No escaping the smart phone
Feb. 26th, 2012 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflydreamingWe bought new phones. These: the Samsung Stratosphere.
I have been contemplating the simplicity of a basic phone. I was going to downgrade to one, as long as 1)it saved money on the monthly bill and 2)I could get an acceptable model for free.
As it turns out, mobile phone companies don't want new customers on basic phones. The Sprint store (we were weighing switching) didn't even have any basic phones on display. The ones at Verizon, our current service provider, looked cheaply made and flimsy. They weren't free, either.
We've been considering our options for a couple of months. Today we finalized those considerations, after visiting the two stores and going back to our online options. D was able to try out the Stratosphere at the store; he liked the physical keyboard and the size. In the shop, it was a $99 phone after rebate. I wasn't in love with anything, but since our Erises are badly out of date, I was looking at the free upgrade smartphones, too.
I will be getting the same phone as D. Why? Because the first one was much cheaper online than at the store, and the second one was FREE with the purchase of the first. D gets an upgrade he will like, and I get a good phone for free. I just could not turn down that bargain. (It's a very nice looking phone, even if not my ideal.) We spend just over $54 today to get both, with free two day shipping. After they arrive and we set them up, we're going to poke at our plan again and see if we can still lower it another $10 - $30 per month by changing how we are charged for texts and photos.
It's funny, though. There just doesn't seem to be a sensible escape from a smartphone. I would have to make a stubborn decision, not much different from getting a land line. And a land line would even be practical, because it would function in most disaster situations (storms, earthquake) that would knock out cellular. Hmph.
I have been contemplating the simplicity of a basic phone. I was going to downgrade to one, as long as 1)it saved money on the monthly bill and 2)I could get an acceptable model for free.
As it turns out, mobile phone companies don't want new customers on basic phones. The Sprint store (we were weighing switching) didn't even have any basic phones on display. The ones at Verizon, our current service provider, looked cheaply made and flimsy. They weren't free, either.
We've been considering our options for a couple of months. Today we finalized those considerations, after visiting the two stores and going back to our online options. D was able to try out the Stratosphere at the store; he liked the physical keyboard and the size. In the shop, it was a $99 phone after rebate. I wasn't in love with anything, but since our Erises are badly out of date, I was looking at the free upgrade smartphones, too.
I will be getting the same phone as D. Why? Because the first one was much cheaper online than at the store, and the second one was FREE with the purchase of the first. D gets an upgrade he will like, and I get a good phone for free. I just could not turn down that bargain. (It's a very nice looking phone, even if not my ideal.) We spend just over $54 today to get both, with free two day shipping. After they arrive and we set them up, we're going to poke at our plan again and see if we can still lower it another $10 - $30 per month by changing how we are charged for texts and photos.
It's funny, though. There just doesn't seem to be a sensible escape from a smartphone. I would have to make a stubborn decision, not much different from getting a land line. And a land line would even be practical, because it would function in most disaster situations (storms, earthquake) that would knock out cellular. Hmph.