Smartphone to "dumb" phone

[OakLeaf]

It's really general availability for me.

In rough order of use, I'd estimate:

Shopping list
Calendar
Navigation
Using the internet to locate a nearby business while I'm out running other errands
Using the internet to check weather radar/forecast
Alarm clock
Taking snapshots that I can immediately upload rather than having to run them through my computer
Contact list/address book
DVR access (set up TV to record a program)

I have a dedicated iPod that I use for my portable music. I manage my music with iTunes, and Apple doesn't allow full integration of third party apps. There are other reasons I didn't get an iPhone, but if I did, I'd be using that for music and ditching the iPod.

I have my email accounts set up, but I rarely check email on my phone. Only if I'm expecting an email and/or I'm away from home for longer than I expected. I used my phone for both email and "entertainment" uses more before I had a tablet. Nowadays I'll bring the tablet along for trips of 1-3 days, or when I know I'm going to have an extended wait somewhere (like when I'm getting my allergy shot and have to wait to make sure I don't have a reaction).

Still, when I have a shorter wait somewhere - or when I'm a passenger - it's nice to be able to pull up TE, FB, local news, whatever I'm reading on Kindle (which syncs to the last page read - and is surprisingly readable on the little screen), or play a game. Beats the heck out of six-month-old waiting room gossip magazines (or just staring at the ceiling when I'm not in a "stocked" waiting room). And if I didn't have a tablet, I'd still be using my phone as my only computer on weekend trips.

[lph]

Ok! This is helpful, because I can see that some of the functions you find very useful are ones I already have on my dumb phone. (And a helluva lot easier to edit w/o a touchscreen IMNSHO)

I have a quite serviceable alarm clock, calendar, to-do or shopping list and contact list on my phone, but not synchronized with my computer. Or maybe they do, I've never bothered to try. What I lack is access to the internet,and even if I had the screen is too small to do anything useful.

I'm pretty sure I could get navigation on a dumb phone, though, if I were buying a new one. That would be a handy function. And I would like a better camera, because I like taking spur-of-the-moment shots, and that means I use my phone. But I think that for the time being I'll do without, because the large screen and access to the internet count both as good points and bad points to me.

[OakLeaf]

(And a helluva lot easier to edit w/o a touchscreen IMNSHO)

All touch screens are definitely NOT created equal.

Not that that's a defining feature in this discussion anyway (I didn't even know there were "dumb" phones with physical keyboards! and obviously plenty of smartphones do have them) - but virtual keyboards come in different sizes, some of them rotate to landscape mode and some of them don't, some of them only rotate within particular apps. Some let you access numbers and common symbols (apostrophe, dash, ampersand) from the main screen, others require you to scroll through multiple screens.

The predictive spelling on my HTC phones (both old and new) is really topnotch. Its first choice is right about 80% of the time ... my choice is one of the options onscreen about 95% of the time. It's uncommon that I actually wind up having to type an entire word, and the nice thing about predictive spelling vs. autocorrect is that it offers several options and lets me choose, rather than automatically entering a word that might or might not be what I meant.

I can seriously type faster and more accurately on my phone than I can on my iPad. I forgot to mention that when I use my iPad as my only computer on weekend trips, I also have a full sized Bluetooth keyboard, because the iOS virtual keyboard is basically useless.

[luvmyguys]

I have a dedicated iPod that I use for my portable music. I manage my music with iTunes, and Apple doesn't allow full integration of third party apps. There are other reasons I didn't get an iPhone, but if I did, I'd be using that for music and ditching the iPod.

The app you want for this purpose is iSyncr. It put my iTunes library onto my Android. So if your iPod ever craters and you don't want to go the iPhone route, you have options.

[OakLeaf]

The app you want for this purpose is iSyncr. It put my iTunes library onto my Android. So if your iPod ever craters and you don't want to go the iPhone route, you have options.

Will it update the date last played in iTunes when I play a song on my Android phone? That's a dealbreaker if it doesn't. I see their FAQ says it "supports play counts," but they're not more specific about what that means.

[Catrin]

I use Doublesync to interact with my iTunes library. I don't know if it tracks the last play date however, but it is a nice little application that also maintains my playlists.

[tulip]

I have an iPhone 4. The apps I use most are email, YNAB, camera, text, a couple of radio apps so I can listen to live radio from around the world, calculator, a GPS app that talks to me so I can get where I need to go when I'm driving (my car does not have GPS), Shazam, and Pandora. I also have my Pilates routine in Notes so I can do Pilates anywhere.

Oh, and the PHONE, including the ability to have multiple people on the same call. That is very important.

[Irulan]

I like a couple of the Nook tablets, if I do this I might consider saving up for one of those to cover traveling and computer breakdown times.

You might consider getting a real tablet. The nook and kindle ones are good for media consumption ( watching movies) but come up short for many of the functions tablets are used for. Plus, you have to get apps through BN or Amazon, and there's not nearly the options you have through droid or apple.

[luvmyguys]

I use Doublesync to interact with my iTunes library. I don't know if it tracks the last play date however, but it is a nice little application that also maintains my playlists.

Good to know there's another one! I don't know how or if iSyncr tracks the last play date, so no answer there, Oakleaf.

[OakLeaf]

And play count is one of the features they disable in the free trial version. Well, it might still be worth $3.99 to me to find out. Thanks for the tip!

[lph]

:the nice thing about predictive spelling vs. autocorrect is that it offers several options and lets me choose, rather than automatically entering a word that might or might not be what I meant.

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...

[ny biker]

All touch screens are definitely NOT created equal.

Not that that's a defining feature in this discussion anyway (I didn't even know there were "dumb" phones with physical keyboards! and obviously plenty of smartphones do have them) - but virtual keyboards come in different sizes, some of them rotate to landscape mode and some of them don't, some of them only rotate within particular apps. Some let you access numbers and common symbols (apostrophe, dash, ampersand) from the main screen, others require you to scroll through multiple screens.

The predictive spelling on my HTC phones (both old and new) is really topnotch. Its first choice is right about 80% of the time ... my choice is one of the options onscreen about 95% of the time. It's uncommon that I actually wind up having to type an entire word, and the nice thing about predictive spelling vs. autocorrect is that it offers several options and lets me choose, rather than automatically entering a word that might or might not be what I meant.

I can seriously type faster and more accurately on my phone than I can on my iPad. I forgot to mention that when I use my iPad as my only computer on weekend trips, I also have a full sized Bluetooth keyboard, because the iOS virtual keyboard is basically useless.

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....

[eofelis]

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.

[pll]

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.

[Catrin]

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.