My friend Rebecca looked at me knowingly on Tuesday as I fiddled with the instruction packet. "Did you buy a new phone?", she asked slyly. Yup. I finally broke down, and bought a smartphone, even though I said I did not need one. I don't need one. Just because everyone else has a phone attached to their hands. Just because most people communicate through texts instead of voice calls. I still did not need a new phone.
Why did I buy one, then? My old phone still works perfectly well, although it does not keep its charge long. It is small, compact, easily fits in a pocket, and durable. I did not have to worry about scratching the screen. I did not worry if I dropped it. I still have not taken the protective plastic off of the screen of my new phone. I should also buy a case for it, just in case it leaps out of my hand. It feels so light and slippery.
I had been looking at new phones for a while, and I had said the only reason to upgrade would be to have a better camera. I am with Telus, and have been with them for six years. I have a prepaid phone plan, and I top up every 30 days with $10. Last month my balance peaked at $170. This is an indication of how often I use my phone. I did not want to give up that credit, so I decided to stay with Telus.
Telus did not have a wide selection of prepaid phones with which I could upgrade. None of the phones at their store or online had a front facing camera. Only one had a 5MP camera. I am not willing to pay $600 to $700 for a new iPhone5 or the new Samsung Galaxy. However, I had seen a phone for sale, $99, at my local grocery store. It is the Samsung Galaxy Fascinate. They had two left, and I bought both. One for me, one for my husband. He has been itching to get a phone to text with his coworkers.
I bought this phone because the price was right. The reviews were generally positive. It is not the latest phone, but it serves my purposes. It has two cameras, the rear one 5MP. I had used my husband's PSVita to Skype with my friend last weekend, and it was so much easier than messing around with the computer and hooking up the webcam. I was able to show her my house, and she showed me hers. I brought the game console to my kids. I bought a new phone for the convenience.
We could not justify upgrading to three year contracts at $50 per month per phone. Everyone jumps at this because they get this fancy phone for "free", but you pay for the phone after a year of service, and do you really need to have a data plan on your phone. Is it imperative to be able to access the internet all of the time? Smartphones usually can run off of a WiFi network. If you only need your phone for communication, you can save oodles of money on a prepaid plan.
My husband wants to be able to text his coworkers. For an extra $5 a month he can send 250 texts, and receive unlimited incoming. If he buys a $100 prepaid card, it is good for the year, and topping up before the expiry date means he keeps the credit. We can spend between $12 and $15 a month for our phones, as opposed to $50 a month, each.
I have disabled my phone's ability to use the cell network to access the internet. In Settings -> Wireless and network -> Mobile networks uncheck Use packet data. The phone will not use the data network. At home, my phone works off of the internet through WiFi. Elsewhere, it works as a phone. I can use apps that do not need internet access. I can make calls, send texts, and receive them. I changed the settings because somehow, when my wireless network was slow, the phone spent $0.03 worth of data usage. I do not want accidental overages.
What Canadians pay for cellphone service has been a hot topic this week. We pay the highest rates amongst industrial countries. I realize my $0.30 a minute rate is high, but I seldom use my phone. As I said, I have accumulated credit on a $10 per month plan. If we gave up our landline, I might look into a contract, but I still see the value in a pay as you go plan. If you need to get more texts, pay $5 a month. I still see no reason to have a data plan on my phone, other than being able to access a navigation service. My husband would need it, not I.
For now, I am limiting the games and apps I download onto the phone. I have an iPad already. I do like the option of downloading Android apps. My husband was joking we would need a separate bag to carry all our electronics. PS3, PSVita, iPad, iPod nano, Nintendo DS, digital camera, HD video camera and now a Samsung phone each. None of these belong to our children. We have not broken down and started buying them gadgets, yet. Bad enough we have all these things for ourselves. Although, I only bought the phones. I won the iPod, and the iPad was a gift.
This is the problem of a society that has little delayed gratification. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em...
http://www.androidbugle.com/2011/07/samsung-galaxy-s-fascinate-4g-review.html
Posted with Blogsy
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