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I had an iPhone 3GS for a while until it broke and then had an iPhone 4 for a few weeks until it developed a fault so it wouldn't turn on so I just got a refund and now I'm currently using a Nokia C1-01. Nothing I really miss from the iPhone that much specifically but it sucks not having a camera and not being able to check tennis scores on the move, but hey I can just text a friend and ask them I guess.
 
I know for a fact I could never go back to a "dumb phone", I used my grandparents phone today, just some old style flip phone, felt like I was calling from a rock!

There is just zero options on those phones AND they don't have the retina display which is absolutely amazing not to mention all the apps at our disposal.

Just curious if any MacRumors members could or have gone back to a "dumb phone"??

Based on your diction I am going to assume you're young--in fact, easily under 20. There are only two reasons why someone shouldn't be able to drop to a regular cell: their business requires a smartphone (i know a lot of solo attorneys and IT people) or they're so young they have no clue what they need. In a year I would could see myself dropping to a dumbphone + iPod touch IF we don't see a Virgin Wireless version come out when Sprint's iPhone is released. AT&T and VZW are just great at extracting money and I have wifi at work and the office so I don't see a huge need for cell data.
 
Just because they call doesn't mean you have to answer. I miss calls all the time, even though I always have my phone on me. Unless you're a doctor or a lawyer or something I don't see any reason to have to take work calls outside of work hours.

Or a consultant or ibanker... the list of 24/7 professions keeps growing. My partner has been working 13-14 hour days for four weeks now and on the one day off -- two sunday's ago -- she received a call and had to go into the office. I can promise you: if she did no have a good reason for not answering, she would have been fired.
 
A good example. I use the HTC Thunderbolt. Honestly I don't know why I own the phone, but I like it for some mysterious reason. However there are illogical things about it when trying to use it as a phone. Wind noise makes it to where the person can't hear me at all, even slight wind noise. The dialpad covers up the speakerphone button, so you have to minimize that first before you can put speakerphone on. Speakerphone's quality is a dice roll, sometimes it's good and sometimes it isn't. Since the dialpad is not physical, you can't quick dial voicemail or whatever without going into the "phone" area. I could go on and on, but in some ways it's way more annoying.

2288d1264555032-no-back-button-phone-dialpad-droid-dialpad-no-back-key.jpg


I can't reiterate how GLAD I am that my G2 came with vanilla Android. Everything I've seen about Sense, Touchwiz, Motoblur et all seems to be nothing but a tacky, annoying add on that actually inconveniences the user in the long run lol. [Edit: The green/red/grey gradient on the call screen sucks though]. My favorite "feature" is how if you hold the phone against your ear with your shoulder, there's a 50/50 chance you'll miss the proximity sensor and the phone will hang up since the giant end call button is usually riiiight against your face. XD

Wind causing distraction is fixable too, it just needs noise cancellation. Honestly I miss having a Motorola for that reason, the call quality on my startac/t720i/razrs were all pretty good. With the G2 I don't really have problems but it helps to shield the microphone when there's heavy wind (it's on the bottom of the phone).

The other nice thing is PowerAmp (which I haven't bought yet >>) - it can be set to play music whenever you plug in headphones or whatever. I love that because sometimes I forget to set my phone to play music when I'm driving, and poweramp works great at red lights.

Still, I find the standalone oldschool devices better at their individual tasks, the problem is none of them do web browsing on the go. That's where the iPod Touch comes in, but yea.. lol

*RUNS*

That coming from someone that anxiously purchased the 1st gen ipod Touch ;)
 
Or a consultant or ibanker... the list of 24/7 professions keeps growing. My partner has been working 13-14 hour days for four weeks now and on the one day off -- two sunday's ago -- she received a call and had to go into the office. I can promise you: if she did no have a good reason for not answering, she would have been fired.

Unless she's very well compensated, I'm sure they would not be able to fire her.
 
Unless she's very well compensated, I'm sure they would not be able to fire her.

Speaking from experience, compensation has absolutely nothing to do with it. In an "AT WILL" employment environment, they can and will fire you if you piss them off. Either that or they'll withhold raises/promotions/bonuses, or just blacklist you from the cool stuff.

I was once reporting directly to a Vice President. I asked to have a BlackBerry because I wanted to make sure I could keep on top of emails. Not that I would answer them, but just so I know how to plan every day in advance. It got to the point where even at 1am we (myself and the three managers who reported to her as well) would get calls from her about stuff that needed to be done. She never stopped. I was out of town on training and every evening they would take the trainees out to events, I remember one time I went and left the BB at the hotel, boy...I never heard the end of it.

Some companies have a work culture way worse than anything I would ever propose. The word "tether" wasn't originated by the cell carriers, it was originated from the overwork companies, as in being tethered to the job, and if you don't reply, you'll get fire(d).

I was salaried too, so that made it even worse. Had I been hourly, my overtime would have easily doubled my income. We were working on Christmas F'n Day, Christmas F'n Eve, New Years F'n Day and New Years F'n Eve, PLUS the weekend between them.
 
Speaking from experience, compensation has absolutely nothing to do with it. In an "AT WILL" employment environment, they can and will fire you if you piss them off. Either that or they'll withhold raises/promotions/bonuses, or just blacklist you from the cool stuff.

I was once reporting directly to a Vice President. I asked to have a BlackBerry because I wanted to make sure I could keep on top of emails. Not that I would answer them, but just so I know how to plan every day in advance. It got to the point where even at 1am we (myself and the three managers who reported to her as well) would get calls from her about stuff that needed to be done. She never stopped. I was out of town on training and every evening they would take the trainees out to events, I remember one time I went and left the BB at the hotel, boy...I never heard the end of it.

Some companies have a work culture way worse than anything I would ever propose. The word "tether" wasn't originated by the cell carriers, it was originated from the overwork companies, as in being tethered to the job, and if you don't reply, you'll get fire(d).

I was salaried too, so that made it even worse. Had I been hourly, my overtime would have easily doubled my income. We were working on Christmas F'n Day, Christmas F'n Eve, New Years F'n Day and New Years F'n Eve, PLUS the weekend between them.

I think the situation you described is probably rarely found outside the US, and even then (according to a few random article I read moments ago) it's only applicable in certain states. I understand that some jobs demand a high level of commitment but to be fired for missing a phone call is still absurd.
 
"at will" is an ugly thing that should not exist. One of my closer friends had a job where he was being yanked around on an eCollar (err.. work-provided phone), but he was being paid massive overtime for it. (or so he said).

Thankfully, not many states are truly "at will" anymore.
 
Speaking from experience, compensation has absolutely nothing to do with it. In an "AT WILL" employment environment, they can and will fire you if you piss them off. Either that or they'll withhold raises/promotions/bonuses, or just blacklist you from the cool stuff.

I was once reporting directly to a Vice President. I asked to have a BlackBerry because I wanted to make sure I could keep on top of emails. Not that I would answer them, but just so I know how to plan every day in advance. It got to the point where even at 1am we (myself and the three managers who reported to her as well) would get calls from her about stuff that needed to be done. She never stopped. I was out of town on training and every evening they would take the trainees out to events, I remember one time I went and left the BB at the hotel, boy...I never heard the end of it.

Some companies have a work culture way worse than anything I would eveyr propose. The word "tether" wasn't originated by the cell carriers, it was originated from the overwork companies, as in being tethered to the job, and if you don't reply, you'll get fire(d).

I was salaried too, so that made it even worse. Had I been hourly, my overtime would have easily doubled my income. We were working on Christmas F'n Day, Christmas F'n Eve, New Years F'n Day and New Years F'n Eve, PLUS the weekend between them.

Man that is pretty crappy and I am glad most companies are not that bad. With demanding that much time it sounds like burn out problems and sounds like you left for something better.
 
Unless she's very well compensated, I'm sure they would not be able to fire her.

She is very well compensated but she would love to leave her job and make 20% of her current salary -- the problem is, there are no jobs.

To those who claim it doesn't happen outside of the US -- she is part of a company that has offices all around the world. The work culture isn't any different in Paris than it is in NYC.
 
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I will confidently say that I could not go back to a device any less than an idevice (iOS). I just recently had more than a few problems getting my ViP4 re-activated due to some unknown issue with 4.2.8 update. 24hrs and 3 iPhone 4's later I am back to sanity. I had originally jailbroke my ViP4 with the greenpois0n jb but then I decided to upgrade to the 4.2.8 and for w/e reason, the phone when done updating did/would not re-activate. I had to replace 2 new/refurbished iphones in a matter of 12hrs. Now that I have a working ViP4 I am holding off on the jb but to be honest, not having it jailbroken ROYALLY SUCKS!, I cannot wait until iOS 5 drops. I "had" that notifier that shows up on the lock screen as well as some other very nice tweaks that I sorely miss now... So to put it straight forward, I dont think I could have any other device other than an iPhone but even more so a jailbroken ViP4. That is ESSENTIAL IN MY LIFE... how did i live w/o it?:confused:
 
Sorry to resurrect a zombie thread. I'm thinking about doing this, but can't seem to find a candybar style phone with a normal 12-key keypad and a good camera.

My reasons are a) like someone mentioned - adult pacifiers that disconnect us from reality and b) in the US I'm spending $600/year on data/texting just so that I can get email on the 10-minute drive between home and the office and engage in trite conversations all day via text. Hey, how about a phone call where we can hear each other's voice?
 
Sorry to resurrect a zombie thread. I'm thinking about doing this, but can't seem to find a candybar style phone with a normal 12-key keypad and a good camera.

My reasons are a) like someone mentioned - adult pacifiers that disconnect us from reality and b) in the US I'm spending $600/year on data/texting just so that I can get email on the 10-minute drive between home and the office and engage in trite conversations all day via text. Hey, how about a phone call where we can hear each other's voice?

If you feel that way, why not use an iPhone with data switched off. Switch it on when you need it. That way you'd still have a decent phone, decent camera, and apps address book and email only when you need them. The problem with a dumb phone is it can never do more.

A smart phone can do as little as you want it to do but there's no substitute for being able to pull up something on the internet at the rest stop on the turnpike instead of waiting until you get to your hotel to find out the meeting location has changed and you would have been better off staying at the holiday inn near exit 105 than the motel 6 you just paid for at exit 156.
 
If you feel that way, why not use an iPhone with data switched off. Switch it on when you need it. That way you'd still have a decent phone, decent camera, and apps address book and email only when you need them. The problem with a dumb phone is it can never do more.

A smart phone can do as little as you want it to do but there's no substitute for being able to pull up something on the internet at the rest stop on the turnpike instead of waiting until you get to your hotel to find out the meeting location has changed and you would have been better off staying at the holiday inn near exit 105 than the motel 6 you just paid for at exit 156.

You can't do that though.... But i had a smartphone without data until i got my iPhone. "people" thought i was nuts - but hello, PDA built into the phone was all I needed. I do need data on something these days, I swapped my iPad for the iPhone.

It would be nice if you could not have data like you can in other places....
 
You can't do that though.... But i had a smartphone without data until i got my iPhone. "people" thought i was nuts - but hello, PDA built into the phone was all I needed. I do need data on something these days, I swapped my iPad for the iPhone.

It would be nice if you could not have data like you can in other places....

I did that back when I had a Treo 650 and I only had to pay for "pay as you go" data which was of course zero because I used it as a phone with built in PDA. What I meant in my post was that you could live with a lower tier (cheaper) data plan as no carrier (that I know of) is willing to let you use a 3G or newer phone without a post pay data plan.
 
Since I bought and iPad I found that the use of the iPhone is decreasing a lot.

I rarely play any games in the iPhone, and mostly just use it for texting and making calls, and for reading books with the Kindle app.

Still, I would never go back to a candy bar "dumb phone". As it was said above, being able to eventually use mail, playing games in those 3-5 minutes when you are waiting in line, and being able to have my music wherever I go, it's still worth it.

Besides the cost, I don't really see any benefits from using a "dumb phone".
 
Since I bought and iPad I found that the use of the iPhone is decreasing a lot.

I rarely play any games in the iPhone, and mostly just use it for texting and making calls, and for reading books with the Kindle app.

Still, I would never go back to a candy bar "dumb phone". As it was said above, being able to eventually use mail, playing games in those 3-5 minutes when you are waiting in line, and being able to have my music wherever I go, it's still worth it.

Besides the cost, I don't really see any benefits from using a "dumb phone".

That is the big advantage.

Pairing a dumbphone with an iPod touch is a money saver yet it allows you to get the iOS experience and and to call/text.
 
The iPhone has made me MUCH more productive in life. I use it for almost everything. Therefore I COULD technically go back to a dumb phone, but Ièd be much less productive that way.
 
Or a consultant or ibanker... the list of 24/7 professions keeps growing. My partner has been working 13-14 hour days for four weeks now and on the one day off -- two sunday's ago -- she received a call and had to go into the office. I can promise you: if she did no have a good reason for not answering, she would have been fired.

This is why I don't let me employer give me a cell phone. I ll feel obliged to answer calls 24/7 I think.


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I don't know how to put a signature yet so here is mine: Everything Apple
 
The "hey, how many of you think that you cannot live without your iPhone? " thread had me thinking of this thread again.

I can definitely say this would be much harder than living without an iPhone everyday because I do need Wi-Fi access.

But to lessen the blow of not having a smartphone as a main phone, I would try to have a dumb phone + iPod touch or dumb phone + any tablet combination. Hassle to carry around two devices but that is the sacrifice I have to pay if my main phone happens to be a dumb phone. At least I save money on data plans.

If my dumb phone happens to be the Nokia X2-01 next to a BlackBerry PlayBook as my main internet browser, I can live with that much better. :D

It all depends if you have other options and are willing to carry them around with you. So many devices that isn't a smartphone have Wi-Fi now.

Nokia X2-01 ($70-$80 prepaid phone, no Wi-Fi like the C3-00)

953_112986909594d68738fc55c0.jpg



For my Wi-Fi access -

blackberry-playbook-jan-11-2011-200.jpg
 
That is the big advantage.

Pairing a dumbphone with an iPod touch is a money saver yet it allows you to get the iOS experience and and to call/text.

I had that pairing before my iPhone. And I must say, it's far from being the same.

Besides the physical aesthetics of the iPhone vs the iPod, with the iPhone you truly have internet everywhere. With the iPod Touch you are dependent of having a Wi-Fi connection.
 
Could I go back to a "dumbphone" no, I sold my iPhone and moved on to a "smartphone" couple years ago, Nexus-One...EVO 4G...EVO-3D...
 
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