I hate to say this, but a really well-done clamshell phone can make a much better phone than an iPhone can.
Why?
Your phone rings, you open it. You're done, you close it and it hangs up. Need to call a random number? Open it, type in number, hit green button. Close phone when done. Need a quick contact? You've programmed it into the 2-9 keys right? Hold said key down. Make your phone call, close phone.
Simple clamshell phone + oldschool iPods.. they were bigger, clunkier devices, but they did what they did really well. I will agree in many cases phone book syncing sucked, but it wasn't always that bad.
What we have now, is a small and pretty device that can do everything you could want it to do and more, but it can't do any of those things quite as well. Quickly hitting a contact that most of your calls goes to requires going into a menu, and the dialpad requires hitting a menu, and the pictures come from a tiny CMOS sensor that really sucks compared to a decent compact camera sensor. The music app is also in a menu, and unless you have a car with a (somewhat glitchy) iPod syncing system, you will probably risk wrecking your car to change the track while driving, a task that could have been done while blindfolded with an old iPod.
In fact, you could take a picture (albeit rather pointless one) while blindfolded, with a compact camera.
You could play music with a classic iPod while blindfolded, and control it fairly well too.
You could place and receive many calls with an oldschool clamshell phone blindfolded.
Won't be able to do any of those particularly well with any smartphone, sadly.
So yea, and no.. If I had to go back to a dumbphone I'd kinda miss the smartphone, especially when waiting for doctor appointments, but in some ways having the internet available at all times really screws with me as a person.
One thing I am deeply afraid of as a college student, is that cellphones - smart or dumb - will give any future employer of mine the sense that they own me hook line and sinker. That's frightening! If your employer offers you a phone you might wanna RUN because who the hell wants to hear from their employer when they're off the clock and not obligated to handle work ****?
