

- Bus checker to work out whether it's worth standing at the stop or not

- Maps. Again, who wants to print out directions?

- Money. Move money from savings to current account in seconds

- Better messaging. Seriously, texting is crap. Haven't sent one in years.

- Email. Need that train ticket ref number? Lost it? It's on your phone. Same for hotel bookings etc

- Tripadvisor. In a new place? Brilliant for finding good places to eat.

[Thine Wonk]

As other posters, absolutely not.

Live view of trains and buses so you know when they will arrive and whether you've got time for a coffee or the loo, or if you're walking to the bus or train you know if it is delayed etc.

Traffic information on google maps is amazing and has allowed me to avoid queues on the motorway or elsewhere, if it's really bad I'll work from home, rather than sit in 2 hours of traffic or take a diversion.

No need to carry any other music player and able to update podcasts or audiobooks on the device so I've got entertainment with me.

I can control my Nest heating system from anywhere, which means in the winter I can pop the heating on an hour before I get home and come into a nice warm house, you don't always know when you are getting home and it's nice to have that control.

I can lookup anything at any time no matter where I am, what Chemists are open at what hours or where my nearest tyre garage is based on my current location.

Important dates are in the calendar, sync'd to google, I can access my email which has things like codes to collect train tickets or boarding pass links.

The Halifax bank app allows me to store my device for improved security but with quick access by just putting in 3 digits from my password and then I go do basic banking, pay a bill or check a statement wherever I am.

Android Auto in the car is amazing, I press the 1 button and say "play Kings of Leon" and spotify opens and plays it, then I say "play Michael Jackson" and it plays that, so I've got all the music I want streamed to the car with no driving distraction like in the old days of putting tapes or CDs in.

Surely the beauty of being lucky enough to live in this technological generation is to embrace it and to enjoy the power of having a tiny little device that fits in your hand and does so much, generations gone by would have been amazed. Are people really cheaping out over a £20 a month data plan, rather than seeing what you can do with technology and embracing it?

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

I downgraded from a smartphone to a dumbphone (well, feature phone) for a number of reasons:

- Increasing price of data packages and lowering of data allowances. You can buy a cheap Chinese phone (even those are increasing in price considerably) but its worthless if in most places, you can't afford to use its main selling point - data! For listening to radio, DAB+ works well and has as much, if not more coverage than the mobile networks around here.
- As tablet sales decrease and people use their larger sized phones as tablets, phone companies (who also make the tablets) are vastly increasing the price of their phones to financially compensate for the loss of money they made via tablets.
- Its nice to detach from the Internet when out and about.
- Operating System updates for Android are a game of roulette and for the lower end priced phones, becoming more likely to be dropped shortly after the phone is released. The lower end phone manufacturers and ROM producers are also struggling financially whilst the upper end such as Google, Apple and Samsung are making healthy profits.

When the cost of a smartphone and SIM Only contract is approaching 10% of an income for a low paid person and exceeding many of the outgoing bills someone pays, its time to reflect and reassess whether a smartphone is viable financially and personally.

A feature phone would do better if it was a balance between modern apps (using something like the Android Wear OS), its small size with keypad and 3G connectivity with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, with even higher spec'd but very basic smartphones being sold for less than even a decent dumbphone now, I can't see that happening. It may well be in the future for everyone its smartphone or bust.

There are many of us who are happy with our old smartphones with much older versions of android.

And for many, an upgrade to a new smartphone when the time comes will be to a smartphone which has the latest version of android but costing less than ￡100.

And it may be a few more years before buying their next smartphone probably again for less than ￡100. They will be happy to stick with android 5.1 or 6.0.1 (with no OS upgrades and updates after a year or 2) for 5 years plus just like they did with their phones that had no OS upgrades and updates since they were upgraded to android 4.1.2. or 4.3.

[tghe-retford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

Surely the beauty of being lucky enough to live in this technological generation is to embrace it and to enjoy the power of having a tiny little device that fits in your hand and does so much, generations gone by would have been amazed. Are people really cheaping out over a £20 a month data plan, rather than seeing what you can do with technology and embracing it?

Because £20 a month 20GB data plans become £30 a month 15GB data plans in time then £40 10GB a month data plans as mobile phone companies capitalise on the popularity of smartphone data usage, reduce data, push more profitable data add-ons and charge accordingly as you'd expect in a free market capitalist system.

The forthcoming Plusnet Mobile service seems to not offer more than 4GB and not so long ago, I'd pay the same for AYCE data.

For those on low wages, money is an issue and when a sizeable amount of cash is going on a smartphone and data package, more so than other bills, those people have to reconsider their options and make sacrifices.

[binary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Gazzard

if I want the internet I will use a computer

As I imagine you have discovered, this is probably the wrong forum to ask that question if you were after a more balanced viewpoint!

For what it's worth, I know a fair number of people who weren't bothered about having a smartphone for quite a while, who've subsequently got one and gone on to find it very useful.

[de525ma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Gazzard

if I want the internet I will use a computer

This is a silly statement though, as smartphones and tablets can do more than computers can online in certain cases.

[tdenson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

Because £20 a month 20GB data plans become £30 a month 15GB data plans in time then £40 10GB a month data plans as mobile phone companies capitalise on the popularity of smartphone data usage, reduce data, push more profitable data add-ons and charge accordingly as you'd expect in a free market capitalist system.

The forthcoming Plusnet Mobile service seems to not offer more than 4GB and not so long ago, I'd pay the same for AYCE data.

For those on low wages, money is an issue and when a sizeable amount of cash is going on a smartphone and data package, more so than other bills, those people have to reconsider their options and make sacrifices.

I think what's actually happened in the last few years is not necessarily the network providers getting more greedy, but initially when plans offered say 20GB, a very small proportion of users got anywhere near using that amount. As mobiles have become smarter and more connected, then users typically use a higher proportion of their allowance, hence the requirement of the networks to ration it more tightly.

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tghe-retford

Because £20 a month 20GB data plans become £30 a month 15GB data plans in time then £40 10GB a month data plans as mobile phone companies capitalise on the popularity of smartphone data usage, reduce data, push more profitable data add-ons and charge accordingly as you'd expect in a free market capitalist system.

The forthcoming Plusnet Mobile service seems to not offer more than 4GB and not so long ago, I'd pay the same for AYCE data.

For those on low wages, money is an issue and when a sizeable amount of cash is going on a smartphone and data package, more so than other bills, those people have to reconsider their options and make sacrifices.

There are plenty of £20 a month unlimited or enough data packages around. If people go to expensive premium providers like Voda / EE promising 100Mb/s speeds then that is their choice, but at the budget end there's Virgin, Three, Giffgaff etc all offering £20 competitive packages.

[JurassicMark]

Absolutely not.

As others have said, there are so many useful apps out there. Among the most useful for me is a live bus time checker for my local service and google maps/directions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by de525ma

This is a silly statement though, as smartphones and tablets can do more than computers can online in certain cases.

Such as?

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JurassicMark

Absolutely not.

As others have said, there are so many useful apps out there. Among the most useful for me is a live bus time checker for my local service and google maps/directions.



Such as?

Navigation due to GPS, augmented reality, gyro means you can get stargazing apps to hold the phone up and see constellations, payments using Apple Pay and Android pay, real time camera translation of signs and things in other languages, store your store cards for scanning at the checkouts, boarding passes etc and many more.

[LuvJamTarts]

does anyone actually use augmented reality?