4Real Forums: smartphone

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

Active Topics || Favorites || Member List || Search || About Us || Help || Register || Login

Tea and Conversation ( Forum Locked)
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation

Topic: smartphone

Author

Message

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Barb.b
Forum All-Star

Joined: June 22 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748

Posted: May 16 2013 at 10:13am \| IP Logged

Do you have a smartphone and why or why not. . .

Barb

JodieLyn
Forum Moderator

Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234

Posted: May 16 2013 at 11:49am \| IP Logged

Not - the extra $30 a month charge per phone just to own it.. whether you use any of the connections or not. I'd love to have one that I could sync to google calendar. But not necessarily to surf the web but there's no option like that.

__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4

All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott

Martha
Forum All-Star

Joined: Aug 25 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2291

Posted: May 16 2013 at 11:57am \| IP Logged

Yes and I love it! I am no longer tied down and at the mercy of a desktop PC. It's within our price range. It's easier for our family to coordinate our schedules and stay in touch. I have just about anything I need to know, from directions, to phone numbers, to prayers and dictionaries readily available almost no matter where I am.

__________________
Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!

Barb.b
Forum All-Star

Joined: June 22 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748

Posted: May 16 2013 at 12:13pm \| IP Logged

Well, I'll answer too - I don't have one. I actually pay $30 month for my cell phone plan and just can't get myself to sign up for the typical smartphone plan (from what I understand would be AT LEAST $90 per month).

Just wondering becuase when I pull out my little ole flip phone I sometimes get - oh you NEED a smartphone!

Barb

Booksnbabes
Forum All-Star

Joined: July 20 2008
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4141

Posted: May 16 2013 at 12:57pm \| IP Logged

I have one, and it works well for us and our on-the-go lifestyle (not in town, we routinely travel 60+ miles). It is so nice to have calendar, email, and maps all right there in one compact package. There have been many times when we have been in unfamiliar areas and being able to find a restaurant or a phone number has been a blessing. Initially we got it because we were in transition and did not have Internet at home, and we were without for over a year, so in that time it was invaluable for keeping up with area homeschool happenings, etc.

Dh has a basic phone, and that works well for him because he is not generally with us on our travels and has Internet all the time at work.

We are looking at heading into another transition time, so it will again be my primary Internet. I would say for us right now it is an invaluable tool.

__________________
Wife to wonderful DH, mom to SIX beautiful gifts from God!

Betsy
Forum All-Star

Joined: July 02 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1962

Posted: May 16 2013 at 1:25pm \| IP Logged

I have a $15 a month plan from Sienna Communications, a wonderful Pro-Life, Catholic Company. We have used them for years.

I, too, have been getting harassed lately for not texting or having an iphone. I am considering a possible upgrade with Sienna because they don't have a contract so there isn't a long term financial commitment.

__________________
ImmaculataDesigns.com
When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!

CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator

Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385

Posted: May 16 2013 at 1:58pm \| IP Logged

I don't because of the added monthly cost. If I were busier outside the house, I might get it for directions on the road, but then, a dedicated GPS would be much more affordable, so I would probably do that (probably NEED to do that--I get lost so often

).

Right now, I pay $10 a month for a GoPhone so I have something in case of emergency on the road. Dh has a smartphone because, as a property manager, he really needs to be easily accessible all the time, and the expectations surrounding his other work responsibilities seemed to call for the added capabilities of a smartphone as well.

Frankly, there are just a lot of other things I'd rather spend $80 a month on.

__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony

[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR

pumpkinmom
Forum All-Star

Joined: March 28 2012
Location: Missouri
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1028

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:01pm \| IP Logged

No, because we can't afford it. I have no need for one either. I've never wished or had a need for one no matter what my smartphone friends think.

Yes, I'm harassed about it too.

__________________
Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch

JennGM
Forum Moderator

Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:17pm \| IP Logged

I'll be the lone voice and say, yes, I have an iPhone, and I love it! Do I absolutely need it? No, but now that we have it, we utilize it and I find it very handy.

Dh and I both have iPhones. Mine got stolen earlier this year, and after about a week, dh replaced it because he missed being able to contact me!

I use it as our main camera and GPS. It's a point of connection so I can check email and text messages, especially between me and my husband. After JenMack had some serious tornadoes and lost power for a while, she really convinced me that an iPhone was great for emergency reasons, also. (I can't find that thread, sorry folks!)

Also, since we do travel often, it is very, very useful.

And then there are the apps. I use a lot of my prayer apps daily on my phone, like Divine Office and Magnificat, and listen to the podcasts of the readings of the day.

But I will say we have no other electronic devices except our computer -- no iPods, no ebook readers, no tablets. I'd love to get an iPad, but for now this iPhone is very usual.

And dh and I use it as our tools. We do not let the children use it.

__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to

& ds1

'03 & ds2

'07
Family in Feast and Feria

MarilynW
Forum All-Star

Joined: June 28 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4275

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:30pm \| IP Logged

I don't have one either. I don't need one, nor do I want one. And I certainly would not want to pay the monthly costs. I have my 10 year old tracfone which costs me less than $10/month. I only use it when I am out of the house, and only family and a few friends have my number. I can text but only text my children when they are away overnight, or my husband at work.

The only thing I feel I would like a smartphone for is for the camera - the quality of the i-phone photos is awesome, and I never seem to have a camera in my hand for the many Kodak moments during the day.

I actually feel that a smartphone would stress me out - I do not want to be constantly available and plugged in. I am trying to slow down and be more patient and deliberate in everything I do.

As my older kids need phones (driving/work etc) - they get tracfones - and they pay for their own minutes! And for critics who say that kids need to know the technology - I don't think they will have a problem as they are born wired - my 3 year old (who would LOVE an i-phone!!!) plays with the phones of my kids' friends - and she can use one with no problem. When she was 2, she managed to do some facebook postings and send emails from my daughter's friend's phone!!!

__________________
Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God

DominaCaeli
Forum All-Star

Joined: April 24 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3711

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:39pm \| IP Logged

JennGM wrote:

I use it as our main camera and GPS. It's a point of connection so I can check email and text messages, especially between me and my husband.
...
Also, since we do travel often, it is very, very useful.

And then there are the apps. I use a lot of my prayer apps daily on my phone, like Divine Office and Magnificat, and listen to the podcasts of the readings of the day.
...
And dh and I use it as our tools. We do not let the children use it.

Agree with all this! I held out on a smartphone because of the monthly cost, but then my husband got one at work...and he decided it was so useful that I should get one as well.

If we were trying to cut costs, I could certainly do without it, but it would be one of the last "luxuries" to go.

I too use it for my main camera (including videocamera!) and GPS--so handy to have those with me all the time. I use the Google Books app for having some of our school work with us on the go, and I also have field guides on there. I keep all my homeschool plans on Evernote and my personal agenda on Google Calendar, so I have those wherever I am too. I also have all my shopping lists, to-do lists and whatnot available when I'm shopping. I take it on my long runs and the GPS tracks my route while I use it to listen to mp3s. And I text, make calls, and check my email too, of course! My only caution would be that once you do get one, it's very hard to go back.

__________________
Blessings,
Celeste
Joyous Lessons

Mommy to six: three boys (8, 4, newborn) and four girls (7, 5, 2, and 1)

CrunchyMom
Forum Moderator

Joined: Sept 03 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6385

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:40pm \| IP Logged

MarilynW wrote:

The only thing I feel I would like a smartphone for is for the camera - the quality of the i-phone photos is awesome, and I never seem to have a camera in my hand for the many Kodak moments during the day.

Yes. Even if it were just to make it easier to share moments from our day with dh, the camera and being able to send pictures is my one regret in not having a phone with a data plan.

Though, I have an iPad, and I do text dh's iPhone with that (you can message between Apple devices), and while my iPad is a first generation without a camera, an iPad or iPod Touch would be a good compromise for someone who wanted to be able to utilize most of these capabilities (Calendar synching, etc...) via WiFi but not need the phone capabilities while out and about.

__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony

[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR

Betsy
Forum All-Star

Joined: July 02 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1962

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:41pm \| IP Logged

Am I hijacking by asking if ya'll have either a iphone or a android (are those the only two ??)?

Thanks!

__________________
ImmaculataDesigns.com
When handcrafting my work, I always pray that it will raise your heart to all that is true, modest, just, holy, lovely and good fame!

JennGM
Forum Moderator

Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:41pm \| IP Logged

Oh, yes, the calendar feature, and my contacts. It shares with my Outlook and Google and I have all my life in one little phone even when I'm out. So useful.

And I use it all the time for reminders to pray and appointments. The bells ring my duties for the day.

__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to

& ds1

'03 & ds2

'07
Family in Feast and Feria

JennGM
Forum Moderator

Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:44pm \| IP Logged

Betsy wrote:

Am I hijacking by asking if ya'll have either a iphone or a android (are those the only two ??)?

Thanks!

There are many. I have the Apple iPhone. My sister had an Android and switched to iPhone and prefers the iPhone.

Basically, more apps available for Apple devices, and less drama with viruses and such with other kinds. That's my reasoning.

__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to

& ds1

'03 & ds2

'07
Family in Feast and Feria

DominaCaeli
Forum All-Star

Joined: April 24 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3711

Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:49pm \| IP Logged

I have an Android and love it. (Not personally a fan of Apple in general.

) My husband had an iPhone for work, then switched to an Android, and he hasn't noticed much of a difference. But really, any kind of smartphone (Android or Apple) will do all the things mentioned here.

__________________
Blessings,
Celeste
Joyous Lessons

Mommy to six: three boys (8, 4, newborn) and four girls (7, 5, 2, and 1)

Mackfam
Board Moderator

Non Nobis

Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656

Posted: May 16 2013 at 6:51pm \| IP Logged

Have an iphone and LOVE it!!! We actually have 3 iphones in our family - mine, my dh, and our teen dd.

Necessary - no way! But useful tool - ABSOLUTELY!

WHY I LIKE MY iphone:

:: Apps can be extremely useful! I have several that are favorites - like Cozi (I use the free version! Can't tell you how great it is to have teen/dh/myself all coordinated with grocery lists and varying needs!)

:: Photos and the ability to easily and quickly text pics/video to family.

:: Texting is quick and works great for me when I don't have time for a full convo, but need to ask a quick question or just say hi to someone.

:: I love having ical (calendar app just like google cal) and sharing various calendars within our family. We share a few calendars with each other, but the ones that are most helpful are church, family, and appointments. I enjoy my own time management reminder calendar because if I'm having trouble being faithful to a particular event each day, I can just have my phone send me a series of reminder alarms to help me set a good habit. Very, very helpful!

:: News apps - I don't have tons of free time, but I do like keeping up with headlines. I have a couple of news apps I really like.

:: Weather apps - more on that below!

:: Maps/GPS have been super helpful for me! Love the traffic indicator that overlays a route - it has saved me from sitting in traffic gridlock a number of times!

:: iheartradio allows me to listen to talk radio wherever I am!

:: Comparison shopping - if I'm out and find something I think *might* be a good deal, I can instantly search the item on the internet to see how the price I've found compares. There are also price comparison shopper apps that specifically help with this.

:: I enjoy having a convenient and handy way to stay connected to some social media I enjoy.

:: I can get my email on my phone, which is super handy when we travel, are out for the day, or for some reason can't access our home email.

:: Jenn mentioned our emergency situation with tornadoes a couple of years ago. We lost power for a week, as well as land line phone lines. We couldn't use our cell phone as a phone for several days because so many cell towers were down...but the bandwidth for a text was just small enough to make it out. Through our phones we were able to text and communicate to our family that we were ok. In addition, during the tornadoes, we had no power and though we did have a solar powered radio which was a huge help, we also could use our phones to see the radar and see when we were under the gun. There were gas shortages, too, and the map apps helped us locate gas stations we could go to. The ability to get online was also helpful in reading about news, hearing about curfews, etc. After that, my husband and I always considered that those phones were a key part of our survival plan. Do we count on them - no. But, they offer many tools to help in a number of survival circumstances.

:: Perhaps one of my favorite reasons for having and making use of a smart phone is that it helps our family stay connected. Between our calendar apps, lists we have on Cozi, texting, pictures, reminders and alarms - it can be a very useful tool for helping a family remain connected and communicating with ease and efficiency.

Certainly, many of the tools I've mentioned have their stand-alone counterpart - for example, I have a timer app I just LOVE on my iphone, but I could use a simple timer for this. I could use a separate GPS. I could put my grocery lists on a post-it. BUT...one of the reasons the smartphone works so well for me is that all these tools fit handily on one device.

No one should feel pressured to get a smartphone!!! Our family has found that a smartphone is a very useful tool.

__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19

, ds 16

, ds 11

, dd 8

, and dd 3

Wildflowers and Marbles

3ringcircus
Forum Pro

Joined: Dec 15 2011
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 420

Posted: May 16 2013 at 6:55pm \| IP Logged

I have an iphone. I use it to read books (kindle), access our specialized food list for Feingold while I'm shopping, and as an alarm clock. I use the email & calendar functions too, and other functions when we travel. I had an older Droid phone, but switched to the iphone because of the better camera. I think the data plan is an extra $10 per. month on our family plan w/ Verizon, so somewhat costly, but not insanely so. I got the previous gen. (4S) so it wasn't too expensive to buy, especially considering I needed to replace our point & shoot camera. The kids aren't allowed to use it.

__________________
Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
Started HS in Fall'12

Martha
Forum All-Star

Joined: Aug 25 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2291

Posted: May 16 2013 at 6:56pm \| IP Logged

I have an iPhone. Actually we have a crazy awesome phone contract that we will renew until death if they let us, so we actually have 4 iPhones. Mine, dh, and the two oldest teens.

I love it for all the reasons Jen states and more I can't even think of at the moment.

__________________
Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!

stefoodie
Forum Moderator

Joined: Feb 17 2005
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8457

Posted: May 17 2013 at 7:33am \| IP Logged

i have a smartphone. resisted getting one the past few years because i THOUGHT we were required to get a data plan along with it. my brother told me no because he was able to do it, but the words on the website were confusing "data service required". turns out i COULD have the smartphone without getting data service. "data service required" just means, if there's no data service, you probably can't do anything requiring data transfers. which means you can still use it as a regular phone. so i got one. $150 for a previously $400+ phone. i LOVE it. and it's an Android, so i've got all my stuff loaded in there (except Evernote 'cause that would kill it, as i have 5000+ notes). i LOVE that i can do many things i need to do and not have to sit at the pc most of the day, which annoys my kids (i don't blame them) and makes me feel really guilty.

__________________
stef

mom to five

Page of 3 Next >>
[Add this topic to My Favorites]

Printable version

Forum Jump

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Hosting and Support provided by theNetSmith.com