SmartPhones?

Smart Phones:  A Good Idea, or The Devil's Workshop?

I just solidified plans to replace my 5-year-old cell phone with a smart phone.  And I think it was the smart thing to do.

Let me explain:

For the past umpteen (apply whatever time frame you like) I have been mildly dismissive of people who owned "Smart Phones".

On the other hand, I gave up my land-line ("Ma Bell") phone ten years ago, because it was costing me more money every month than seemed worthwhile to me.  I could get a cell phone for a low price, and the monthly rate was no higher than the land-line, but I had "Options".

Like .. texting.  Not that I expected to ever use THAT teen-age crush.  (Okay, I was wrong about that.)

And Caller ID?  I once paid $50 for a device which attached to my landline phone and ... oh, never mind.  Yes, it's obsolete and currently residing in the bottom of a cardboard box in my field-mouse-infested garage.  Call it the "graveyard of Nameless Hardware", because I don't know where else to put useless/obsolete hardware.  Like .. the skeletons of the last five (yes, I counted them) pc's I've owned, and have died or ... well, they were obsolete about the time they died.  Is there a conspiracy between Hardware and Software providers?

The new cell phone had that as a "Feature".  Who knew?

And I could enter all of my friends and family phone numbers almost automatically, at the touch of a button, if they phoned me at least once.  Didn't get THAT with my land-line!

Never mind.  Like the dying of electric light bulbs after four months of service,  I am becoming .. well, not "comfortable" but at least "Less Uncomfortable" with the assumption that Planned Obsolescence is part of the American Way.  As a confirmed curmudgeon, I have declined to accept that "things" are getting better.  I'm just quietly (although not today, perhaps) accepting the improvements of electronic devices.

I even bought a "hotspot" device a couple of years ago from Verizon.  it allows me to get online with my laptop computer, no matter where I am.  So, on my infrequent trips out of  Geekistan, I can still access necessary internet resources ---  such as Mapquest, which helps me to find where I am and where I'm trying to get to.

Not that I ever get lost on the road. 

But I'm paying $60 a month for my not-very-smart phone, and another $50 a month for my phone-based internet connection. (This is on top of my cable connection to my desktop computer:  It's fast, it's not unendurably stupid, and it only costs me another $50 a month.)

Sometime in the dark of the night, just now, I began to wonder why I am paying for two devices (my cell phone and my "hotspot" device), which may or may not be able to provide me overlapping services but which are separately billed.  It didn't seem like such a good idea, when I considered that I only use my hotspot when I find it either inconvenient or unnecessary to use it most times, except when I'm traveling. And let's face it, Geeks don't get out much.

So I got onto the (desktop) computer and started asking questions of the cell phone provider.  Like .. why am I paying for two devices, when both of my primary functions (phone + text, and internet access "on the road") should logically be available for one single device?

The answer I got was .. no reason.  I can get a Droid for $50 a month, and it gives me both options.

Wow!  That's less than half of what I'm paying now!

Okay, they (the online consultant) didn't say that was the ONLY charge;  I'm sure I have to pay extra for the internet connection.  But the connectivity is at the same 12MBPS data exchange rate I'm already enjoying with my "hot spot" connector, and I only have to keep track of one device. Given that I'm old and forgetful, that's one less way to go wrong.

The 'bonus', if bonus there be, would be in the extended features of the phone itself; photo storage, for example; and since I'm already paying for the internet connection, I can save my phone-photos to a place where I can access them anywhere.  One less device to carry .. my digital camera!

Perhaps I haven't yet discerned all the ways in which my phone provider can screw me, but given that I will be retaining my cable computer connection (it's WAY faster!), I'm not too worried about that yet.  I'll have to see what the final costs work out to be, and the best way to minimize costs appear to be that I not over-use the options.  They're there, I can use them, but I still have low-cost alternatives when time and convenience are the issue.

I'm pretty sure about all of this, while I acknowledge that I may find some (many?) hidden costs in the future.

For now .. I'm going to my local  phone store tomorrow, and I intend to buy a new smart phone.  I'll make sure that the features I'm looking for are available, of course, but I want to simplify my life, not complicate it.  if the available plans aren't as I expect, I can always change my mind.  Right now, I have 450 minutes on my current "plan", and I'm spending not so much more than I was on the landline.

This is getting to be too long a post. I'll try it out tomorrow (in the day time today) and let you know how it turns out.