Anyone else done the down grade from a smart phone back to a 'normal' mobile. I for one am thinking about it.
I have a Galaxy S3 which is a suberb phone and has so many advantages but I seem to be spending more and more time on the damn thing, it's taken over my life. Gone are the days of reading books and looking at maps. I'm hankering for the good old days and thinking of dusting off my Nokia 6300. Having instant google/internet isn't a good thing, I'm sure its not healthy. Neither is constant watch forums, expensive.
Even writing this on my android seems a crazy way to pass time.
It drives me nuts seeing people on their phone all the time and I've turned into one of them. I think they make you anti-social.
So has anyone else taken the plunge, I'm thinking of a months initial trail with my trusty old Nokia.
I have never bought a smartphone, and have no desire to own one, for precisely the reasons you mention. I have a colleague who thinks I live in the dark ages, he's always glued to his which I find quite antisocial. I'm no technophobe but I would prefer to spend my money and time on other things.
My mates done it and loves it. Only charges his every four days.
Sadly not viable for me as I need access to internet for work.....
What an interesting thread!
I use my iPhone a lot, but never anti socially. However, this thread is making me consider just how powerful a force it has become in my life, and whether I am happy about that.
I loved my Nokia 8310 back in the day.
Why not just turn off 'data' on your existing phone? That will make it a dumb phone soon enough.
(And you will still have the option of a data connection if you were to get really lost, for example).
Have considered it. Find myself constantly on phone on forums or surfing. Not healthy.
Pain in the ass battery life aswell !
I like the theory but I'd only last a day. I don't use mine for social media and all that, but maps, shopping, banking, research on the go..... I've just got too used to it now.
I've got a old nokia for work, I leave my smart phone in my office draw 90% of time now, I feel so much better without it
Cant imagine why on earth would i want to do that. Rss readerz gmail, google finance, tapatalk, weather forecast+meteo radar, maps and navi, web browser, googledocs, and the list goes on and on.....
My stupid spam hands have been as clumsy as ever and I have wound up breaking my smart phone beyond repair. Ive been using a nokia pay as you go from tesco that cost 9 quid new. Remarkably as its not that bad.
I have 2 young kids and I definetly feel more connected to them as when in play parks I cant sit and look on my phone whilst they amuse themselves, so im more hands on. Its extremely frustrating not to have gps and mobile internet though, even if its just to find out telephone numbers and opening hours etc. I spend less time looking on here which is probably healthier for conversation, but all in all I do need the added bonus of extra connectivity.
Steve
Me too........ :(Originally Posted by TheFlyingBanana
Nokia 8210 never bettered
I'd like to, if I can find a decent spec "normal" phone that I can still use for internet tethering if I need to use the laptop, and I can sync my Google contacts to.
No idea what model it is.... But my sister gave it to me years ago.... Still going strong no desire to downgrade to a smart phone..:)
My dad has a cheap mobile with huge buttons, one colour screen and a battery that last seven day minimum! Makes calls and receives calls. Dad loves it! Even has a torch and SOS button that calls my mobile?
I broke my smartphone the other day.
I replaced it with an old Blackberry which does nothing except calls and text.
Wonderful.
It's fascinating how we have become dependent on what the smart phone offers. I agree with many in here how I 'need' and use it everyday. It's become a multipurpose tool but I'm starting to think it's taken over. How many of us have been in a conversation and googled something you're talking about to clarify a point. I do it all the time and it's becoming a little tedious now.
Just one month cold turkey, how hard can it be...
I've been using this since '08. It still works like the day I got it. The battery is showing its age, charge only lasts a few days now, but that still trumps modern smart phones. It is also mde of proper materials, stainless still, sapphire coated glass, OLED screen, no cheap materials here.
I have no desire to "upgrade" to a smart phone.
I'm dreading the day it dies or I break it, as it likely going to cost a fair chunk to replace it with an as like new model as is mine.
It might be a bias opinion, but it terms of looks there isn't anything new that can touch it.
The Nokia 8800 Arte.
Last edited by SeanST150; 30th July 2014 at 21:27.
Have HTC smartphone but most of the time using SONIM XP 3300 Force (booth phones share the same number)
The best "normal" phone ever made IMHO.
http://www.sonimtech.com/xp3300/xp3300_force.php
I know I'm too reliant on mine... But, it's just so useful... I think I'd struggle without it
Not using it so much is down to discipline.... I'm not very disciplined :(
I agree entirely. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Someone suggests turning off mobile data and hey presto you've a dumb phone. Now whats the likelihood of it staying switched off. Absolutely zero
I'm TikTokTrev and I'm a smartphoneaholic....I feel better for that!
To my shame I doubt I'd get past breakfast on the first day.
the ultimate anti smart phone .....http://www.johnsphones.com/store/joh...usiness/item45
Last edited by I AM LATE!; 30th July 2014 at 23:10.
I resisted the whole smartphone for a long time. Eventually gave in and got an iPhone, due to pressure from friends, the gf, etc.
Yes it's very useful - but I feel like I'm tied to the thing now - it takes over your life!
Sometimes I yearn for the days of the 3310. Charge it once a week, use it to make calls and texts and play snake - what more could you want?!
I sometimes yearn for the days when mobile phones didn't exist. Sometimes.
This!
The days you could work without clients calling on your cell to ask a lot of rubbish.
It breaks your concentration and makes you less productive. However, you're expected to be available all the time.
Ah yes, those good old days before smartphones when everyone was friendly and chatted and life was rosy...
I Think they are long gone now........sorry to see, but i got one.
I am a proud "dump-phone" user, and have had one Iphone 4s for a month..........returned it back, i am old school.........
Hans.
Dumb phone and a tablet is a great combo. Far more likely to leave the tablet at home when you don't need it.
Burn the heretics!
F.T.F.A.
Now and then I pick up an old Nokia and marvel at battery life and downright durability, but now my phone is my everyday camera, last week sitting in a hospital waiting room I started reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on said phone, a few weeks earlier I listened to a BBC series of Paul Temple which I had popped on to my phone last year, if I want to check train times, move money between accounts, get directions, check tide times yes you've guessed it, I use my phone,
Since taking a pause from the work thing I have found I don´t even need a mobile. I was on the beach yesterday playing with my son when I noticed just how many teenagers and adults were sitting down hunched over their smart phones frantically sexting or twatting or whatever it is they do nowadays. It was a beautiful day, and I thought what a shame they´re missing it. Is a virtual/digital life so much better than this one? Or is it somehow more compelling? I think perhaps excessive smart phone use maybe a kind of techno narcissism.
I've never owned a smartphone, the one I have just makes calls, doesn't even have a camera.
I know a lot of people that use them for business and IMO they just chain them even more to the company so in reality there is no "free time" at all.
Cheers,
Neil.
It's fantastic observations like this that make me want to downgrade. It's such a shame that in my opinion people are missing life staring into their phone. You see it everywhere and it's not just the kids. I agree that they're really useful and I too have tried to give it up only to swap back before breakfast as someone else confessed to. Its an addiction.
Nokia 6300 come to mama. For a month anyway
Pictures or it didn't happen.
My new edc
To be fair I agree with much that's been said here, I rarely pick my phone up when I'm at home, often don't take it with me if I go for a pint, never have it with me on the beach, its a 21st century tool, unfortunately for some its their whole world.
Ahhhhh! The good old days of long battery life and plenty of room in your pockets:-
Mike
There is a paraogxal relation between technological and social development. Appearantly not a positive one.
Fascinating to read up about it; it seems to start with the development of stone tool working technology.
On topic I refused to use a mobile phone privately for a long time. I had one for work in the car, a beeper and that was it.
When I moved over here I was norally forced to carry one along on solo trips into the mountains. It reassured the home front. I still have the rubberised Nokia I then bought. The same battery still lasts 4 days.
Both my gfs have a smart phone - tablet combo. They need those for (net)work(ing) and are hovering on the edge of being ant-social with it, Not in my company though as we are then out for some real life living.
They both are almost dependant on these gadgets for info and getting about. Whereas there is no doubt that the internet is gréat for knowing where things are; what is organised when and where, there is no substitute for basic skills and common sense. They are amused/impressed about me finding my way more reliably every time they are helpless when the gadets fail, have no connection or what which happens rather frequently even within síght of the beaten tracks.
I make a point of teaching my 12 y.o. son basic skills too so the modern tech is an aíd and not making him helplessly dependant.
I have the internet on everywhere. It's a nightmare. I am addicted to it, and it's not porn, which I see every so often, wife out permitting :), as have got bored of that a decade or so ago. It's either watch forums, car sites, and videogames. It's a nightmare, as it seems to have taken over.
Or just use self control.
Unless you plan to 'Evangelise' a start a movement to get other people to stop using smart phones etc the best you can hope for is to reduce your usage.
No need to loose the functionality just use it when you feel appropriate.
Never had a smart phone, never seen the need.
A mobile phone for me is simply that, a device for making essential phone calls when I`m out and about. I`ve never got into the culture of mobiles and the addiction that seems to go with it. I see people walking around using their phones all the time and I can`t help wondering why they do it.
In the early days of mobiles, they were seen as a 'cool' item; nowadays I think the opposite is true.
Paul
They have their uses. I love music so it's nice not to have a separate mp3 player, a camera with you can be useful, I photograph parking tickets in my non-secure classic car and on occasions it can be useful to look stuff up on the web when you are out.
You don't have to let it take over your life. The problem is as much social networking (in it's wider sense, not just FB & Twitter but forums and texting too) as the platform you are accessing through.
I was just thinking on going dark last week and dropping off the smart phone grid after I spotted some new old stock Nokia 6700 Classics on Ebay. It was also a recent move to HTC One M8 which is just that bit bigger and was thinking about a more compact 'comms device'.
But I'm a complete information whore and always looking at reviews, stats, blogs on my favourite topics of golf, footie, cars and watches. Would I really be missing out on anything if I resorted to magazines and books, probably not but its still fun. I also like having instand access to a half decent camera on family trips.
I really try and not let it take over my life especially at home but do find myself browsing whilst sitting on the sofa watching TV which annoys me and make a conscious effort to put it down if there is something good on. Seems just rude if someone has bothered to make a really good show I only watch it half heartedly.
Apart from anything it irks me that the wife seems to be completely glued to it in the evening when I get home. I think it helps her wind down but I just don't get it when the final episode of Breaking Bad is playing and she's on Facebook/CandyCrush etc.
Really tempted to try it for a month and see how I feel..................lost I suspect.
The good old rugged Nokia 5140 is very much for sale, no sim et al: http://www.mphone.co.uk/nokia/5140i.html
The added functionality of mobile tech is gréat but when you cannot ´live´ without it, that is called dependancy which imo cannot be good and it certainly is narrowing one´s field of vision.
There is no substitue for being able to navigate yourself on real land, communicate with real people, live an active real life, have real sex etc.
To those dependant of the virtual world; there is whole world of shops, bars, restaurants and what not out there nót listed in google. Often more interesting too and with much more variety than the cloned franchise world.
It is quite worrying sometimes to note how dependant people can be of this mobile tech and instant availability:
Even though I carry my mobile for at best 5% of my waking hours and the handfull of people whom have my number knów that, they can still get totally upset when they cannot reach me for things that never ever have real urgency.
Anyway, coming weekend will be off into the inland. I will take my 5140 but most of the trip will be without coverage. Wonderfull time for oneself (and real live company) in an all existential, real world.
Yup, wife got a new PAYG a couple of weeks ago for £8 with free £10 credit in the Orange shop.
So basically cost minus £2.
Cheers,
Neil.
I do like the older phones, but this caught my eye...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nokia-8800...item27e87386e8
"never used", "chinese, i don't know", blemished menu button"
How do you think the blemish got there buddy... use? :)
My trusty 6303c is my back up phone, 5 days battery, fab!
Pointless...just exercise some self discipline if you think it's bad etiquette to be on your phone the whole day.
I am in the process of doing exactly this.
I currently have a BlackBerry Q10 and have obtained a Nokia 515 for when my contract ends (shortly). The 515 does do Facebook, Twitter, email, etc but only when you actually run it so it doesn't hassle the user with notifications so that looks just the job.
The 515 is currently working and I have been running the two in parallel, the Q10 needs charging every two days, the 515 every two weeks, that's with medium use on both!
I'm looking forward to the switch.
Regards
Jason
Prefer to use one of these, the trusty Nokia 6310i, black and gold
Also have the silver version ( complete kit) will be sending in for a software upgrade, great phones and I believe our host uses the very same:)
silver
Last edited by shaney; 31st July 2014 at 20:54. Reason: picture
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