Do you have a smartphone (Iphone, Blackberry etc?)

20301 Views 52 Replies 35 Participants Last post by m3s, Aug 24, 2011

canabiz

Discussion Starter · Jul 17, 2009

Do you have one?

How much has it helped you/made your life easier? and in what way? Do you justify spending the monthly fees on it or do you get it through work?

I have been eyeing the new iPhone, sure it's nice to have but to me it's more of a want vs. need thing. Do I want one, absolutely. Do I need one? Not at the moment.

21 - 40 of 53 Posts

martinv

· #21 · Oct 3, 2009

I just re read my post and realize how many different ways posts come across. I wrote it a bit in jest but it truly is a wonderful situation. I also realize that work is a neccessary in order to be able to build capital and enjoy life. For those still working, the smart phones are probably a terrific invention but I do wonder sometimes if they ever turn them off. Thinking of their relationship with their spouse/partner here. This will be our tenth winter in Baja and since I turned 60 as well, the CPP monthly deposit of $98 will be welcomed. No, you can't always calculate retirement using the maximums.

Berubeland

· #22 · Oct 3, 2009

Yep you sure got it. As property manager on call I'm supposed to be married to my phone. I have to admit i am very forgetful with my phone at times. Like sometimes I forget it where I can't hear it. I'm not that essential really.

If there's a fire call the fire dept
If there's a burglar call the police
If someone's sick call the ambulance
If someone's dead it's not an emergency either death is permanent and I will be notified when I pick up my messages

My phone rings a lot so not answering the phone is an essential skill at times. It is essential to shut it off at times.

I'm so jealous of you being on the beach, SO jealous

fredos417

· #23 · Oct 11, 2009

I'm planning to get an iPhone by the end of the month. Although it is more expensive than a regular phone the additional cost is offset by the productivity gains that the device delivers.

brad

· #24 · Oct 12, 2009

fredos417 said:
I'm planning to get an iPhone by the end of the month. Although it is more expensive than a regular phone the additional cost is offset by the productivity gains that the device delivers.

While that might sound like rationalization, I think it's true. I have both an iPod Touch and a Nokia E71 smartphone. The E71 is regarded by many people (including many Nokia employees) as the best phone Nokia has ever produced. But after using it for the past four or five months, I can see why the iPhone is so popular. The Nokia's easy to use for the most basic functions (dialing and answering calls, writing text messages, getting your voicemail, taking photos), but you practically need an IT degree to do anything more advanced than that. And Nokia's counterpart to Apple's app store is cumbersome to use; I couldn't even get it to connect and gave up. Furthermore, when you plug the phone into your computer you get a bunch of unexplained options for how to connect (USB mass storage device, connect via Nokia's PC Connect software, etc.) and they don't work correctly. If you're want to update your phone with PC Connect and choose PC Connect mode, the computer shows the phone as unrecognized and it doesn't appear in PC Connect. Little glitches like that keep coming up and I've basically given up on using this expensive smartphone for anything but the most simple tasks that I could accomplish with a $20 cellphone. I like it and intend to keep it, but consider it a waste of money.

With the iPhone, everything just works; it's intuitive and simple enough to figure out on your own. And that's what people need: nobody has time to sit down and read through pages of instructions.

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Berubeland

· #25 · Oct 14, 2009

Plus the iphone is cool

canadianbanks

· #26 · Oct 15, 2009

I bought an iPhone, and the phone is simply great. I stopped carrying laptop when going on vacation

.

riuxspi

· #27 · Oct 29, 2009

canadianbanks said:
I bought an iPhone, and the phone is simply great. I stopped carrying laptop when going on vacation .

With the iPhone, everything just works; it's intuitive and simple enough to figure out on your own. And that's what people need: nobody has time to sit down and read through pages of instructions.
___________________
Assurance retraite vie complementaire fr | Vie assurance retraite complementaire fr

Dr_V

· #28 · Oct 29, 2009

canabiz said:
Do you have one?

How much has it helped you/made your life easier? and in what way? Do you justify spending the monthly fees on it or do you get it through work?

I would love to own a smart phone (from a purely "gadget-phile" perspective), but I can't justify the fees given that:

- They're nowhere near my price-point, and I just can't justify such high costs.

- I have access to both a landline telephone and Internet service for most of the day.

- When I'm not at home or at work, I don't usually want to be contacted anyway.

-Kris

(Disclaimer: I do own a cellphone, but it's of the pay-as-you-go type, and I use it only very sparingly to make a couple of short phone calls per year.)

Ben

· #29 · Jan 5, 2010

Dr_V said:
I would love to own a smart phone (from a purely "gadget-phile" perspective), but I can't justify the fees given that:

- They're nowhere near my price-point, and I just can't justify such high costs.

- I have access to both a landline telephone and Internet service for most of the day.

- When I'm not at home or at work, I don't usually want to be contacted anyway.

-Kris

(Disclaimer: I do own a cellphone, but it's of the pay-as-you-go type, and I use it only very sparingly to make a couple of short phone calls per year.)

I'll save some ink, and ditto the above.

Although, those iPhones sure are neat. Imagine being in a different town and knowing where the nearest Tim Horton's is within seconds, with the Timmy's app.

WhiteRockFinancialPlanner

· #30 · Jan 5, 2010

Phone cost and preferences

I used to have an HTC but switched to a Blackberry. Frankly.... MUCH BETTER. I don't do contracts anymore and buy my slightly used phones on ebay. I sold my last phone for what I bought it for and replaced it with a used Blackberry for the same price.

I use my cell less than 50 minutes a month. I'm usually in my office during the day. I can text and call unlimited after 5pm with Fido (they've since changed the unlimited calling times). $30 / month all in including VM. To me that is already too much.

Don't get hooked with those "free phones" even if it's an iphone. You will pay the full price of the phone it will just take 2 or 3 years to do it. In the end, you are paying.

ssimps

· #31 · Jan 6, 2010

I have a crackberry and a few of the people on the office do too.

I've had one for 7 years or more I would guess, and do find it extemely useful for dealing with email and office communication when I travel, which is all over NA and Europe, although I'm traveling less now with a family that includes 3 kids.

When in the office, how much time is wasted on it is probably high and the more gadgets the more wasted time from a work day point of view IMO.

John_Michaels

· #32 · Jan 6, 2010

Ben said:
I'll save some ink, and ditto the above.

Although, those iPhones sure are neat. Imagine being in a different town and knowing where the nearest Tim Horton's is within seconds, with the Timmy's app.

Agreed with Ben & Dr_V. I have a cell phone through work and it's only for work. I believe if someone travels a lot for work,a smart phone is a mandatory tool, otherwise it's a toy. For my personal life, I currently don't need a cell phone and can't imagine the need for a smart phone. If I get one, it will be pay per use. My mind boggles at the ~$1,000+/- per year that people pay for a personal BB.

Berubeland

· #33 · Jan 6, 2010

I pay more than that for my iphone and even for a cheapo like me it's a great deal because it is a mobile office.

I have chosen to have unlimited everything but I would rather have a fixed cost than pay the crazy rates cell phone companies charge when you go over your limit or god forbid you call long distance. I manage a property out in Oshawa and just calling people when I was there was costing me a fortune.

ssimps

· #34 · Jan 6, 2010

Berubeland said:
I pay more than that for my iphone and even for a cheapo like me it's a great deal because it is a mobile office.

I have chosen to have unlimited everything but I would rather have a fixed cost than pay the crazy rates cell phone companies charge when you go over your limit or god forbid you call long distance. I manage a property out in Oshawa and just calling people when I was there was costing me a fortune.

Go Blackberry; go Canadian!

Really just posting this so it shows up as the last updated message on the forum front page for this section and the closed thread can start lowering itself naturally.

high octane

· #35 · Jan 6, 2010

I have a BB curve from work and I love it. It because it keeps me informed while I'm traveling and I don't have to call the office. It also gives me something to do at times, or I can look busy/important during awkward times LOL

Several people I work with carry the BB and iPhone! I make fun of them, but I agree the iPhone is much better because of the Apps (they were ingenious to let people make their own to sell)

Maybe BB can hold on to the business market but I sure won't buy Rim stocks

high octane

· #36 · Feb 17, 2010

As much as I hate Mac and cell phone bills... I think I'm gonna crack and get an iPhone

It's obviously just too handy for someone on the go, I just never wanted the bill

I often wish I could have traded stocks on the go, and it just dawned on me that the iPhone could easily pay for itself

Racer

· #37 · Feb 17, 2010

I have both a blackberry (work) and an Iphone (personal). I could possibly give one or the other up, but can't decide which. I feel like a drug dealer sometimes, lugging around 2 phones.

The iphone has some pretty amazing apps, although I disabled data and only use the WiFi. Which is good because otherwise I wouldn't get any work done during the days...

brad

· #38 · Feb 18, 2010

Racer said:
The iphone has some pretty amazing apps, although I disabled data and only use the WiFi. Which is good because otherwise I wouldn't get any work done during the days...

My plan was to use a simple cheap cellphone for calls, and my iPod Touch for data over WiFi. That worked out pretty well, but then one day my home DSL line crapped out and it took two days for Bell to figure out what was going wrong. I work at home and can't work without an internet connection, so I added a data package to my phone plan to allow me to at least read my email and do some limited web browsing in emergencies like this.

3G access is nice to have (and Google mobile is awesome, especially with the GPS capabilities), but now I'm paying the price. I started out with a $20/month plan from Fido; now my bills are $70/month (including taxes) just because I added a data package. I only make three or four cellphone calls per month and I use the data feature maybe twice a month. So I'm going to stop the data plan and go back to $20/month. If my DSL dies again I'll just go work in the library.

maninblack

· #39 · Aug 4, 2011

brad said:
While that might sound like rationalization, I think it's true. I have both an iPod Touch and a Nokia E71 smartphone. The E71 is regarded by many people (including many Nokia employees) as the best phone Nokia has ever produced. But after using it for the past four or five months, I can see why the iPhone is so popular. The Nokia's easy to use for the most basic functions (dialing and answering calls, writing text messages, getting your voicemail, taking photos), but you practically need an IT degree to do anything more advanced than that. And Nokia's counterpart to Apple's app store is cumbersome to use; I couldn't even get it to connect and gave up. Furthermore, when you plug the phone into your computer you get a bunch of unexplained options for how to connect (USB mass storage device, connect via Nokia's PC Connect software, etc.) and they don't work correctly. If you're want to update your phone with PC Connect and choose PC Connect mode, the computer shows the phone as unrecognized and it doesn't appear in PC Connect. Little glitches like that keep coming up and I've basically given up on using this expensive smartphone for anything but the most simple tasks that I could accomplish with a $20 cellphone. I like it and intend to keep it, but consider it a waste of money. flash player download

With the iPhone, everything just works; it's intuitive and simple enough to figure out on your own. And that's what people need: nobody has time to sit down and read through pages of instructions.

Honestly I work in a company that develops applications and mostly games for Iphones, although I'm involved into this sphere I use Iphone only at work. In reality I use Android based phone and probably that's a bit more complicated but Android market allows lots of apps and software for free, with Apple the situation is different. It's not only costly to buy it, but very expensive to maintain it, of course if you'd like to use all it's functions and not simply for calling. If you need only calls then you can easily buy something less expensive, really.

awowpalmer

· #40 · Aug 11, 2011

I currently own an iPhone and I would be nothing without it!

My iCal keeps me organized and on time with all the meetings I have. Not only that, but the apps that Apple has available.

I don't know if anyone's noticed but QR codes are all around advertisements now and I find that having a smartphone will definitely be easier to get around places and also get deals with these QR codes!

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