Do you use your smartphone as a ‘phone’ anymore?

Those of us who spend a couple of hours on the train most days would be eternally grateful if fewer people used their smartphones as a phone. There’s little sign of any diminution in this modern-day annoyance, nor that of using them to listen to music so loud that it escapes their headphones. And don’t get me started on those who hammer their laptop keyboard as hard as if it were a manual typewriter.

Technology used judiciously is a godsend as far as I am concerned. I don’t think that a backward step to spare the waistlines/brains of couch potatoes/other addicts is a solution, especially at £229 a pop! (Is it gold-plated?) They’ll just go cold turkey and launch into something else. Nature always finds a way.

Education will only go some way towards reducing the overuse of technology, especially perhaps the telly, and apart from that I’m not sure that there is a non-dictatorial solution to all this.

My Nokia – a 6230i – still works well after 9 years handling calls and messages, and that’s it. I was happy when it linked to my new car via Bluetooth. I’ve never found the need to do anything more with a phone.
However since phones have transformed into computers I appreciate how other people make use of the features – satnav, reading bar codes and checking prices, internet, on-line banking and many things of which I have no knowledge. What you don’t have, you don’t miss. But once you’ve tasted it you no doubt wonder how you managed without it as it helps organise your life.

Yes, I only use my phone for making phone calls and sending texts. I don’t have a smart phone but then I am of an older generation that does not feel the need to wear out our finger and thumb joint with constant twittering etc. and taking meaningless photographs of things that are of no interest to any one other than the person with the phone. I just rely on my trusty DSLR to get good composition, exposure and focussing when I want to take proper photos that actually interest the people who look at them. Eventually, people will have to ditch smart phones and go back to larger screens because their eyes will not be able to read the small text on mobile phone screens. If I want information from the internet etc. then I use my trusty desktop computer or a smaller laptop when away from home.

I do make a lot of phone calls and increasingly they are made on my smartphone. I have been away from home over the Christmas period and I have been taking the opportunity to call friends I don’t speak to very often. I agree with Ian that having to listen to people on the phone is annoying, so try to avoid adding to the problem.

If I need to get my life back then I need to hide the laptop rather than the phone.

Keeping up with technology is a bit of an expensive quandary. I have a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, never used the music but bought because it had the largest screen available over 6 years ago. The battery is still excellent and I only use the phone for calls, texts and the camera was useful for evidence when another car scraped my bumper. It does what I need it do but I do feel out of date.

So to retire it would be a waste and although I can afford to buy a new iphone or an ipad etc, they would not really get used so it is difficult to justify the cost.

I do think smartphones must be a nightmare for teachers. I saw Ann Robinson interview school children about their smartphones some time ago. Parents must be out of their minds sending their children to school with a £700 phone that is little more than a toy to show off to their classmates.

Perhaps children should only be able to take affordable basic phones similar to the the Punkt to school. It would not be popular with some children, but would enable those unable to afford £700 phones to fit in better.

I am a retired 76 year old, the first mobile phone I had I carried on a shoulder holster and which had a BT style handset on top which always fell off at the most inconvenient moments, it was required in the course of my work. I think it was in 1988, finally in 2000 my wife and I purchased the famous Nokia 3310, both of which were in use until just before this Christmas. I have just recently recycled one of the two as the back cover fell to bits and of it went to one of the recycle companies, together with 4 other phones that had been accumulated since 2000 all of which had been found wanting. It has been necessary for me to get a “Smartphone” for messaging purposes which I obtained for £79 free of tie with all the same latest kit as an Iphone and using the Android operating system. Excellent telephone dual SIM and very fast messaging. The only cons rubbish with EE.

Don’t even have a smart phone so not a prob for me!

At the behest of my family I acquired an iPhone. I bought it on an interest-free purchase plan and a contract, which costs £10 per month, for 500 minutes of phone time plus data and messages. I certainly do use the phone as a mobile computer and generally make inroads into the data allowance.

At about the time that I bought the iPhone I accepted an offer from BT to increase the speed of my Infinity service. Whether I did get an enhanced service is a matter of conjecture, but BT took the opportunity to increase the cost of weekday telephone calls to 10p a minute.

Wherever possible now I use the iPhone for all my telephone calls. If I use all the 500 minutes I do so at 2p a minute. Go figure! When my BT contract ends I shall be moving to another provider. In my opinion, their behaviour is despicable.

Oh, and since it appears to be the norm to give one’s age here, I am 74.

I am that odd person – I use my phone for call, occasional texts, have never reached the contract level for texts, call or downloads. There is a lot to be learnt from conversation rather than cold text, no inclination, etc. I changed my car recently & the salesman couldn’t understand why I questioned the fact that it only took a single CD. If I want music I listed to my Hi Fi, when out I rarely play music, be a bit hypocritical to complain of having to listen to other peoples music then doing the same thing. I have taken the odd photo but, being a dinosaur, took me a long time to work out how to download from the phone, but usually I use a small camera.
Is part of the problem fashion, look at me with my Iphone or what ever, I’m so important & busy I have to use my phone all the time because either wise people may not recognise how important I am. Also seems strange that people will spend a fortune on a smart phone then not invest a small sum of money to go ‘hands free’ in their car!!! I do worry that in a few years we will face a generation of people with wrist & finger problems who are unable to hold a ‘normal’ conversation!!

As David Ludlow said “I use my phone for call, occasional texts, have never reached the contract level for texts, call or downloads. There is a lot to be learnt from conversation rather than cold text, no inclination, etc.”
I work outside -in the sticks – my phone is mostly used for work. I find emailing and sending photos via text or internet a very useful feature, otherwise it is mainly for emergency use. I have no real interest in Facebook, Twitter or other social applications.

Recently bought a smart phone off the internet – because it was half price (discontinued colour) to replace my old mobile. It was a bit of a novelty at first. Within a month I’d lost interest in all the apps and gadgets that did the ironing and made the beds because I have a life. The battery needed a recharge after a couple of days and my pay as you go top ups disappeared at an alarming rate. Switched off wifi and roaming. now just use it as a mobile phone to occasionally talk to someone or text them – nothing else.

My children purchased for me a Samsung Galaxy Ace and they downloaded Watts App which enabled me in turn to keep in touch with my 85 year old mum daily without long drawn out conversations, send photographs and keep in touch with my spread out family. Unfortunately Google got it’s hands on Watts App, I have been unable to download the latest update returning ‘I Do not have enough storage space’. For some reason since then I cannot use pay as you go, I have lost photos in gallery, all my watts app photos. My phone is crowded with apps I can’t Delete. Mcafee has also added stuff I don’t want or need when all of a sudden a large M appeared on my phone taking up more storage space.

I neither have or need one of these new fangled smarty phones. My Nokia 2310 does all I need as it has a radio to go with calling and text modes. In fact I only got this as it was cheaper and easier to get anew phone rather than a replacement battery for my previous Nokia, which looks a lot like the picture at top of article.
Happy New Year

I’m a recent convert to the iPhone, having previously had a rather basic Samsung smartphone. I have a variety of interests, some being outdoor and involving lone-working. The iPhone enables me to keep in touch with home by several means (voice, text and email) which is a valuable safety tool. It also has a brilliant camera, which saves lugging a separate camera around and is also a very straightforward means of sending photos . I can check my bank balance more readily than by any other means and the calculator is brilliant. This afternoon I’ve been keeping in touch with the Test Match whilst working on my car. I have a reasonably priced contract with EE which, after some teething problems, is now working fine. All told, I’m very happy with the phone and the facilities it offers, though I still keep my original, basic, Nokia 1100 in the car for backup.