Texting on cellphone, pdas (personal digital assist.)

[shootingstar]

I don't have either a cellphone nor personal digital assistant/aid where one types in text messages into teeny-tiny buttons on tiny screen.

Honest, it looks painful to me. And knowing me, my thoughts run faster than my fingers. I couldn't be typing in terse, short phrases into a cellphone or Blackberry.

How about you? Does anyone also surf the Internet at all on a pda? And if you are web-surfing, just what type of info. are you cruisin' around for?

[Mr. Bloom]

I got an iPhone a few weeks ago and I'm hooked.

To this point, I did limited surfing on the cell phone and occassional text messaging...all on a Motorola Razr.

The iPhone is awesome (and the applications have created "need" where "need" didn't previously exist Like the need to know precisely where on the globe I am by gps, or the need to always have a grocery list handy!). The iPhone combines my cell phone, pda, Hewlett Packard calculator, ipod, and many of the features of my laptop - all into one package. There are "knock offs" out there that have better reviews on some features.

Keep in mind, in 1984, I spent $2,500 for an Apple //e computer (where I paid extra for the extra 64K of memory). For $99, the iphone has more capability and 8Gig of memory!

[OakLeaf]

Where did you find an iPhone for $99??? For that price I'd buy out my Verizon contract...

Predictive typing works really well these days, but I think it's mostly an age thing. I don't compose long documents/messages (longer than say 50 characters) without a real keyboard. IMO the single major limitation to the iPhone that makes me want to keep my old PDA, is document handling. There's no application to create or edit MS Word documents on it, and there is no full-size keyboard available for it. Even without a keyboard, yeah, I really prefer a stylus and handwriting recognition. Showing my age, I know. Although how you survived without a shopping list, Mr. S....?

Yeah there have been all the news stories about people getting "Blackberry thumb," but that's just the 21st century version of "Nintendonitis" I think, something "sexy" in the news about a new type of overuse injury that may be common enough to recognize, but really doesn't happen to everyone.

[uforgot]

I text, but only because I have two twentyish sons who text me. I also have a new Motorola z9 with the at&t navigator and I love it. They had a special for $5 a month for the Navigator so I also got unlimited internet. I can take it off any time I want. On my phone it comes out to a total of $20 for internet and gps. I find I use the internet to check weather and email when I am away from home.

[KathiCville]

I text my BF a few times a day on average---short messages on topics that don't merit a phone call. My technology is pretty primitive: a pay-as-you-go TracFone. I've had the same one for two years. Keypad is pretty beat up at this point, but I know the lay-out so well that most of the time I barely need to look at what I'm typing before I hit 'send.'..... If I splurged on an iPhone I'd probably be on the darned thing all day, even at the library, where I now go to escape the phone and Internet access and actually get WORK done.

[OakLeaf]

It occurs to me that part of it may have to do with how fast one types on a standard keyboard. Which also may be an age thing - but not sure about that. Someone like me who's typed upward of 130 wpm on a standard keyboard for the last 30 years, is understandably reluctant to hunt and peck with my thumbs. Someone who hunts and pecks on a standard keyboard, probably not so reluctant.

[Crankin]

I'm almost as un-techno as Shootingstar. I have a cell phone, with a nice At&T contract because my husband got an I Phone in August. He drives me crazy with it... checking his email and just "having to" find something on the web when he doesn't need to. Last weekend I had to yell at him to put it away when we were at cycling friend's house for dinner. We don't usually exchange heated words, but I was mad!
My cell phone is never on, unless I have to make a call when I am out of the house, which is maybe once a month? I don't know how to use any of the functions on the phone. In fact, I had just figured out my last phone, when I had to give it up. Needless to say, I don't text. I really don't feel the need to talk to people that often! I will call or email if I need to. On the other hand, my husband doesn't text, either. A couple of his employees text him once in awhile and he'll reply, but he doesn't initiate it. My older son is the king of texting. His girlfriend lives in NY during the week and this is how they communicate during the day.
A funny related story. On Monday, one of my classes was cancelled. The professor emailed early AM, saying she would make a definite decision by noon and send another email. Well, I had to leave to get into the city at 10:30, so when I was eating lunch at the university, I checked my messages on one of the public computers, to find out that yes, the class was cancelled. When I went to my first class (before the cancelled one) one of my classmates came rushing in, telling me that she tried to text me about the later cancellation, only to find out that the number she had for me was a land line! Can you imagine the horror?

[sundial]

First gen iPhone user here--won't go back to the other phones. I enjoy texting on this phone. I've heard the Blackberry was THE choice phone to text.

[SouthernBelle]

I have a Palm Treo. Although I do text and occasionally use it to access the internet, It's PDA functions are what is most important for me.

I keep my calendar in Outlook on my office desktop and sync it with the Palm. Then I use Google calendar and have it set to automatically sync with my laptop and home desktop. It's great being able to access it almost anywhere.

[Tuckervill]

I have a Blackberry Curve, and I really do like it. I never texted before I got this phone. I, too, have a teen and two adult sons (and their "gals" <g>), and that's a good reason to text. I meet them where they are. I really love texting for the convenience. For instance, yesterday I texted DH to tell them we were at the store next to the restaurant we were meeting at, in case he got there before we saw him. That didn't really merit a phone call, but it saved any confusion if we missed each other.

My BB doesn't have GPS per se (I don't want to pay for it), but it has a Google maps application that knows my location via the nearest cell tower. That really saved me a lot of times when on my trip in September. Sometimes we needed to find a place to stay on the road, and that was very helpful.

The BB doesn't handle documents, either, but I'm never going to need to change one if I don't have my laptop with me. I do blog from it, with pictures, though. I liked that. I do use my laptop less for checking email, because of the email push on the BB. I can at least see if there's anything pressing.

I got the BB so I could communicate better when people walk up to me at the ballpark to tell me they didn't get their uniforms or whatever. I don't have to rely on my holey memory. I just send myself an email or make a note right on the spot.

Karen

[Crankin]

Boy, am I out of it...
If I think I can't remember, I write my appointments in a 3.99 date book I got at CVS.
Or I put a sticky note with a reminder in a prominent place.
But mostly, I can remember it in my head.

[Bluetree]

I'm an iPhone texting addict with an unlimited plan. Of course, it helps that most of my friends are also on iPhone!

[SouthernBelle]

Boy, am I out of it...
If I think I can't remember, I write my appointments in a 3.99 date book I got at CVS.
Or I put a sticky note with a reminder in a prominent place.
But mostly, I can remember it in my head.

For me this is a business use, though I put personal ones in there too. My life is appointments and being somewhere at a particular time.

[OakLeaf]

Connectivity (the OP's question) vs. organization are really two separate questions. My connectivity is pretty limited (although I'm totally coveting my husband's iPhone, now that I've seen it in action - it's SO much more functional than my old PDA, with the glaring exception of document handling - I hope they remedy that soon). But, the amount of paper I've saved since I got my first PDA is literally staggering.

My shopping list is no longer on multiple scraps of paper scattered in various purses, pockets, tabletops and who knows where. It's all in one place. When I think of something I need, wherever I happen to be, I can put it on the list. And of course the calendar, as others have pointed out - if I've forgotten something, then a paper or desktop calendar doesn't help me. When my calendar is with me all the time, the alarm can go off in time for me to be where I'm supposed to be.

Last, rude is rude and I don't think it has anything to do with the mode. The same people who would text or phone during a meal, are the ones who used to read a newspaper or a book.

[snapdragen]

Sometimes I remember to turn my plain old cell phone on....