smartphone or analog or whatever

I would take a look at this before you decide to get one. There are a few episodes but I would recommend everybody watch them-

https://donottrack-doc.com/en/intro/&apos ;">Do not track

I have turned off my data, location and wifi on my phone since watching and will now only turn them on as needed. I really only use the phone for email, text and phone anyway.

I plan on getting an Ubuntu phone soon. They look interesting and I don't want to use a phone from the big companies anymore. Currently use Windows phone and like it better than Android. Never had an iphone and likely never will.

What I did when faced with the same problem was to buy an HTC 526 at Verizon for $89.00. Unrestricted as to plan, no contract, do the data however you want. That limited my investment, or loss, in case the adventure turned into a disaster. If successful, then I could upgrade, and only pi$$ away $89.

Well, it's been a complete success. The GPS alone has saved me a dozen times since December. It's amazing how often I use the thing.

The HTC 526 does not have whatever you need for compass apps to work, so, if I had it to do over, I would have bought the HTC 626. I bought a very nice belt case for it at, you'll never guess, a Sherwin-Williams paint store, for $11.

Bottom line, buy the thing outright, buy a low-end one to learn, and then upgrade if you want. The low-end one will still get you to the Internet via wifi, so it's not a total loss after upgrade.

By the way, I haven't done the upgrade, the low-end one serves me very well. Lots of folks need a lot more power, but this one is fine for me.

I've been carrying an old Samsung Tracphone that a friend gave me when he upgraded, and using only for wifi. I have learned a lot from it. I find the 2" x 3" screen rather small for a lot of purposes, particularly typing entries on the keyboard screen. Using a pen with a soft rubber tip helps immensely on typing accuracy.

I bought a month's phone/data service on it for our trip last month. I was bummed out when the data quit working on the 2nd day of the trip. I had phone signal bars but no data. I suspect a failed update over flaky wifi I was using (hotel didn't quite have the coverage to our room). The day after we got back it did another update and presto, I had data service again. Gee thanks.

If you find all the updates on your desktop PC to be irritating, the similar frequency of updates on the phone will add to your irritation.

My wife got a Samsung S7 recently on Verizon service and I was surprised to discover that right out of the box it supports USB tethering, meaning that you can plug a computer's USB cable into the phone and (after finding the non-obvious way to make the selection) let the computer access the internet via the phone's data stream. I think that used to be possible only with a higher grade of service and/or installing a hard-to-find app. We were trying to find the selection for downloading pictures from the phone and finally learned that the only menu we could find was in a notification that appears in the notifications list when you connect the USB cable, and offers Data Storage Device/ Camera / Tethering.

Go for it, make the jump into the present.
You will find your dependence upon your laptop or desktop to be mostly work related.
Your smartphone is your new means of news, email and communication with the world around you.

Get an iPhone and don't look back.

A Harris, post: 378042, member: 81 wrote: Go for it, make the jump into the present.
You will find your dependence upon your laptop or desktop to be mostly work related.
Your smartphone is your new means of news, email and communication with the world around you.

Not true for some of us (well, me at least). I much prefer using at least a laptop for a few reasons. One, I don't have to scroll all over the place to read a page. Two, typing with big fingers on an all too small screen doesn't work well for me. Three, navigation is much easier for me with something resembling a regular keyboard.

Having a smart phone means you have no excuse to not know the answer to any question you can think of. At least that's what I told my kids. They can never say they couldn't do something because they didn't know how. It's all right there in your hand, look it up.

Sounds like a perfectly good excuse to not have one, then. Too much pressure.

Dave Karoly, post: 378071, member: 94 wrote: Get an iPhone and don't look back.

Or look up, or around, or at real life in general.

iPhone. They're bulletproof. Get the lifeproof case for it also. You can thank me later.

Samsung and a few others are producing a water resistant and waterproof S7 with gorilla glass screen.
Put that in an Otter Box of your choice and it will take moderate drops and tumbles with no scratch or break in service.

Get the same as your wife uses.

gschrock, post: 378314, member: 556 wrote:

It may represent some BraveNewWorld-Orwellian-Kafaesque shift and might seem like Satan's-Tablet-in-Your-Pocket, but if it means I can save a lot of time and effort on mundane tasks that used to be a great source of pain, then I'm all for it.

I believe you can have all of the benefits of a smart phone as you have listed, but by being aware of what is going on in the background you can protect yourself from those that want to create a surprisingly detailed profile of your online and movement habits.

iPhone. Period.

Well, my memory is a bit fuzzy on this and I don't recall the details. I think the real reason that they want you to use a cell phone to communicate with your instrument is that microsoft is no longer going to support their program (windows ce I believe they call it) that runs in data collectors & I don't know what else. That's why I am trying to move away from anything that is "microsoft or windows". I have an inlaw that is a computer programmer for a large timber company. They use linux or unix, don't recall which, because they think microsoft would have too much control over what they do. I tend to agree. I still use a radio controlled on board data collector that works with a Trimble Robot. I use a cell phone as a cell phone. I don't need or want a smart phone.

Also in the category of privacy precautions, I notice that many sites (including this one) offer to let you log in via Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. I've never done that and don't know how it works. Why would Facebook know your RPLStoday password?

Obviously it is bait (easy way to do it) in order for those entities to link the data to you that they are gathering from all these sources.

Bill93, post: 378592, member: 87 wrote: Also in the category of privacy precautions, I notice that many sites (including this one) offer to let you log in via Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. I've never done that and don't know how it works. Why would Facebook know your RPLStoday password?

Obviously it is bait (easy way to do it) in order for those entities to link the data to you that they are gathering from all these sources.

The reality is that a lot of people want to be connected via social media. It's a fact. Don't ask me why because the idea eludes me. Human nature? Humans as the 'Language' species on this planet. Communication being vital to own's existence as an economic driver. Communication changing with rapid growth of technology.
I joked with swmbo the other day about all these emoji symbols that young ones are using that communication was regressing similar to cave man symbols on walls.

https://m.facebook.com/RPLSToday/

This site nearly 5000 FB likes.
It maybe easier for some to track on FB than logging into the website.

Edit this FB has over 13k likes
https://m.facebook.com/SurveyorConnect/