I want a new phone. But what I absolutely don't need is a phone with internet access and a billion different apps.

The features I need are:

-A solid calendar (Outlook?)
-A solid contacts/address book
-That it's actually a phone, putting most PDAs out of the running. I only want to carry around one piece of junk.

The features I would like are:
-A camera solid enough to use as a 'scanner', taking pictures of documents
-qwerty keyboard
-Batman

And the features I do not want! are:
-Skynet (the internet)
-E-mail

Apparently I don't know what to search for/where to start in this particular instance, so I was wondering if anyone had any leads on something so stone age as a useful phone without ridiculous connectivity.

kthnx

I would go to your dealer and just check out the cheapest offering that does what you need. Don't worry about it having the internet, I don't think you're going to find exactly what you are looking for. Just don't use the features you don't need. My phone has an internet browser and I never use it.

So basically you want a smartphone without the internet? Good luck with that one. That's like wanting a car without wheels.

Get a Motorola Q. My uncle had one on Verizon without attaching a data plan to it. He got it fairly cheap from eBay.

This.

I don't want the internet on my phone because my self discipline is suspect and I will check my e-mail (and this infernal place) every five minutes. You can get them to block the data plan on your phone but you still have to pay for it because

And no, it's not like wanting a car without wheels. It's more like wanting to play music without doing drugs. Or something. I get immense enjoyment watching hordes of people around me bubble up into their little piece of digital crack wherever they are. I have seriously seen this super connectivity have negative results in regards to the personal productivity of some of my friends, and frankly, I would rather just do what I want rather than try to discipline myself to not use something I'm paying for.

That Motorola Q looks interesting, though it would be nice to be able to plug in a micro usb fold up keyboard for taking notes in class or whatever. I really wish that I could buy one of these fancier phones and just use it without a data plan, but noooooo

Any other thoughts?

Self control? The notion that you get a smartphone and suddenly get sucked into using the internet all the time everywhere is a little ridiculous. I've had a smartphone for about 15 months and I barely use it for browsing the internet.

That's awesome for you. I'm not you, and this is how I like to do things.

Thanks.

No, I mean I get that... it just seems pretty irrational to me.

Get a smart phone and delete all the preinstalled web browsers/email apps. And don't put them back!

I can't think of one non-ancient phone with QWERTY and a camera and no internet access...in fact most of the time I see phones with QWERTY being specifically advertised for faster typing with email or facebook and other internet apps. If you only go with the features you absolutely must have, though, you'll actually have some options, but with such phones the address books and calendars will be more limited as well.

Even with internet access on a phone you really wont have problems being on the web all the time. Its not nearly as bad as your making it out to be. Plus internet use drains your battery like crazy. Especially if your running an android phone with flash. That will be reason enough to get some self control.

If your looking for a keyboard interface for taking notes you'd be better off getting a netbook. Sounds like it would suit your needs better. Either that or a tablet of some sort.

Point is, I know from past experience that if I have the ability to check my e-mail (or more importantly, read long articles) I will check it every five minutes. If I don't have the ability to check e-mail or read wikipedia or whatever, I get lots of things done. Unfortunately, it's also really nice to be able to keep your schedule in a little magic box.

Lot's of people feel this way, I don't get how it seems alien to you.


EDIT: Oh, people posting.

I have a netbook. It was good for doing all the things that I don't want a phone or a dedicated work computer doing, such as browsing the internet and listening to music/watching movies. My main computer does all of my music recording and video editing and such. I just want one device that I can put in my pocket to call people, ignore other people calling me, and keep track of my schedule, easier than on my current phone.

Those are the only tasks I do when I'm not around my other computers (the taking notes and scanning documents are just a luxury), so why would I want to pay for a data plan and block it, when I can stick my current sim card in a phone that doesn't have these bundled shenanigans?

Because I can do all of that whilst still getting things done? Its not that hard, I'm pretty sure prioritizing is something they teach in gradeschool.

Both problems are easily solved with an android phone. Searches in two seconds? Check. Push notification email so you don't need to check it all the time? Done

Like I said when you see your battery jump from 80% to 60% in an hour you'll learn real fast to only check periodically. I don't see why you'd need to be on the internet "every 5 minutes" anyway.

You know, if you don't get any sort of a data plan, the skyrocketing costs of checking your email or reading articles every five minutes will probably make you not do that after your first phone bill...

The difference is that doing it on a tiny phone makes it more hassle than its worth.


Because many of the shenanigans are also really useful? I use the internet on my phone for reference when I'm out. Finding places, comparing prices, etc etc. If you don't want to pay for it then you don't want to pay for it, but I think people are trying to point out that it can be legitimately useful

Hey, x25064, I know how I like to run my life, and I asked for device recommendations, not life coaching.

I have considered this Krok, but most companies will simply not let you use the phone without a data plan. At least here in Burgerland.

EDIT:Emon, yeah, I know, I have lots of friends and almost all of them have these phones. I also have almost zero call for any of those things in my daily life. And the problem is that I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. AT&T Requires you to use data plans with these phones. There is no way around it with the newest phones. Like I said, I'm not in need of life coaching, I have no desire to have a gps with me in the middle of Salt Lake City. ****, I never felt the need to have a GPS or google to find stores in San Diego or New York or Tampa. I just don't want anything more than a calendar, contacts book, and phone, unless I can get low hassle goodies like a camera and notepad (not even wordpad) type application.

****.

Me being the same way as Spook, I feel you guys are approaching this from the wrong perspective. In this case, searching in 2 seconds does not mean it'll enable you to do things you need to get done because it saves time. Instead, it means you can do a lot more searches.

This has literally happened to me. As often as not from amount of breadth first search as serial depth searches.

Yeesh, sorry, just trying to explain justification of use in case you still have to pay for it

I'm just baffled by the fact that I asked if anyone happened to have recommendations for devices that would allow me to avoid having and paying for a data plan, and then get mostly commentary on how I am a goon for not wanting a data plan.

Nobody seems to think it's odd that I don't keep cocaine in my home because I know I'll use it compulsively and waste time, but when I say that I know I will use the internet compulsively and waste time, all I hear is 'self discipline will take you far young man'. Huh?

Just get an lg env phone and stop *****ing.

Why didn't you suggest this before you gave me reason to start *****ing about you being a peanut gallery lifecoach?

That's the problem: there aren't any, hence the responses

No, those responses are what you might expect if I had asked

"Is there a smartphone I can use without a battery?"

or

"Is there a way to stop other people from using the internet on their phones?"

or

"Who is the 68th President of the United States"

or

"How would one go about living for free on a small research island off the coast of Cuba?"

I'd maybe recommend the new nokia C6....it's a flat out smartphone with a pull out qwerty keyboard, but you shouldn't fear using the internet on it or any of the other fancy stuff...some of the reviews have been so bad in regards to using these "smart" features that you'd never want to.

Proper suggestion wise....I'm outta luck really, you are going to be hard pressed to find a full qwerty keyboard on something that isn't regarded as a smartphone, as for the other features...I can't think of anything that matches the calendar requirements that doesn't come under the "smartphone" banner with internet etc....

The only suggestion I can make is find a phone that does the stuff you want well and all the stuff you don't want really really badly...or that has the option as someone mentioned earlier to take the stuff off, but you get into the proper smartphone bracket then.

The only make of phones I know of that have bad (and I mean bad) internet browsing are the Nokia's (I know from experience), otherwise the phones are rock solid, heck I even took apart my dads 10 year old nokia a few days ago because it stopped working and managed to bring it back to life with a decent clean and reflowing of certain contacts.

http://gizmodo.com/5671996/the-anti+smartphone

part of me wants one of these currently.

That's because that's exactly what your question was like. The phone you want simply doesn't exist, no matter what reason you have. You'll either have to learn self control or not bother at all.

I don't agree with this at all. Any even somewhat sane person would know those have no real answer. I however, do not follow the wave of new phones every month and asked about something I didn't know a lot about. Instead of helpful answers ('sorry, I don't think theres a good solution' would be one) I got mostly 'Uh, you're not doing this right'. No ****, I'm doing it however I please so go die in an aids fire.

genk, that warms my heart. Though it's as useless to me as a hotrod phone is it's fun.

EDIT:JB, thanks I hadn't thought to look at Nokia yet!

That's because buying a Nokia is like shooting yourself in the foot, they're bad.

oh yeah well neo had a nokia in the matrix
:strokemymaster:

what now *****

If he had a good smartphone in the matrix he wouldn't have been shot.

They won't make you get a data plan if you buy a phone off contract. Get black berry curve or something off of craigs list.

Nokia is great if you just want a dumb phone. Probably the best choice in fact.

Buy an unlocked smart phone, then don't buy the data plan?

Massassi works like **** on a phone, so you will probably check it once then get annoyed.

Massassi isn't TOO bad on my iPhone3GS, but since its not as active as it once was, I can wait 8 hours and relax after work checking Massassi/other sites.

Massassi works great on my Droid. Dont know what your talking about. Posting from it right now actually.

Among the sites I frequent, Massassi is one the few that are actually usable on my Nokia...

Get a smartphone, keep it in your desk. <_<

As a smartphone, yeah, if you want a solid phone with good reception and good voice quality you'll be hard pressed to find anything better.

I know a lot of us here love our smartphones (I know I do) but during my gap year before uni I worked repairing mobile phones for about 8 months. During my time there and various discussions with other folks it was clear that the nokia's were by far and away the best built phones, followed by Samsung and then Sony-Ericsson (bare in mind this was before HTC, LG and Blackberry were available in the UK). I haven't worked there in a good 7 years now mind, but kept in touch with people and the consensus is still the same, if you want a decent phone to make calls, get a nokia.

I know in the US nokia's market share isn't so great so you probably don't come across the phones much, but what you'll probably find is that a lot of the backend hardware used by the carriers is nokia.

There's a reason they are the number 1 phone manunfacturer in the world, it's because they make good phones, their smartphones are generally naff (because of the software) but the hardware is top notch.