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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 9:12:14 GMT -5
My TracFone cost, I think, $8, tops. I'm obviously not a bells-&-whistles guy (& am congenitally unable to understand why anyone is) or a status guy (see previous parenthetical clause). It makes calls & takes them. That's all I want or need from a phone -- actually, it's more than I want, but one has to make certain concessions to human society.
In my obviously curmudgeonly opinion, anyone who can't disconnect from the world, from work, etc. for at least a few hours a day probably needs an attitude readjustment along the lines of "get a life" ... though of course those people would definitely say the same thing about me.
I'm also, not surprisingly, not one for cultism, whether the target of blind adoration is Apple or anything else.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 1, 2014 9:31:35 GMT -5
I miss the days of just home phones and portable phones being expensive beyond the average person's means. That may also be because for the past 14 years I've had one of the damn things sew to my hip for this stupid and relentless 24/7 oilfield industry I can't seem to get away from in this state.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 9:55:49 GMT -5
If I were still a newspaper editor, I have no doubt I'd have to do that as well, along with having some sort of fancy-ass version.
There but for the grace of Cthulhu ...
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Post by impulse on Oct 1, 2014 10:07:27 GMT -5
On the one hand, I hear where you guys are coming from. On the other, it's awfully handy being able to pull up directions to wherever I need to go, whether by car or on foot, in a moment's notice. It's nice to have your music and exercise-tracking app (if you're into such things) in one device. Or, perhaps most important, when I'm traveling and I need to find a coffee shop STAT it can be a lifesaver.
On the other hand, I hate the expectation that people have seemed to develop that just because I have the means to send and receive calls/texts any place or time that I am somehow obligated to do so at their beck and call. I have this device for my convenience, not theirs. The cell phone does make it a lot harder to sell the "Sorry, I missed your call because I wasn't home" excuse.
Most importantly, though, I have something to keep my attention during the..err..idle times...in the bathroom.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 10:12:29 GMT -5
On the one hand, I hear where you guys are coming from. On the other, it's awfully handy being able to pull up directions to wherever I need to go, whether by car or on foot, in a moment's notice. It's nice to have your music and exercise-tracking app (if you're into such things) in one device. Or, perhaps most important, when I'm traveling and I need to find a coffee shop STAT it can be a lifesaver. No doubt. I've traveled with a friend who has all that stuff (her unavailability during my 12/12 road trip to the Shreveport area is why I broke down & finally bought the TracFone, in fact). Even so, I can't imagine finding any of that even moderately important -- we're all different, of course, & clearly I'm a lot less engaged (by choice) in the world in general than you are. Heck, these days, even if I'm on the freeway in the middle of nowhere, the next exit is going to have at least one fast-food place or convenience store with a cold coffee beverage (all that I drink). And if I want to go somewhere in a strange city, odds are I'll know it ahead of time. Hello, Mapquest on my laptop in my hotel room or at some other place with WiFi. Not that I'm ever anywhere but here in Montgomery or, for a couple of days a year, Shreveport or Bossier. That's another thing that would make a difference in my attitude toward the matter -- if I ever traveled. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 1, 2014 10:32:14 GMT -5
On the one hand, I hear where you guys are coming from. On the other, it's awfully handy being able to pull up directions to wherever I need to go, whether by car or on foot, in a moment's notice. It's nice to have your music and exercise-tracking app (if you're into such things) in one device. Or, perhaps most important, when I'm traveling and I need to find a coffee shop STAT it can be a lifesaver. On the other hand, I hate the expectation that people have seemed to develop that just because I have the means to send and receive calls/texts any place or time that I am somehow obligated to do so at their beck and call. I have this device for my convenience, not theirs. The cell phone does make it a lot harder to sell the "Sorry, I missed your call because I wasn't home" excuse. Most importantly, though, I have something to keep my attention during the..err..idle times...in the bathroom. Don't get me wrong, I like the technology. I just like my ipod more than my iphone, because people can't reach me on it. I too dislike the mentality that just because it possible to be reached 24/7 that a person is obligated TO BE reached 24/7. |
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Post by impulse on Oct 1, 2014 10:45:50 GMT -5
Right on. It's an odd thing. I'm old enough to remember before everyone had cell phones and mobile communication and information seeking devices at our hips at any given time. I'm also young enough that I've had them long enough to wonder how we ever got on without them. I completely understand everyone's case is unique and there are varying degrees of value or utility to be gained. I resisted the "Smartphone" for years until work gave me my first hockey puck Blackberry. I started to get attached to the features and conveniences and, well now, here we are.
I do make it a point not to answer/return texts or calls immediately, though. I figure people always need to assume there is a chance I'm in the bathroom or something.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 17:45:27 GMT -5
On the one hand, I hear where you guys are coming from. On the other, it's awfully handy being able to pull up directions to wherever I need to go, whether by car or on foot, in a moment's notice. It's nice to have your music and exercise-tracking app (if you're into such things) in one device. Or, perhaps most important, when I'm traveling and I need to find a coffee shop STAT it can be a lifesaver. On the other hand, I hate the expectation that people have seemed to develop that just because I have the means to send and receive calls/texts any place or time that I am somehow obligated to do so at their beck and call. I have this device for my convenience, not theirs. The cell phone does make it a lot harder to sell the "Sorry, I missed your call because I wasn't home" excuse. Most importantly, though, I have something to keep my attention during the..err..idle times...in the bathroom. Don't get me wrong, I like the technology. I just like my ipod more than my iphone, because people can't reach me on it. I too dislike the mentality that just because it possible to be reached 24/7 that a person is obligated TO BE reached 24/7. I have special ringtones for people I want to answer at any time, and special ringtones for people I want to screen at all times. I'm a sucker and will always answer a private number just in case though. I find smartphones incredibly useful. True, they don't do anything an iPod can't do, but it's one less thing in my pocket having a phone that can do it too. I use Yelp every time I'm out of town. If I can avoid pulling into a McDonalds, I do. So I look up their four and five star rated Mexican joints or sandwich deli's. The roadside assistance has come in handy enough times I'm pretty sure the phone company is losing money on this deal. And I can pull up old emails containing building permit numbers and other data I need to finish the day without having to hunt down a wifi hot spot. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 2, 2014 5:47:44 GMT -5
Hearings lots of rumors that it's susceptible to bending when put in your pocket. Consumer Reports heard the same rumours and ran controlled tests on the device and several comparable phones. The results show that one model sold by Samsung is pretty sturdy, and that all other phones (including the iPhone 6 and 6+) are pretty much equivalent when it comes to bending. The most fragile of the lot (by a very narrow margin) was the HTC one. Not surprisingly, the older iPhones (being thicker) were stronger than the most recent ones. The Bendgate story is another example of an internet phenomenon gone overboard, which probably resulted in many cell phones being forcibly bent for no good reason. My favorite scene from the movie "Wall-E" is when we see how the Earth from the future is one giant scrap heap covered by mountains of cell phones. |
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