There are a few here who do not own a smart phone. I don't actively use Facebook or any other social media but my phone is really useful to me these days for other stuff. So I thought a thread on what people are using their smartphones for would be useful.
Mine is mostly (almost daily) used for
Calendar
Reading email
Keeping up with the news (BBC) and specific share prices (moneyam, in a browser)
Listening to downloaded and streamed music/radio comedy shows
Playing free games (online poker, cribbage, sudoku)
Maintaining and acting on shared shopping list (Google Sheets)
Occasionally (say usually at least once a week) for
Phone calls
Satnav (Google maps and Here)
Banking and payment (NatWest and Android Pay)
Taking pictures and videos (don't take the proper camera out much nowadays)
Writing/replying to email
Alarm clock/reminders
Loyalty points (Subway, Costa, Nectar)
Taxis (Uber)
Checking car background (MyCarCheck)
Watching TV (Mobdro, BBC/ITV etc players)
Remotely setting something to record on the TiVo (TV Anywhere)
Tesco/Amazon/eBay online shopping
and is hardly ever/never used for
SMS messaging
Social media
And when travelling
Managing USD/EURO/GBP pre-payment card (Revolut)
Hotels (hotels.com)
Flight info (Flightradar24)
Ringo (car parking)
Justpark (parking)
Very rarely as a dashcam (Dailyroads)
I also have a bunch of tech utilities e.g. speed tests, WiFi analytics, security and anti-virus, battery monitor, bar/QR code scanner etc and for general fiddling about.
It's a now-fairly-old (as phones go) Xperia Z3 with a 128mb microsd card which I have on a pay monthly with Vodafone, carphone warehouse cashback deal which costs me the equivalent of something like a five or six quid a month for loads of minutes, texts and 4Gb of 4G data, which I don't usually use a lot of.
A mate I was away with last year had one of those Chinese cheap phones (more like £200 than the £500 or so for a "decent" brand) and it was absolutely fine for most stuff - that's what I'll be getting next!!
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Some of us were able to function before mobile phones were invented (and still can). They have become part of the paperless office myth.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 11:55
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>> Some of us were able to function before mobile phones were invented (and still can).
We could function for sure. OTOH as somebody who more than once in early eighties spent half an afternoon trying to get a 'recall' message to a colleague who'd left for a subsequently cancelled meeting things are much easier now.
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>> things are much easier now.
>>
Are you sure you don't mean more intensive and stressful? Being at the beck and call of your boss 24/7 is heart attack material.
In my working world this was recognised, submarine crews are rotated to shore jobs because of long working hours, try 18 hours a day for a few months.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 12:34
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It is of course possible to function without a smartphone as it is indeed possible to function without cars, electricity, aircraft and indeed all technology. Our ancestors managed quite well. It seems perverse to ignore such a useful device though.
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>> It is of course possible to function without a smartphone as it is indeed possible
>> to function without cars, electricity, aircraft and indeed all technology. Our ancestors managed quite well.
>> It seems perverse to ignore such a useful device though.
>>
I prefer to choose when and where to use technology, and not be a slave to it.
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Funny you should say that ON. I've only recently taken a step in the direction of ensuring some private life. My iPhone is linked to work emails etc and it had got just stupid. So, I've taken to turning it off in the evenings and at weekends and have bought myself a cheap pay as you go basic phone, the number of which is only known by my immediate family and a couple of close friends.
That way, I'm not even tempted to look at work mails, or listen to voicemails or check out missed calls or whatever when I should be "off duty".
I've had a bit of whinging from some people about being unavailable but they are just going to have to get used to it.
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What an odd statement.
Why does owning a smart phone make you a slave to technology anymore than owning a car does?
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>> What an odd statement.
>>
>> Why does owning a smart phone make you a slave to technology anymore than owning
>> a car does?
>>
I also choose when to use my car, I can walk, and have excellent free WiFi fitted local bus and long distance coach services throughout Scotland.
Thanks for the subsidy. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 13:13
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That still doesn't explain why owning a smartphone makes you a slave to technology does it?
Having a phone in your pocket just gives you the option to use it in the same way having a car on you driveway gives you the option to use it. Use of either is not compulsory but both can be pretty useful at times.
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>> That still doesn't explain why owning a smartphone makes you a slave to technology does
>> it?
Can I refer you to Runfers post above, and all the drivers who find it vital to phone and text while driving. Phone use is an addiction for some
We have all seen people wandering around, face down in a phone oblivious to their surroundings.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 13:43
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>> Some of us were able to function before mobile phones were invented (and still can).
>> They have become part of the paperless office myth.
>>
Just half an hour ago I was talking to a friend who was bemoaning the fact that her phone (landline) bill was £500. I asked why she didn't have a mobile and use Facetime for nothing. she thought it was all too complicated.
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I assume the friend is calling Internationally to get a bill for £500. Otherwise just cheaper to have an inclusive phone package - although you need to hang up and redial before 60 minutes up.
Or have a mobile with unlimited minutes. Way cheaper than a £500 phone bill.
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>> I assume the friend is calling Internationally to get a bill for £500.
>>
You can get international inclusive minutes or cheap per minute rates with the likes of BT, TalkTalk, and Sky.
help2.talktalk.co.uk/about-international-boosts
www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/phone/#international-calls
www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/talk-international-extra/
Assuming that smartphones are not an option due to being "complicated", the "friend" needs a good friend to point her to a decent inclusive landline phone deal. ;-)
Last edited by: BrianByPass on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 18:48
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>> I assume the friend is calling Internationally to get a bill for £500.
Yes. USA.
I am afraid she isn't sufficiently techno savvy to use a phone or tablet and VOIP.
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She doesn't have to be techno savvy to sav a great deal of money.
Assuming she has a standard BT landline only package for an extra payment of £7.80 a month she can add "Intenatioanl Freedom" as an extra. That will give unlimited calls to the USA at zero charge.
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My Sony Xperia Z5 compact is utterly brilliant, miles ahead of wife, daughter and son's iPhones, lightning fast, great screen, great battery life, great camera (for a phone), beautifully built, waterproof. I'll probably keep it another year or two and go SIM only when an "upgrade" is due.
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My use of my smartphone is similar to smokies (but not the parking bit). Getting around a city you don't know with a route is very handy - used it last week a bit in Sicily.
But when it comes to technology, somethings are a distraction. I don't like Skype for Business which we use at work - people think they can ask a question and get an instant answer. Sometimes you've got several conversations going at the same time.
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Despite having been involved with the development of cellphones/networks in one way or another since 1991 I don't use mine much.
Currently transitioning from a Lumia 735 running WinMo 8.1 to a Xperia Z3 compact running Android 6. Not much of a step up considering the Sony cost twice as much.
Daily/regular use
speech
text
email (Gmail + Outlook)
bit of web browsing
camera
radio via Tunein
occasional use
satnav via HERE we go
eBay app
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>> My Sony Xperia Z5 compact is utterly brilliant, miles ahead of wife, daughter and son's
>> iPhones,
Glad you say that - I'm using a Z3 compact which is about 18 months old - I opted to buy and go SIM only last time around and will now staying the same again.
I've been really pleased with the Sony so will probably look to the Z5 for replacement - hows the battery life as the Z3 has been brilliant?
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My smartphone is a work provided Iphone 5, which I've had since they came out, whenever that was.
In a couple of months I won't be working, and therefore have had to come to terms with the fact that it appears that people actually have to pay for their phones. Once this bizarre concept had filtered through. I thought about what I actually do with it.
Email - only work stuff, and not very often.
Calls - vanishingly small use
SMS - even more vanishingly small use
Web - not really. Perhaps a quick google for something on the odd occasion to settle a discussion.
Twitter - no.
Facebook - no.
Games - no.
Other apps - well, I run the satnav on it sometimes when the in-car one is being difficult.
So for me, it's not that I'm particularly anti, it's just I don't really use it for anything I would miss, especially if it's going to cost me money.
So if anything, I shall open the free Nokia 1661 I got from Virgin years ago, still sealed and boxed, and see if a payg sim of the very cheapest will work, just in case the car breaks down. All I need, really.
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>>
>> I've been really pleased with the Sony so will probably look to the Z5 for
>> replacement - hows the battery life as the Z3 has been brilliant?
>>
Strangely enough my 'new' Z3 Compact (hand me down from eldest daughter) barely lasts a day, whereas the Lumia 735 did 3 days easily with the same usage. Think she's sold me a pup lol.
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To respond to the last 2 entries, there's efficiency!
I have just replaced my phone (my phone / work provided and paid for sim) with a Sony Xperia XA
so far seems great, battery loads better than my previous xperia but that was about 5 years old.
I use it for work calls and texts, end of as far as work is concerned
I use it for personal use as well, paying for personal calls and texts, company pays unlimited data whatever it's used for.
I also use it for
Personal email
internet banking
google maps
ad hoc camera
data connection for tablet occasionally
carrying photos of family
occasional news / weather forecasts / sports updates
I do NOT use
facetwitter or whatever
and I am not a slave to the mobile or any other form of technology, nor do I believe most others here are either, we are all mature enough to make our own choices in life
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>>
>> I've been really pleased with the Sony so will probably look to the Z5 for
>> replacement - hows the battery life as the Z3 has been brilliant?
>>
As I say great, screen brightness makes a difference so I manually control it based on what I am doing.
The Z5 compact has waterproof sockets, they don't have covers that need removing to charge like the Z3 compact, you can simply blow out any water and plug in a charger.
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I use mine to browse the internet, use my calendar, phone and text. I've only got two apps, a weather one and whatsapp that i use when I'm away from home quite a lot. Don't use it for social media or emails, i only check them once or twice a week when at work.
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I've never used mine for anything personal - the number gets re-allocated and reused within the department when the phone (or in this case owner) gets replaced, so it would be a nightmare of untangling.
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>> I've never used mine for anything personal - the number gets re-allocated and reused within
>> the department when the phone (or in this case owner) gets replaced, so it would
>> be a nightmare of untangling.
>>
I will keep my number when I retire although that may still have a bit of untangling to do the other way :-).
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Missed the edit, that's my personal phone. Never had a work phone. I think it's being brought in that you can check your work emails at home. Previously you had to be logged on to a works computer to check them, they couldn't be accessed from a private computer/phone. Its on an intranet (if that's the right word)
Last edited by: sooty123 on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 15:13
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>>
>> The Z5 compact has waterproof sockets, they don't have covers that need removing to charge
>> like the Z3 compact, you can simply blow out any water and plug in a
>> charger.
>>
Yeah I've already got bored with that and blown 8 quid odd on a Sony charging cradle, which allows charging the Z3 without the cover removal faff.
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Email.
SMS.
Maps.
Facebook.
Surfing.
Android Pay.
Banking
No games
No music.
No videos.
(All above, except Android Pay, only occasionally,. I use my laptop much more, as a home body!)
Last edited by: Roger. on Tue 21 Mar 17 at 18:16
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Oh - I forgot - now I have an app which automatically turns on hands-free mode when making or receiving a call, I can actually use it as a phone. As we are on an evenings and weekends call deal from BT, that means weekday daytime calls are made on either my mobile or my wife'ss mobile.
Our SIM only £7.50 monthly contract with Talkmobile is reasonable, with 2GB of data, unlimited texts, and I think, 1000 minutes of calls.
0345 calls are NOT included, as I found out :-(
It's only 3G, carried by O2, so when our 12 months is up, I may well look for a 4G deal, with no silly exclusions.
The only carriers to get signal inside our house are O2 and Vodafone, so choices are limited.
I may well go back to GiffGaff.
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Well, nobody has ever paid for my phone. I have an iPhone 6S and wouldn't be without it (not couldn't, but why would I want to sacrifice the convenience).
It gets used constantly for:
Daily Telegraph (no longer have to trog to the newsagent who may not be open; and can read it in bed - without dirtying the sheets and without it being yesterday's copy....)
Met Office
Google Maps/Routeplanner (I don't really use the Satnav option, much prefer running off a map) and traffic
Google translate
Kindle
ebay
camera - very useful for making 'notes' too.
Citymapper (tube/bus etc. app)
Facebook, SMS (occasionally), iMessage, Whatsapp, Snapchat (don't really understand the latter but it's vaguely amusing sometimes)
Banking
As the self-scanner in Waitrose
Radio 3 & 4 - and particularly on catchup. Radio wanders around the house with me, and will connect to a box when in the kitchen.
Spotify (as above)
Paypal
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My situation is a little different.
I rarely venture far so lots of stuff is at hand on my desk top.
I can wait until I am back to base for Emails etc.
Just calls and texting are fine for my phone use.
I have had a Nokia 6310i for many years (and its predecessors ).
The bluetooth link to my car ensures hands free..
The only addition features on a smartphone of real interest to me are camera and very rarely details of traffic problems.
I could have an iphone from son's collection but do not see the need.
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Smartphones - Old Navy
