I’ll keep this short since today’s strip went up late, but as was reflected in that last panel of the comic, I rarely use the “phone” part of my iPhone anymore. I mostly use it for the apps and camera, and when I need to communicate with someone, it’s predominately via text messaging. I think the only person I talk to using the actual phone is my mom, and that’s only because she doesn’t “text.” (Something I hope to change when I push her to get a smartphone in the near future.) Anyway, how about you readers? Do you communicate with your family and friends by phone or by text messages and emails? Sound off in the comments.
My phone is old. The only two things it does well is text and call people. As of yet, I cannot afford a smart phone or a Blackberry.
Which is just as well, since as if yet, I don’t have much use for them.
i’d imagine only being able to call and text with my phone (and basically “unplug”) might be kind of nice once in a while, Ri!
and check you out: you were able to take the Shades of Firsting from Mombot by a few seconds! wear them well: there’s not an app for the Shades!
😎
AHA-HA!
The Shades of Firsting are mine! MINE, I SAY!
*crack* *boom*
No wonder Count Von Count used to do that all the time on Sesame Street. It’s a wonderful stress relief. Maybe Mombot should try it sometime?
I hate electronics that are smarter than I am….:(
Like button
ha! would i could put a “Like” button on these comments, Maryz. (actually, i think there’s a wordpress plug-in for this feature. would there be any interest for something like that from the readers?)
YES.
VERY. VERY. YES.
Yes. Count me in.
if you get a new iPhone or iPad, i’ll show you how to use it, Mombot. 🙂
Next, on Oprah…
Electronic devices that are smarter than you!
I, like your mother apparently, do not own a smartphone[1]. Optimally, I communicate with people that are outside of shouting distance by email or Twitter. In rare instances where I have no option I will plug a landline[2] phone in and dial a number[3].
Telephones. Ick.
[1] Worked in tech support for far too long. Telephones still give me the screamin’ hot-n-cold runnin’ heebie-freakin’-jeebies.
[2] Remember those, kids?
[3] Literally, dial. I use a 1940’s era Bakelite Western Electric phone. It’s heavy and deadly.
[1] you assume correctly about Mombot not having a smartphone, Lusus Naturae. trying to influence her to get an iPhone 4 or 4s, as it’s time to upgrade.
[2] i haven’t had a real landline in almost a decade! when cell signal’s spotty, though, sometimes i long for one.
[3] wow! i remember it was a big deal when my parents finally upgraded to a touchtone from a dial phone. i wonder if kids born in the past few years will understand what “dialing someone up” means…
That makes four of us in a row who use our phones to communicate rather than . . . everything else.
I don’t even text, yet—I even use a clunky Netbook to tweet!
maybe i’m just antisocial with the direct talking, Sarah W. heheh.
I want a smarter phone!
if you haven’t upgraded in a while, there are free iPhones and Androids available on many carriers now, Xin!
You should give me your OLD iphone!!!!!
Jeff! I didn’t get an email like I usually do. I had to look this up myself! ;(
Somethings Wrong!
sorry about that, Jantoo – i wasn’t around my home computer when the strip went up, so wasn’t able to send out the email. i’ll link to these strips when the new email goes out on friday.
I only call people if I need them like right away. otherwise I’ll send a quick text and be on my way
I must say though, I love my android powered smartphone and all the distractions it has on it. Makes a great time killer.
tell me about it. i waste so much time playing DragonVale and Family Feud w/ Friends on my phone, it’s ridiculous.
i think that’s what’s great about texting, dj – it saves so much time! when you send a text, it’s usually a quick exchange. but when you call, you can spend an hour or so on the phone chatting. blegh. i guess some people like that, though… 🙂
I text, e-mail, and play games on my phone. But that’s only because my phone company gave me a smartphone basically for free! If they hadn’t I’d still be just texting and occasionally calling people. (I hate making phone calls; if I can’t see someone, a part of me finds hearing their disembodied voices weird)
yeah, it’s amazing just how cheap these powerful phones have gotten, T! and i like that hearing disembodied voices is weird for you. would videochatting be better?
I like videochatting, when I have a good internet connection. Otherwise, people look blocky and my artistic sense of what looks right starts screaming. 😉
I have a dumb phone, so usually I text. But I call my mom.
texting and mom-calling is pretty important, Katani! glad your phone’s capable of those things. 🙂
YAY! There was a strip before I fell asleep. You made my day better and I will be able to sleep tonight….
I have a smart-ish phone (btw HATE touch screens, it’s a pantech) but we don’t have internet on our phone plan (money reasons). I text. I only talk to my 70 yr old grandma and my mom (and that’ sIF she’s watching my munchkin). My daughter talks on my phone more than I do. She’s three years old. lol
yay! it was looking kinda iffy there for a few hours, Amber, but i was able to get it done and get it posted! glad i was able to help you sleep soundly. heheh. 🙂
sometimes i miss the real keys of my old motorola and sometimes i don’t. the touchscreen makes texting on the road difficult, which is probably a good thing. glad to hear you keep in touch with your mom and grandma! and that’s awesome that your 3-year-old talks on your phone more than you do. soon she’ll be wanting an iPad!
I mostly e-mail (through dial-up, no less!) or use my land-line. For internet, I use my landlord’s wi-fi. (Yes, he knows and he’s okay with it.) I used to have a cell-phone, but it was very expensive (didn’t even have texting option!) and the novelty eventually wore off — and I’d really rather not be at the end of an electronic leash 24/7/365 anymore. My electronic devices work for me, *NOT* the other way around!
i used to use my neighbor’s unprotected wifi signal, reynard61 – for almost a year, even! – but he finally put a password on it. heheh. and you ain’t kidding about that “electronic leash.” i think i’m addicted now, though; the few times i’ve forgotten my cellphone at home i feel like i’m going through withdrawal symptoms. 😛
Actually, he gave me the password because I needed access to updates for my desktop and laptop and multi-megabyte-sized files can take a long time to trickle through a dial-up connection. Eventually he just decided to let me use it permanently. My landlord is just *AWESOME* like that!
Personally, I don’t like my cellphone. I lived in an area that had really bad reception for a few years, so I only had a landline (why pay the extra expense). So, I didn’t have one for most of that time. My husband finally prodded me into getting one again…just under two years ago.
He has the iPhone and abuses it to death, I have a flip-phone that calls and texts.
I’m also not a big texting person. I’d rather someone call me for 30 seconds and be done with the conversation, then draw it out over texts. Granted it can be useful for the quick reminder or the 1am “are you awake?” query.
People don’t buy the IPhone for the phone part silly Cornfather. We buy it for the other stuff. We have ordinary cellphones for the phone part.
ha! yes, you’d think the Cornfather would remember his discussion with jefbot from way back when. although the 4S has *way* better reception than my 3G did, so i’m fairly happy now, Jiro. 🙂
I understand Jeffbot, why call people when entertainment and the world are at your fingertips?!
ah, so true, Thalia. really trying to be more social, but i keep getting distracted by all the cool apps!
Voice communication only. Cellphone service providers suck arroud here as far as prices for textmessaging and speed of mobile internet go.
seems prices are going way up over here, too, Maryz. soon, i might not be able to afford all this fun, connected stuff. (although i’ll probably get a lot more done if that happens.)
I video chat with my mam via Skype but phone her when I need to chat and she isn’t online. I have a smartphone (gotta love those apps) but I have friends who consider such things to be a blasphemy and that phones should -only- phone, even texting is against nature.
i was just talking to my mom about videochatting if she gets an iPad or iPhone, Tsunami, and she totally poo-pooed the idea, since she likes being off-camera when she’s on the phone. heheh.
ha! i like how your friend’s a “phone purist.” but yeah, it seems the “phone part” of mobile phones are barely even a feature, anymore. 🙂
Wait, phones have a phone part?
Even if they do that’s only for backup in case none of the other functions is working right? Right?
I use my phone for silly things too. Like for instance I have something to make cat noises, it’s very handy to make our cats instantly appear! Try doing that with the phone part 🙂
easy, just call the crazy cat woman next door.
I’d probably end up calling myself then. Even though I only have two cats I am very much crazy about them 🙂
🙂
i was surprised about the “phone part” too, Nahiyana! but yeah, it’s probably just for backup. heheh.
and teasing cats is a wonderful way to use technology! 😀
Hey, I love the blur effect on the middle panel. It actually made me instinctively snap my head back when the page popped in to avoid getting poked in the eye with the phone.
glad you liked that effect, Dave! who knows – if those 3D PCs catch on, you might be seeing true 3D JEFbot comic strips in the future! (ugh. that just sent a shiver up my spine.)
someone heard of those sponanious combustions smartphones are up to?
i like my phone, it is a smartphone but i got free internet. i use it as a navi or as a phone. email and texts are rarer than calls.
then again i got a laptop which is convertable to a tablet and has umts. kinda makes the smartphone useless for all but calls but there is skype and well, why do i have a phone AT ALL??
anyway, why so iObsessed? there is better hardware for less cash out there.
yes, i’m waiting for the spontaneous combustion app, Shain! 😉
and i was using an app called Waze for GPS – it kind of makes driving a game but sucks a ton of battery so i stopped using it. (for the best, probably, since it was kinda distracting.) was thinking about getting one of those PC tablets so i can use it to draw while on the road, but haven’t found one that’s inexpensive, with a decent cintiq-like screen and not clunky. but if i find one, i might have to pick it up, though.
not iObsessed, per se, (i love technology in all its forms and have tried all smartphones – even Windows phones) it’s just iDevices work really well together (and there’s no comparison for iPads), and since i use a MacBook Pro for the strip (Photoshop just works better on it, and that’s a fact – i use PS on a PC at work and it’s not nearly as liquid), it makes sense that i have it communicate with my iPad, Apple TV, iCloud and iPhone. the only thing i might buy a PC for again is gaming, and i’m really trying to cut down on distractions so i can get more JEFbot stuff done!!!
I still mostly call or e-mail from my computer. I do text and e-mail from my phone, just not as much. But that said, I totally agree with you – a smart phone is all about the cool apps. I have a tricorder app that actually does cool and useful stuff in addition to make cool Star Trek noises. I think they were forced to stop offering it though, so when my phone dies, the tricorder will die with it. 🙁
yeah, i don’t email from my cellphone much, either, shanna, unless it’s just a quick note here and there. it’s still much better with a keyboard and big screen on my computer. and i used to have a tricorder app, too! it was for my Treo, and i totally forgot about it. ugh. now i must have one for my iPhone. 🙂
It’s like you’re in my house watching me! I hardly ever use the phone part of iPhone either, I play games, surf the web, check my e-mail, I downloaded the floor plans of the building I work in so I don’t get lost (happens a lot) take notes, like where I parked my car, for directions when I walk or to find out how far away I am from where I need to go, listen to my music while working out, listen to podiobooks while driving, geez, the list is nearly endless but use it a phone? Hardly ever.
glad you could relate, TPC! i pretty much use mine for all the stuff you listed, too. well, except for the floor plans, but that’s pretty cool! how big is the location where you work??? (and the cool thing about replacing my 3G is that i now use that old phone as an iPod Touch for my car!)
Work at a law firm in Center City Philadelphia with 8 floors. I downloaded the PDF copy of the floor plans (I work in IT so I have that stuff) and sent it to my Evernote account. It’s that kind of versatility that I love about smartphones, if you need something chances are you can find an app that will help you accomplish it.
Usually I use my phone for Internet, games, and texting, but I hardly ever use the phone portion of the phone.
you’re in good company, GeekGirl, since it looks like about half of the BOTreaders use their cellphones mainly for calls and the other half use ’em mainly for apps and texting!
Whoa! Where was I when this went up? Anyway…*clears throat*
Good Morning Assorted BOTS and the Exhaulted Family. I only talk to like 3 people on my phone. I am much more the “Quicky Text” type of person. It’s just so much easier. You don;t have to go through all the small talk of “Hey! It’s Pixie, How are you/ What’s going on in your little slice of the World? Really? That’s (insert appropriate idea here. i.e; Great, Sucky, too Bad, awesome….You get the point) So I was wondering if you had any plans this weekend? I thought we could go to (The Mall, Busch Gardens, insane…Blah blah blah) ok let me know, I gotta run, love you, buh bye.” (we’ll say for arguments sake I was talking to Mama Pixie)
The text version? “Hi Mummy Dahling, wanna go (insert place here) let me know Love you Mostest!” And then we wait for a day or so til Mom realizes no one has called her cause she put her phone on vibrate at the Dr’s office and forgot it was in her purse!
i was a little off schedule with this one, Pixie, as it went up a little after 5pm instead of the usual 5am time it normally posts at. hopefully friday’s strip will be back to the usual time!
and great example of calling vs. texting! i couldn’t agree more with it being such an easier/faster way to communicate. sometimes you just wanna get to the nitty gritty of why you’re contacting a person and want a simple answer in return. then one has more time to waste away on other frivolous things! 😉
I use my phone for both calling and texting, but I mostly use it as an alarm clock/calculator/watch. Of course I don’t have a smart phone and can’t really ever seeing my self wanting one either.
i use my iPhone as an alarm all the time, too, Fijiman! in fact, with Siri (that voice-controlled personal assistant in the 4S) i find myself setting appointments and alarms all the time. you just tell the phone – “Wake me up at 5pm.” or, “Set the timer for 30 minutes.” boom. done. awesome. you can also get Siri to calculate numbers and tell you the time, but i rarely use those functions. it’s kinda magical.
I usually read eBooks on my phone, but now that I have a Kobo Vox ereader, I’ll probably read on my phone a lot less. I text to my children. My husband says “What happened to actually TALKING to people?”, but when you have unlimited texting and limited talk minutes, it just makes economic sense to text.
yeah, that unlimited texting option comes in handy when one texts a lot, naleta, especially if you’re texting instead of talking. i haven’t read too many eBooks on my phone, but i was thinking about getting an eReader (one of the e-ink ones.) how do you like your Kobo Vox? that one looks pretty cool.
My HTC Desire HD has a phone as well? Hot Damn!
ha! yeah, i’m sure it does, Gaz! now you know what that ringing sound every so often, is. 😉
My brother and I mainly text unless we have a lot to say and don’t want to take all day to say it. Mom texts me most of the time, unless she feels like pushing my buttons… then she calls so she can savor my aggravation.
I’m a daddy’s girl and so daddy pretty much always uses the Facetime because he wants to see me when we talk. Also he’s strictly a mac person and since my husband and I both use PC’s for our job and my husband is IT and I test software we also provide tech support for all of dad’s friends who have PC issues he can’t figure out. Facetime is useful for that too because we can face it to the screen and point at things.
I actually have different apps on my three i-devices. Anything I might need when I’m actually out and about is on my iPhone. Anything else is on my iPad or iPod because since I work from home I pretty much always have wifi access. Things that are better with a big screen (movies, netflix, ebooks, and certain games) are on the iPad. All my music and a few other games are on my iPod.
And… now I’m rambling, so I’ll stop.
i mainly text with my sisters (unless one of them *cough*Linda*cough* is calling me at 6:30am), talk on the phone with my mom, and talk with my dad in-person, Tymethief. 🙂
i played with FaceTime with a friend when i first got my phone but haven’t used it since. i was trying to sell my parents on the iPad 2 for the FaceTime feature but they weren’t that interested in videochatting. nice to know some people are using it, though!
and your usage of your iDevices pretty much reflects mine, too. although my iPod is getting less and less use these days, now that i have my entire library on my iPhone via iCloud. it’s pretty sweet.
Meh. I’m terrible with cell phones, plus, I constantly had to stop paying (and consequently dropping my service) when I didn’t have the money for the bill. Maybe someday I’ll be able to go back to a cell phone, but that’s a distant dream for now, like living in Ireland, or owning my own game design company or restaurant.
i can see why you’d drop your service for your cell, KB – it’s freaking expensive with all the voice, text and data plans you have to get for the smartphones! but i like your dreams – maybe you can get all of them to happen at the same time someday!
My family is kinda odd. I have a phone. Somewhere. Your basic prepaid phone from the last 3 years. I also have a smartphone *without service* from 2006 that I use for the wifi to check messages when not out of the house. I have a feeling If I had a smartphone with service on it, I’d probably be using all the features (including that phone) about equally.
you’re not alone with that “i have a phone. somewhere.” comment, Descolada! i have a few friends that constantly lose their cellphones or just don’t keep track of it very well. me, i pretty much have to know where it is, exactly, at all times.
I prefer the written word for so many reasons, chiefly because I hate to be misquoted. I avoid speaking on the phone whenever possible since I spend most of my day at the Evil Aerospace Giant (EAG) on telecons. However, I have yet to warm to texting, and do so only under protest, because the keys are so small, my hands are so crippled, and my eyesight is so poor. I much prefer writing an old-fashioned email on a grownup keyboard.
ha! it’s telling that when i first read your “i prefer the written word” sentence, that i thought you meant pen-and-paper, not keyboard-and-screen, Jeff. love how email is old-fashioned now. 🙂
Silly Apple people. Always grabbing up the newest crap that spills out of Apple’s butt. xD
I keed I keed. I love seeing the Siri screen shots on the web. There’s some funny stuff going on there. 😀
well, Apple comes out with a new flagship phone every year with an update to their one operating system, TCG, but Android comes out with a new flagship phone with a variant on their OS almost every month! i keed, i keed. kinda. 😉
and yeah, Siri’s pretty funny. whenever i demo it to people they always want to ask her crazy questions rather than try out the functional stuff.
i have the 3g iphone still with its unlimited plan that nolonger exists for the new users i call most people on it or use skype on my computer i have the skype app on the phone but easer on computer i only text short simple stuff.
that unlimited plan is the only reason why i stuck with AT&T rather than going over to Verizon when i updated phones, drakeye! and i had a iPhone 3G, too. amazing how long that thing lasted (over 3 years) and now makes a good iPod Touch for the BOTmobile.
i send emails, mostly, but i never text them. if i want to actively talk to them i call them through gmail.
glad to see you got the site fixed after that malware crap.
i know more and more people using gmail/Skype/VoIP these days, acolyte, and just ditching conventional landlines/cellphones altogether. pretty cool!
and, yeah: stupid malware. BUH.
Hell, no. Phones are to CALL people. As a matter of fact I forced my phone service provider to provide me with a NON-smart phone. My even has a non color screen.
Phones are for making phone calls!! And, thankfully, is mostly illegal to use your cell phone while driving or working. Such wonderful country I live in. Love it! If you drive, no text or calling! If you’re working, then work!
here in L.A., we can make calls if we have a bluetooth or other “hands free” headset, Leave a Reply, but no texting or holding the phone up to your head. i hear there are some big fines if they catch you.
Out of my family I’m the only one without a smart phone. It’s gotten to be such a joke that my phone is officially named the Dumb Fone.
awww… poor Dumb Fone! so when are you planning to upgrade, Coffee Addict?
LOL! This is really awesome! Everything is so much better and then there is no actual phone part! Why is it called an iPhone if there is no actual phone part?
well, there is a phone part, but jefbot just never uses that aspect of his phone, DressesAreStupid! he might as well just have an iPod Touch. 🙂
Congrats on the new iPhone! I just got mine too… and I LOVE it! Although I still loath AT&T!!!
I’m talk-only on my phone. I’m on my first phone with a QWERTY keyboard instead of numeric buttons for text input. Still, I can talk way faster than I can text without a full keyboard for more than 2 fingers (having a parent from MN helping me learn to talk fast). Also, in Alaska, it’s less expensive to get nearly unlimited talk time versus unlimited texting, so when I do tetx on my plan they bill me for every message sent or received.
My computer is always on and running an IM program, so if someone wants to text me they can via computer. A phone is for talking to me, and if I don’t have it on me or such, I’m not meant to be reachable that way (since I’m probably at work).
Data plans for a smartphone are also much more per month than I can afford, as are the smartphones themselves.
I’d actually rather not have the cell phone or the land line and just go back to using Skype as my only phone line, but they don’t yet have Alaskan phone numbers. The cell has broken me of remembering phone numbers, and now I don’t know how to call anyone without it.