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Still Using A “Dumb” Phone?

From office workers to parents and even grade school students, it seems like just about everyone has switched to a smartphone these days. A few traditionalists, though, are still sticking to traditional mobile devices, and maybe for good reason.

smartphones

After all, opting out of a smartphone saves you money, and possibly time and stress. Just think of all the time your colleagues spend on Facebook, or checking their work e-mail. However, is it worth it to be behind your peers? Read on to find out why holding off on buying a smartphone may not be worth it.

Low-Quality Options

With most people using smartphones these days, it’s just not profitable for phone companies to make standard cell phones. Fewer and fewer new “dumb” phone models are appearing on the market each year. With some providers, it’s even to the point that the phone you get now won’t be available at your next upgrade. Unfortunately, that means the “dumb” phone you choose could cost you in the long run.

Wasted Time

Just ask any smartphone owner — these powerful little devices make life more convenient. With increasingly innovative apps, you can accomplish just about any task in less time than you thought possible. There are apps that let you spend time online ordering dinner, one-click clothes shopping, and diet management. In other words, if you don’t have a smartphone, you’re wasting time on these basic tasks.

Decreased Productivity

Smartphones have tons of great productivity features and apps to help you work from almost anywhere. If you aren’t using one, you’re missing out on opportunities to work on the go. Don’t answer e-mails or draft letters when you’re home and can be doing something else. Instead, complete these tasks on your smartphone while you’re on the bus or waiting to meet a friend.

Lost Opportunity

Since so many people use smartphones, you’re really behind the times if you don’t own one. Unfortunately, that means you could be missing out on business opportunities that involve smart phones. As thousands of companies around the world are realizing, if you don’t have a mobile website, you may be alienating potential customers. Many people have also made a nice chunk of cash in app development. Wouldn’t you like to get in on some of that profit?

Less Fun

From puzzles to sports and word games, there are tons of great games available for smartphones. During your next coffee break, why not spend a few minutes playing one of them? You’re sure to feel a bit more refreshed and ready to tackle your workload afterwards.

Besides games, you can do a lot of other fun things on your smartphone. Whether you stream movies, download music, or catch up on your favorite TV shows, you’re sure to have a great time while you’re on the go!

Written By

Katie Elizabeth is a freelance blogger and content coordinator with experience in several industries, including panasonic telephone systems firms , real estate and online ordering restaurant. When she's not writing, she loves traveling and listening to music.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Dexter

    May 5, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    I am one of the dumb phone users you speak of, and I am a real techie, I even have a mind control device for my PC (does not really work well though) and I really want a smartphone but I cant bring myself to spend hundreds when I can’t see the point in them. Someone gave me a tablet a while back and I had the same issue, I have not even charged it in over a year, it’s just so much less useful than what I already had, and the games were rubbish too. Your points are valid if you have no other devices but a phone, but let me give my point of view:

    Low-Quality Options: I am on pay as you go, I don’t upgrade, I have had the same phone for about 7 years now and it still works just as well as when I got it, keep in mind that you are not required to upgrade, and if you don’t want any extra features, new models not being available is totally irrelevant.

    Wasted Time: Mobile screens are small and there are no way near as many controls as on any laptop, netbook or computer, a lot of my friends have smartphones and I am usually finished with the same tasks on my laptop by the time their app has loaded. Yes they are faster than what you could do with an older phone, by far, but if you have a laptop or computer, they are far far slower to accomplish most tasks, add to that the lack of easy tabbed browsing and even things like ordering pizza can take ten times longer.

    Decreased Productivity: Now this one I kind of get, but still, again if you have a laptop with 3G it’s going to be more efficient, there is a little extra start-up time but if you are going to write even 1 reasonably sized email the speed increase you get with a proper keyboard and key combos means that again the laptop is better, although I accept that on a crowded tube train, getting a laptop out is not practical, but who really needs to answer emails that vitally, make travel more interesting by reading, listening to music or playing on a hand held gaming device like a DS (Again I realise that you can do the same on a smartphone, but if you already have these other devices then why spend hundreds on functionality you already had.) Also, it depends how much you love your job but there is no need to answer work emails when not at work, they Pay you to do that while you are at work so that is effectively unpaid overtime, you are not saving time you would have used at home, you are just doing more work, so remove the work points and there is not much left unless you are the business owner.

    Lost Opportunity: Now this one I don’t understand at all,as a USER how does not having a mobile version of my website impact me, if anything this is a point against smartphones in that a lot of sites don’t have a mobile version leaving you in the cold while your friend with a laptop is fine. It’s not just that they are harder to use either, some sites actively don’t work on smart phones. e.g. Those built in flash if you were foolish enough to buy an iPhone. As a business, yes not providing a mobile equivalent is a lost opportunity but not for a user, and as for business deals, remember that a smartphone is just an under-functional computer, you are missing out on nothing.

    Less fun: Well I can keep this one brief, see above, there are far more and far better games on laptops than smartphones, I have never seen or heard of a compelling interesting game on a smartphone, they are pretty much all crap that you could never sell to anyone with a more functional device even a Gameboy Advance has a better selection of games, certainly less of them but they are not all pathetic. Also, the micro-payments mean that you pay for apps on your phone while I can get the same thing but with more functionality (mostly) for free on my computer, there is almost always a free version on a computer, it’s why businesses love smartphones because it lets them bleed even more out of you than the extortionate amount you paid in the first place.

    Conclusion:
    I use my laptop a lot and I am far more efficient, less stressed etc than my colleagues with smart phones, also I only need to charge my phone once every few months, most of my friends have to do it at least once a day, and if they forget they are crippled, I would rather be more available in emergencies by having a phone with a months battery life + a half decent laptop that can happily run out of charge without impacting my reachability. To be fair, my computers boot in 5 seconds and my laptop is always on so I maybe have better access to them than others but there is nothing stopping anyone following my lead and in terms of value, you get so much more in a laptop or even a netbook than is ever provided on a phone.

    There is one exception where phones are clearly superior in my opinion, and that is maps, while a laptop can show maps, and a hard copy is fairly easy to get the GPS functions are very useful, you can of course buy a GPS but they cost as much as a phone so you may as well go for a phone if you need that. These GPS features are even useful for things like stargazing and aligning satellite dishes (although we failed miserably trying to use a phone to align our dish and ended up buying a proper tool to do it)

  2. Shalin

    May 6, 2013 at 12:57 pm

    It is hard to think how people can live without a smart phone these days. But still there are some people who use mobile phone only the purpose of making a call. Most of these people can be businessmen. What I’ve realized is that the “use” is the most important thing when it comes to mobile phones. We cannot label dumb phone users as rednecks since they don’t need a smart phone for their day to day tasks. But I know I cannot imagine my day without talking to friends online, tweeting and exploring Facebook. And since you mentioned the lesser fun in dumb phone, I completely agree because I take my smart phone to the bathroom. I guess that explains how attached I’m to my smart phone!

  3. Sanya

    May 7, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Cell phones has been become an important aspects of living in the 21st century. You disscussed nice about the dumb phones. Helpful post. Thanks for sharing.

  4. David

    May 9, 2013 at 6:47 am

    Using simple phones now is a real drawback. You are deprived of enjoying the pleasures of technological advents. These smartphones reduce your work to half, making life too convenient. I don’t understand why would people opt to stick to the older models.

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