I remember being filled with so much excitement back in 2007 when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. Since then, a lot of companies have hopped on the smartphone bandwagon and now these things are even [url=http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/smartphones-out-ship-feature-phones-worldwide-first-time-6C9635107]starting to outsell feature phones[/url].
But I still don't own one.
Since late 2010, I've walked around with the same iPod Touch (4th gen.) in one pocket and a flip-phone in the other. I have no data plan. I purchase pay-as-you-go minutes in $100 increments and the effective cost of my phone service is roughly $15 per month. I have no contract, and I can change my carrier whenever I want to.
Yet I've come to understand that a significant number of people these days are walking around with only one device that they pay closer to $35-50 per month to use, and are locked in to two-year contracts with carriers that place caps on their internet usage. To me, this system feels like a scam. I'm fully aware of the utility of having a GPS I could put in my pocket and being able to access the internet anywhere I could get a phone signal, but I still don't see myself investing in these devices any time in the near future.
[b]TL;DR:[/b] does anybody [i]not[/i] own a smartphone, or not think smartphones are worth their cost? Does anybody find smartphones and/or their services indispensable?
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I've had the same flip-phone (Samsung Alias 2) for 4 or 5 years now, and I have a 4G iPod Touch that I don't use for anything other than music. I probably don't even need the phone because I only use an hour's worth of phone-call minutes in a given month and a few dozen texts, or so. So I don't need a smart-phone but if I weren't a social outcast I'd think it would be a fair investment.