Smartphones Losing Their Luster?

[belvdr]

I don't understand why people have to downgrade to a "dumbphone," other than joining a fad or trying to put attention to themselves.
One can use a smartphone without any of the "smart," and it will still be a great phone. Just activate the iPhone and don't download any apps. Put all built-in apps into a folder and just put phone and messages app outside the folder. Then disable data and/or notifications. Done. Compared to a dumbphone, you will still enjoy the great camera, music listening, better contacts navigation, all the stuff Steve Jobs said on the original iPhone. Better and easier to use phone. Simple as that. And you'll find without apps and data, the battery life will greatly increase.

The iPhone is just a device. It's up to us how we want to use it. Letting a thing controls you is silly, and people going back to dumbphones are just attention seekers.

I disagree. Having a smartphone usually means you must have a data plan as well. Why pay for something you won't use? I'm not hyped by phones any more. It has turned into a commodity device, just like laptops and landlines.

 

[s15119]

My solution to the $1k phone problem and just not that being interested in the advancement was to "downgrade" to an iPhone SE.

I love my SE.

 

[Sedulous]

For most smartphone manufacturers, the business is not very profitable. I think that is why Samsung is shifting priorities to profitable endeavors like components. Because for most companies, the market is not very profitable anymore, they invest less in the design. Thus less to get excited about.

 

[jeremiah256]

For most smartphone manufacturers, the business is not very profitable. I think that is why Samsung is shifting priorities to profitable endeavors like components. Because for most companies, the market is not very profitable anymore, they invest less in the design. Thus less to get excited about.

Plus, while only Apple can built an iPhone, there are a crap ton of competitors building Android handsets. China is coming on strong in the market and it does not look like Tizon will be enough of a differentiator to keep their customers.

 

[pika2000]

I disagree. Having a smartphone usually means you must have a data plan as well. Why pay for something you won't use? I'm not hyped by phones any more. It has turned into a commodity device, just like laptops and landlines.

Not in my experience. Plenty of carriers and MVNO that allows you to use any plans, with or without data, on your smartphone. If you are with a carrier that forces you to have a data plan on your smartphone, then that's your bad decision. Making a big deal of moving to dumbphone just because of that, imo, is just attention seeking.

 

[millerj123]

Since they'll be roughly the same size anyway, why not have all the advantages of a sm

My solution to the $1k phone problem and just not that being interested in the advancement was to "downgrade" to an iPhone SE.

I'm waiting for the SE update. I want a small but powerful, useful tool. I don't care about new and shiny, but it needs to at least meet the functionality of my current 6S.

 

[belvdr]

Not in my experience. Plenty of carriers and MVNO that allows you to use any plans, with or without data, on your smartphone. If you are with a carrier that forces you to have a data plan on your smartphone, then that's your bad decision. Making a big deal of moving to dumbphone just because of that, imo, is just attention seeking.

That's good to know things have changed. I still dont see it as attention seeking.

 

[pika2000]

That's good to know things have changed. I still dont see it as attention seeking.

Well, some people that prefer dumbphones for real reasons would've already done so without making it as a big deal. Plenty of people are still on dumbphones since the first iPhone.

Yet we suddenly have a sort of "movement" as there are plenty of hipsters going back to dumbphones and making up loud excuses about everything bad about smartphones (which is largely their own behaviors). And as I pointed out, you can use a smartphone as a dumbphone, no reason to intentionally switch to an actual dumbphone and then make some announcement about it. I call that attention seeking.

 

[decafjava]

I love my SE.

So does everyone I know who has one.