Aaaah. My dh obviously has autocorrect on his. It drives me absolutely <insert expletive> crazy, and more often than not I just give up on whatever I was trying to say...Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
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Aaaah. My dh obviously has autocorrect on his. It drives me absolutely <insert expletive> crazy, and more often than not I just give up on whatever I was trying to say...Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
When I type a text on my Motorola Razr Maxx, it doesn't just predict the word I'm typing, it also predicts the next word or punctuation mark. And it is quite good in its predictions. Part of me is impressed by it, and part of me worries about SKYNET becoming self-aware.... :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
I have a simple dumb phone. It's a Tracfone flip phone. I don't like to talk on the phone much at all, so it's used for occasional brief calls and text messages. I put a $100/1 yr/1000 minute card on it each year. (Sometimes I can buy the card for less.) It has a camera and a web browser but I have never used them.
I did recently get a laptop. I wanted a Windows 7 one and thought I'd better get one soon before they are all gone. (I got a Lenovo Thinkpad Z575.) I love it.
Even more recently I got a Google Nexus 7 wifi tablet. It looked neato and I decided I wanted to learn about tablets and try an ereader. I think the 7" tablet is small enough to carry around, but not too small for web browsing.
Tracfone now offers a "smart phone" that does wifi. I noticed that some people have gotten them and not activated the phone part but use them for wifi. They are pretty cheap, <$100, and getting cheaper. I might get one someday to try the wifi thing with it.
I was an early adopter of smart phones, getting the Treo as soon as hit the market. When my 3 year contract expired, I downgraded to a dumb phone and, eventually, to a prepaid dumb phone. I have no desire to get an iPhone or an Android and much less any desire to pay the bills that come with those. Life is very much feasible. You just use your memory a little more. I have a GPS in the car and I should get a book of maps (I had a big scare driving in rural Wisconsin, when the GPS routed me incorrectly through some minor road).
One of the reasons I downgraded at the time was the size of the smart phones. They are still bigger than a flip phone. I place my cell phone in the seat bag. While a smart phone fits, it takes more space and it is more fragile. Cost was the other one. And the third one was that, quite frankly, I have enough access to email and the internet without a smart phone.
Thanks to all for this discussion - as it turns out I am going to stick with a smartphone but this thread really helped me to think things through so I could make the best decision for me.
double post
Wait...you know WiFi isn't a service, it's a device. It simply eliminates the need to plug into a wired modem for an internet connection. It's a wireless router, not actual internet service. We have cable internet and a wireless "wifi" router that transmits the signal from our cable modem through our house...so we can access the internet wirelessly using any device in our home (my desktop, DH's laptop, our cells, our iPad).Quote:
Originally Posted by Swan
But a lot of people do use the wifi on their phones so they can use a lot of data but stay signed up for the smallest data package.
Too risky for me. If I'm home, there's not much reason to be getting data off my phone ... as far as public wifi, I just don't trust the security measures on a phone.
Yup, I have a really low 3G data package -- just 150mb/month. If I go over I get another 150 for $15. I go over about half the time, but it's still cheaper than paying for more data all the time. I try to limit my data usage to when I'm at home or somewhere else with free wifi access. With public or store/restaurant wifi I'm not so concerned about security as I am the fact that they generally have VERY slow or erratic service. I sat at a Panera hoping to send some e-mails and do some research and I couldn't get a stable signal for more than about 15 seconds at a time. A lot of places with free wifi max a device out at 30 minutes/day.Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Wifi is a device that smartphones are equipped to use, but more and more commercial buildings (doctors, restaurants, cafes, libraries, shops, malls) are providing free wifi service for customers. So while people may complain about their data plan, when more and more stores start carrying wifi, smartphones will rarely need to use data -- just the wifi. It's what I do! I went from using 6-whatever to 1-whatever in data measurements when wifi became more widely available for free, and that cut my bill drastically. I went from $300/mo to $80/mo even with pricey Verizon. As for security, there are services and firewalls that can be used for smartphones depending on the carrier.Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
I haven't experienced slow or maxed out free wifi yet. Maybe because our town is so small that it isn't a concern just yet.:confused:
I think it depends upon the establishment. At McDonald's I've always had a good connection. Panera...bad. I was at Target the other day and it kept making me re-login every 10 minutes or so. I was comparison shopping and got so annoyed by it that I reverted to using my 3G, instead.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swan
Picked up this thread because my 1.5 year old Droid's battery died and they (Verizon) no longer sells them - so I have to find an aftermarket battery. But wait! I signed a two year contract! When I reminded Verizon, they said they would pay for a battery so I could continue until I can upgrade (early upgrade is in June.) I thought that was reasonable.
But nothing is as good as my extended life battery. My current battery was recently drained by Google Play (I don't play music, videos, etc. and really hate that I have to have these useless things). It dies after being out of the charger for 8 hours and I'm barely using it for phone calls - like maybe 15 minutes tops. Huh?
So - for my trip I'm taking along my 4 year old basic Samsung flip phone that I carry on my bike. It holds a charge forever. And it's bulletproof.
I've been running on the minimum data plan for years and have never once maxed it out. Sure, if I streamed Pandora or something, I would but I don't.
I stream Google Play fairly often...but I only do that when I've wifi access. I've WiFi access at both home and work, so the only time I have to use the cell network is when I am in my car...and I certainly am not playing with my phone there. This month I will go over my data limit because that was cheaper than paying my conference hotel last week for WiFi (no free access at all) and my smartphone basically became a small notebook for the week (Samsung Note 2) - but I've never even come close to maxing out my small limited data plan during normal months. I must admit that I am impressed with the battery life...Quote:
Originally Posted by Irulan