flip phone awesomeness

[Luko]

I can't think of anything a smartphone can do, that I need or would use frequently, that my little dumbphone can't do

I suppose having a GPS would be pretty convenient, but OnStar is cheaper than a data plan, and just some simple written directions from Google before I leave and a plain old compass are more than enough to get me where I need to go

I used to say the same things. Then I got my smartphone a few years back.

For example, I was at this scifi convention last weekend. There were tons of things on sale from vendors. Whenever I had a question about something's value, I just took the phone out, googled it and in 3 seconds, it was on my screen with ebay prices, collector value, customer reviews. Like, my phone's got 4GLTE, sometimes it's faster than my computer for looking shit up. Could I live without it? Well yeah, of course, but it's so immeasurably convenient for daily use.

Yeah, I dislike that it's basically this giant exposed screen and I miss the design of my flip phone, but functionally my HTC One is irreplaceable to me.

[Reeve]

I can't think of anything a smartphone can do, that I need or would use frequently, that my little dumbphone can't do

I suppose having a GPS would be pretty convenient, but OnStar is cheaper than a data plan, and just some simple written directions from Google before I leave and a plain old compass are more than enough to get me where I need to go

A smartphone is just more convenient. It takes away the burden of having to look that stuff up before you leave. Then of course, there are the times you need to know something and there isn't a computer handy.

On my trip to Colorado over Memorial Day Weekend, for example, my buddy asked me to stop by a brewery in Denver and pick him up some beer on the way down to his cabin. I didn't have the brewery name handy, but I did have the name of a beer brand they sell. Looked up the brewery by the beer name, google maps'd the brewery, headed over to pick it up. When I got there, the brewery didn't open for another 15 minutes, so I pulled out my phone and watched an episode of something or another on Netflix while I waited. Then when I got inside, I pulled up the email my friend had sent me specifying the quantities of beer needed and the names of the particular brands.

Once I got back in the car, I looked up the route out of Denver that was least trafficky at that moment, and on the way I googled Arby's restaurants along the route and a liquor store where I could buy gin, since I don't like beer. While at the cabin, where there was no cell reception, I used my phone to read books after others had gone to bed and to take photos. I was also able to pull up a song from my music library when we discovered that one of the guys there had never heard it.

That doesn't even get into the benefits it provided me at the airport or on the airplane, or on the car ride to/from the airport (yay streaming podcasts!).

While you absolutely CAN get along just fine without a smartphone, they're useful in SOOOO many ways you aren't even expecting until you have one and the info is available to you on demand.

[-aiko-]

What smartphone do you have?

HTC One.

Erm, what kind of gigantic dumbphone did you have then? -.-*

All smartphones in general have small screens. I dunno how people can stand watching Youtube videos on one. I'm not fond of browsing the web at all on a smartphone. Tablets are a little more tolerable but I'll stick to my laptop for the most part thanks.

[Masark]

A smartphone is just more convenient. It takes away the burden of having to look that stuff up before you leave. Then of course, there are the times you need to know something and there isn't a computer handy.

Like the last time I went on a road trip pre-smartphone.

I had google maps directions printed out, but then whilst going through a city on the way, the freeway was blocked off by an accident and they're redirecting traffic onto a highway straight out of town in the wrong direction.

Now I'm out on the grid roads out of the city. I have a paper map, but I don't have the least idea where I am on it. So I end up driving around for a good hour before I could find a useful landmark and get back on course. Fortunately I wasn't travelling for time-critical like a job interview.

[RoryTee]

HTC One.

All smartphones in general have small screens. I dunno how people can stand watching Youtube videos on one. I'm not fond of browsing the web at all on a smartphone. Tablets are a little more tolerable but I'll stick to my laptop for the most part thanks.

The HTC one is a great phone. voted best smartphone 2013 on gsmarena.com (Best website for mobile news updates) If you don't like it then smartphones are probably not for you.