Side note, woah....new input box.

Just wondering what percentage of us geeks didn't have a smart phone. I only just got one in march. I think I'd die without it now. Can't think I ever used to go without one.

Friend of mine broke his I phone and it was funny to see how lost he was the two days it took him to replace it.

I don't, but I'll probably have one by the end of the year only because it's convenient.

I do not have one nor do i plan on getting one any time soon. Actually, up until quite recently ive had a Motorola crazer thing. Pretty 2004 but whatever. I now have a Matrix Gravity T? (not sure %100) on the name. Im not a phone guy.

Though like every judgmental hippicrit, if you gave me an iPhone, I **** myself and fall in love at the same instance....

Have one, and have no plans on ever going back. I know the usual argument for people is that they "JUST WANT A PHONE", but hell, even for just that a smartphone is way better. I like the ability to have my contacts completely synced on my phone automatically, and I don't even have to worry about speed dial or anything, since I can just ask my phone to dial someone (and unlike most featurephones, it works 100% of the time). I especially like that I can just tell it to call, for instance, the local pizza place and it does so, despite it not even being in my contacts.

For me the biggest thing has been for work. Pretty much any thing to do with my job goes out thru emails. Now instead of finding out something too late (no internet at home) I get it right away.also...at work..its sitting around a lot....so watching movies makes nights go by quicker.Also...texts. My old phone held about a hour worth of texts before I needed to clear. I have 6 months worth of texts!

I purchased my first one (an iPhone) last year. It has made my life much more efficient. A perfect example would be using a printed Google Map to get somewhere on our scooter only to discover that the onramp to the highway we're supposed to take or the road we're supposed to turn down is closed (this happens all of the time here). This is easily corrected when using a digital map. It's great having a decent camera & an HD video camera built in to the device so that you don't have to carry 1-2 separate devices. I use the calendar (it's great for sending yourself email reminders), mail application (my preferred method of communication) & notes (I enjoy writing short stories), religiously. I enjoy listening to music on the device while riding the subway. It's great being able to check for weather updates when you're out for an entire day. Even using a flashlight application saves you the trouble of having to carry one around on your keychain (I use it every single day). For me, this is what it's mostly about (combining hundreds of "tools" in to one device).

However, I think that whether or not you use a smart phone is totally dependent upon your lifestyle. I could easily live without one (I did until recently) but it saves me a lot of headache (although the outrageous price of buying one & then paying for service causes a headache also).

I have one (HTC Desire). Not fully satisfied with it. The first disappointment was when I found out there's no competent Duke Nukem 3D port for Android, then I got that PSX emulator and that didn't work as properly as I thought either. Oh well, I guess smartphones are still too new for that stuff. What about just SNES emulators or the standard fare of games like Tetris, Solitaire and some Android neatness like Fruit Ninja? Oh yeah, the battery time's horrible! Then again, this I already knew before I got the phone but it still surprised me. I guess I should have got a less expensive smartphone but it's too late for that now! Definitely not giving it away nor going back to non-smartphones. Here's just hoping that in 2015 (until which this phone hopefully will last) you can finally play Duke Nukem 3D on a smartphone without a hitch (yeah, it's available for iPhone but the port's horrible from what I've heard). Or, you know, something newer.

Still have an old flip phone that isn't made nor are accessories for it. It's around 7 years old, and some of the buttons are starting to act up. Was thinking about getting an Android phone of some sort.

Don't have one, don't have much of an interest in having one. Might end up with one eventually.

have an i phone and i love it... which is surprising because i usually had anything apple just on principle. the fact that i can be out somewhere and just on a whim go... "i feel like getting thai food!" then locate a resteraunt, get directions, phone number and call in my order from wherever i happen to be at the time is still pretty astonishing to me.
it has also been a god send as far as banking goes! i can check my balance(including pending things) anywhere, at any time. i can pay all my bills without ever having to mail anything in or even make a phone call. good stuff.

boco if you want to continue not having an interest in having one... don't start playing around with a friend's or family member's smartphone

that and a few times in a store thinking "i wonder if it's cheaper on amazon" convinced me i needed something more than a razr

though i will admit i wasn't completely sold on smartphone and looked at a few feature phones but only one looked like it was good enough to even begin to be something i could settle for (HTC Freestyle) and i would have still had to pay $199 up front ($99 for the phone and AT&T wanted a $100 deposit) and the cost of the plan... so i found a half decent (though with gimped storage (can be solved with root and link2sd) and a smallish screen) android phone on a cheap prepaid plan

Had one since 2007, back when iPhones were brand new and completely useless.

Thing is for all I use my current phone it's essentially just an overpriced clock, and if I had a smartphone it'd pretty much be that and remote access to Twitter.

Yeah, but there's some really cool clock apps!

sarn and i both have HTC Inspires. i love mine. not a huge fan of the autocorrect when texting, but it could be worse.

I hate how much time I spend on the internet/checking my email/talking to other people as it is. Why would I want something that makes all of that easier?

What is the difference between a smart phone and a regular cell phone? Until I know that, i can't answer this question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

took me all of 2 seconds to find that on google

Haha, thank you, Jim. Sorry, I still don't automatically think to google/wikipedia something. I still don't understand the difference between a smart phone and a regular one, though?

If it texts, does that make it a smartphone? What if it displays the time and/or has a calculator? What qualifies something as a smartphone and what doesn't?

i use a tracphone, i hate cell phones, all that texting and crap, people don't socialize normally anymore, i go to fires and everyone just sits around and texts and it pisses me off

too much useless ****ty technology

The difference between a smartphone and a featurephone is that a smartphone is much closer to a full computer. Here's just a off the top of my head list of things they can do:

1. Lots and lots of games (even with excellent graphics).
2. Everything a featurephone can do (calls, texts, contacts).
3. Browse the internet with a full browser.
4. GPS navigation/maps. Most come with software that will not only tell you how to get somewhere, but will follow you as you drive and give you step-by-step directions, and even modify the directions if you miss a turn or what have you.
5. Play music, even streaming such as Pandora or Spotify.
6. Play video, even streaming such as Netflix.
7. Synced calendar/contacts/etc.
8. Some support voice commands. Android, for example, allows one to call a business or person just by speaking the name, or phone number. It will automatically look up the closest business that matches. It can also send text messages, set the alarm clock, start GPS navigation to a location/business, etc.
9. Social apps, such as Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc.
10. Messaging apps, with AIM/MSN/Facebook/GTalk/etc., via a variety of apps (Trillian or otherwise).
11. Most have decent cameras as well, with the ability to record HD video.

Most of this is accomplished with "apps", which is similar to a program on your laptop. There's a market for the apps, and many are free. This is only a small selection of the types of things they can do. Most smartphone markets have thousands and thousands of apps.

In short, if you think that displaying the time or having a calculator is something spectacular, you need to get your hands on a smartphone (find a store and play with one). Even the cheapest featurephone will do that. Smartphones are much, much more.

That's not a fault of the phones, that's a fault of the people. I can pretty certainly say that if those people didn't have those phones, they'd be doing something else equally unsociable.

I had one but the screen cracked and the insurance wouldn’t cover it they wanted 100 bucks to replace it, so I said eff it I get an upgrade next month so I am stuck with a dumb phone right now. It has a facebook app for it but its truly awful compared to the android one.

One thing I don't miss is the horrible battery life

Poll is missing. :-P

My phone is a Motorola Rival, not a smartphone. No criticism intended to anybody who uses/needs a smartphone, but I can't fathom any reason I'd ever need or want one.

In my experience this is untrue. I went to college while smartphones were becoming popular, and people that were fun to hang out with when I was a freshman were pretty rotten as seniors--my roommate especially, till I sat him down and told him it was rude to text &c. while he was hanging out with me.

Texting is something any phone can do though. That's not an argument against smartphones.

It wasn't meant to be though. He was just complaining about all phones.

smartphones do make texting easier

Yes...I swear by swype. Couldn't text without it

You seem to have a problem typing with it most of the time too.

That's why I said "texting &c." It got worse in 2008 when all of a sudden everyone had to have an iPhone or Android.

I have a 400 dollar smartphone. When I call people with it, it calls the wrong people. When I text with it, it texts the wrong people. I don't think it's very smart.

I don't have one, though I've considered it. My phone is supposed to do limited internet and the pre-programmed email, but I don't pay for any data. If I knew I'd be in the country for at least a year then I'd get an Android phone.

User error.

I don't. I kinda would like one, but I don't have a job or lifestyle that requires one, and I can't afford a data plan.

-My regular cell phone is good enough. When it works.

I do tend to become irritated with people that spend their entire day texting, tweeting &/or Facebooking. It's especially irritating when you're in their presence & they're ignoring you for someone online. I've often asked my wife a question only to be told to "wait" so that she can finish typing a message to someone in Facebook. I've experienced this phenomenon with dozens of people & I think it's potentially causing social problems. It reminds me of an issue that I had with a friend of mine awhile back. He was one of those people (e.g: douchebags) that always walked around with a Bluetooth headset in his ear. He would be talking to someone on the headset while also talking to you & it would quickly become very irritating because you would answer a question when it was asked to the other person, etc. I stopped talking to this guy altogether because of how irritating it was. In other words, these technologies, for many people tend to disrupt "traditional" social behavior for those that become addicted to them & their family/friends. We can make the whole "guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument, but these devices do indeed aid in a new type of social behavior that is undesirable for a lot of people. It's very addicting having the whole world at your fingertips, literally. The smartphone isn't the only device in history to achieve this undesired (for many) effect but it's certainly on a more massive scale than anything else that I can think of (except for the television) & that only contributes to the "problem".

I enjoy browsing the web, writing short stories & even playing games on my iPhone. However, I never do this when in the presence of someone that potentially desires my attention. Why? It's merely not conducive to "traditional" social behavior (which is something that I personally desire). Many of these people think that they can handle multiple conversations at once (social multi-tasking) & there may be individuals that can, but most people are incapable of doing so (especially once one considers the fact that in-person conversations often require ones complete & undivided attention). My personal rule of thumb comes from my days of working behind a cash register in a restaurant. Customers (friends/family) that are in the store (in front of you) take priority over those customers that call the store with their telephone (people on Facebook).

Then again, I just told my phone to fetch the paper and it's just sitting there doing nothing. That ain't smart.

This is the first and only cell phone I've ever bought. And excluding a couple of months when I had to borrow a friends old phone, it is the only one I've ever used. I've had it for nine years. It still works, although within the last week or so the menu button has started to barely function. I don't plan on getting a new one until it's absolutely necessary. Technological commitment ftw.

Probably a good thing anyway, they're likely to phase out stuff that old (as they've done with the old analog phones).