Judging by comments from the previous strip, I can assume many of you readers can relate to Popbot going with the most basic phone he could get. In real life, my dad recently retired his Galaxy smartphone for something much like what you see in today’s strip, mostly because he wanted a phone that a) could easily fit in his pocket, b) was simple to use and c) didn’t need a data plan because he was tired of paying for something he never used, which are all reasons i saw no reason to argue with. As for myself, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to “unplug.” It’d be nice – owning a smartphone with voice and data isn’t cheap and I’m trying to cut expenses – but I’m not ready to cut the cord just yet (if ever.)
So, questions: How many of you don’t own a smartphone, and those that do, how hard would it be to “cut the cord”?
a) My iPhone fits in my pocket.
b) The iPhone is simple enough for my mother to use.
c) I have no data plan.
Not hard to cut the cord since I’ve never had a data plan for any of my phones.
Spoken like a true man. If we want data we’ll hook up to a wifi connection. Also, congratulations for being the first.
a) mine, too.
b) mine, too.
c) what? how? is it jailbroken or do you just not use data?
as Jf300 said – congrats on being first! and that means you get the Shades of Firsting! wear them well – when these transform you get full bars no matter where you are:
😎
I don’t have a smart phone. Both my wife and I still have dumb phones. You learn to live, you just have to remember to get directions BEFORE you leave to go somewhere new. 🙂
sometimes it seems like the smartphones are the dumbphones
Yep sometimes i have less connection than a brick right beside a dumbphone with full connection (same provider).
agreed, drakeye. i think the “next big thing” in smartphones will be ones that are even smarter and more simple to use. all these apps and tiles are getting out of hand. and along the lines macson mentioned, they’ll have better reception. (one would hope.)
My aunt has a theory. Everytime a phone gains a feature, we humans loses our mental faculty. Look around and tell me what u think.
Apparently you weren’t around for the late 20th century. Humans certainly are t any dumber now than they were then :/
heheh. true. even with Waze and iMaps giving me turn-by-turn directions on my iPhone, i usually check out Google Maps (and MapQuest, previously) and make a print out before i head out for parts unknown, JP.
First things first, I absolutly love my Iphone 4. I would´nt say I´m a addict but it became part of my daily life. So pulling the plug would be something big I think. ^^
My Dad´s phone is older than time itself. It´s a Nokia 3310 so it could´nt even transform for a living.
The best part is, that he worked for one of the biggest phone providers here in germany.
Oh the irony 🙂
agreed: i have a 4s at the moment, and it’s become such a daily part of my routine, i’m not sure how i’d function without it, macson.
and your dad choosing a Nokia 3310 when he could easily have had something much more modern is telling in itself!
oh, and hello, Germany! 😀
Cutting the cord is easy when u have use a prepaid. Was an iphone 3gs user before i lost it and has been using a dumbphone ever since. What i lost was actually the skill to use a dumbphone.
ha! sounds like your brain evolved too much around the smartphone, Jf300! you’ll have to devolve it a bit to handle that dumbphone, methinks. 😉
I kinda miss the days when I could act all smooth and debonair flipping my phone open. And the really sad part is that most people would call that nostalgia, even though it was the norm onlu five years ago.
it’s pretty crazy just how fast this mobile phone technology has progressed, E. A.! at this rate, i can’t wait to see what’s in store over the next five years; no doubt the iPhone, Android and Windows phones of today will be items of nostalgia. (scary thought.)
HAhahahahaha! Oh, man, i shouldnt be posting meaningless posts like this, its spam, but this is hillarious! It TRANSFORMS! And dont let me get started on voice commands… Kudos, man!
heheh. thanks, Maryz – your comment isn’t spam at all! glad this one tickled your funny bone. 🙂
Nice Star Trek reference, jefbot (now i feel really old for my 40 years). And i never used a smartphone in my life lol… (despite the fact im an IT Technician lol again). Good comic as always, cudos for the nostalgia…
glad you got the reference, Violence Jack! that’s one of my favorite moments from all the ST films. oh, Scotty. R.I.P.
also happy you liked the strip! and keep on not using those smartphones – you got enough headaches being an IT technician. heheh. my friend has the same job and he’s driven crazy by all the non-techie people around needing his help every day. 🙂
I’d rather keep the Internet and cut the phone minutes to like ten a month. Unfortunately they force you to buy lots of phone minutes.
true that, Inyo. i have so many “rollover” minutes, i could talk 24/7 for the rest of the year and i wouldn’t make a dent in ’em. with texting and email, i rarely need to talk anymore!
I bought my first smartphone last February.
If I gave it up now, I’d go through heavy withdrawal–literally heavy, since I’d have to lug around a couple of legal pads and pens, a desk calendar, a couple of novels, a watch, a compass, a scrabble board, a photo album, a phone, and all the meds i’d need to control my blood pressure because I couldn’t check my e-mail or blog stats.
(yeah, I could jut carry around my Netbook–and a phone–but I can’t be assured of Free WiFi everywhere I go, so I’d still be schlepping most of it, anyway)
i understand the withdrawals you’d have, Sarah W – just the stuff i do maintaining this site would have to be done by frequent checks into cyber cafes or libraries just to get access to the internet so i could login and check my email and see what’s going on here. i’d have to share your prescription in that case. 😉
I thought about cutting the cord and getting a less expensive plan but then something happens, I get lost and I have to use maps to find my way back, I need an address or phone number that I know was e-mailed to me and I never put in my phone, or I’m stuck in a doctors office and I need three stars on level 19-8 in Angry Birds, that convince me that I would couldn’t live without my smartphone and I wonder sometimes how I managed life without it for so many years.
good reasons, all around, TPC! i can’t tell you how many times – whether i’m going into parts unknown for an audition, in a new city for a convention or just trying to get to someone’s house – where i’ve had to look up an address and/or get a map to the location. i used to do that on my slooooow Treo (which i still loved) and it was painstaking. now it’s a snap and would be hard to let go of.
Good Morning Botiverse!!! And Happy Friday!
And hello ST:TVH reference in panel 2!!!!!
Hell, I don’t think Daddy Pixie even has a flip phone. Very basic dial and done.
morning, Pixie!
woo! happy you got that reference! it’s so funny in that movie ‘cuz it’s true. i wonder how long it’ll be before we pull the plug on the mouse and kids don’t know what they are?
I hope that never happens (mouses dieing, I mean) Can’t see the point of tabs… They are not laptops, they are inconvenient alway have to hold them or buy a holder, they collect finger prints like crazy and they are easy to drop. Summary: They are stupid. (That’s my opinion.)
Touchpads are okay though.
i love my iPad, Formel, but mostly for reading, web surfing, watching videos and playing games. although, if i had to draw JEFbot on it, i might go slightly mad. tablets and laptops/desktops are definitely different tools for different jobs. 🙂
Yeah, well iPads cost 4 times my monthly salary… If I had one and I dropped it I’d have a stroke from rage and a heart attack from the scare simultaneously… :O
This cracked me up. My dad barely even knows how to use his phone (NOT a smart phone) and rarely has it turned on and/or with him. I can totally relate. I have teased him on more than one occasion.
I have a smart phone, and I could cut the cord if I had to, but it wouldn’t like it. And it is a major form of entertainment for my kids when we are waiting in lines, etc. They would REALLY hate it if my smart phone went away.
glad you dug it, Shanna! also happy to hear you have a dad who doesn’t know how to use his cellphone, either. heheh.
i see that all the time – kids using their parents’ phones to entertain themselves. smart! i’m always afraid they’re gonna drop ’em, tho. 🙂
My parents asked me if I want a phone when I was 14. I said no. -shrug- Had nobody to call, and texting seemed dumb at the time.
i commend you for being so practical at 14, Anime fan! one of the biggest things kids ask their parents for during Christmas and birthdays is an iPod Touch. i didn’t get why it was so popular before, but having a device that plays all the apps but isn’t tied to a voice or data plan makes all kinds of sense.
What? No Star Trek Communicator joke?
heh. i figured one Star Trek joke in the strip “Hello, computer?” was enough, Jiro. 🙂
Yah, a real Star Trek IV moment. And a Transformers Hasboro Moment. However, you missed out on Star Trek TOS moment by not saying Kirk to Enterprise.
heh. that woulda been too easy, W.D. Pat.
I’ve only had my smartphone for a few months so it wouldn’t be that hard to cut the cord. And while it is nice to be able to surf the internet a little while I’m waiting or on the road for an extended period of time, but I wouldn’t miss it too much.(I wish I could include YouTube in that, but the moment I plug my headphones in I get spammed with voice command crap and it wont let me watch the video) Actually, what I would miss would be the ease of sending pictures to my friends and family via texts.
yeah, texting is one of the things i’d miss the most, Fijman. i used to listen to a lot of podcasts on the road, but now that i’m not driving 45 minutes to work anymore, i mostly listen to those on my laptop while i’m working.
Fuck iphones, fuck all that useless garbage. I’m with popbot.
Your bad language is uncalled for!
point taken, clockworkAngel! (but yeah, trying to keep this site fairly kid-friendly, so if you can PG-ify your comments, it’d be appreciated. thanks!)
Hey, I still have a flip phone, and I’m proud of it! Verizon contacts me darn-near weekly, telling me I am apparently eligible for 12 free smart phones or something, but I will never give in. Never!
fight on, Menapace! don’t give in to “the man”!
I don’t have a smartphone. I use a PSP to access WiFi when I’m out of the house, and I only do phone calls and text messages on my phone (and very rarely, take a photo of something).
I’ve avoided going to something that requires a data plan for a long, long time. I don’t see paying a cell carrier for something I never use, and especially not for WiFi they’re not providing.
i’d use my phone A LOT more if they let me make a wifi hotspot out of it without a surcharge, Skreyola! and nice way to get creative with your phone + PSP.
Simple, you already have the Ipad, right? It does just about everything that a smart phone does, doesn’t it? Use it via wifi with no phone data plans and then just get the smartest dumb phone that your plan will allow so that you can drop the data rates. Att has the $25 go phone plan with unlimited text and 250 minutes of call, or $50 unlimited both. But it seems that Verizon may be a better service to attempt to look at.
yeah, but then i have to carry my iPad around all the time, W.D. Pat! maybe if i had an iPad mini… heheh. i use my data plan a ton – mostly for JEFbot stuff – and i’ve been grandfathered into AT&T’s unlimited data plan, which they don’t even offer anymore, so i wouldn’t want to give that up. i think i just have to live with it. 😉
MOVIE QUOTE
Whatever you say. . . Grandpa
I had a smart phone once, but it bit the dust. It was for the best, that phone was a piece of crap. It was a blackberry storm and it was ranked number 3 for the worst smart phones. I have a Samsung Intensity 2 now. It’s a standard phone with a slide out keyboard, and it works better than that junk phone. Also I’m rocking Tetris 24/7 on that thing.
nice! really, what more does one need than 24/7 Tetris, Michael? 😉
I have a smartphone through Virgin Mobile USA.
You have to buy the phone at full price, but they have a pretty good range of prices, including iPhones.
There’s no contract, and the minimum plan is $35 a month, which includes data.
I’ve been with them for years.
i’ve always wondered about Virgin’s no-contract deals, bbullock, so i’m glad to hear that they’re actually legit! thanks. 🙂
I’ve been using them for around 10 years. I’ve been quite satisfied with them. There are drawbacks–it’s tough to get a person on the line when you call customer services–but I find the pros to far outweigh any cons.
^^ I got my first smartphone just a few months ago
Granted, the smartness leaves to be desired somewhat, but it’s kinda nice to have only one device to keep track of for music and calling and occasionally streaming MLP on my lunch breaks
agreed, JR – the “one device” thing is pretty cool. once i bought an iPhone (especially now with iCloud) i haven’t had the need to power up my iPod.
I own a basic phone just like Popbot owns now. I’ve debated getting a new phone that at least takes photos, but in the end I decided to keep my phone until the day it dies.
yeah, if you’re happy with it, you might as well stick with what you have and save some $$$ until you have to upgrade, GB!
I’ve got a touchscreen phone, but it just does the basics. I’m thinking that a flip phone with buttons will be what I buy next though. I don’t like having to look at the screen to dial.
it’s probably for the best, SuperDave, but i used to be able to text and drive with my “physical button” type cellphones. once i got a phone with a touchscreen, that practice pretty much went out the window. like i said, probably for the best.
One word: Landline.
heh. yeah, although i rely on my cellphone for all my calling needs, Calvin, Popbot does, indeed, have a landline. but what’s he to do when he’s out of the house?
I am and continue to be the proud owner of an “idiotphone” (a cell phone that is not a smartphone).
while i couldn’t be without a smartphone myself, i do respect your decision, uwg!
I only just got a smartphone a couple weeks ago and even then, the data rate isn’t very good. I really have to find a wifi hotspot to use it. I only went for this because we found a local company offering unlimited everything for $5 more than we were paying for a basic plan elsewhere.
yeah, having an unlimited plan is pretty sweet, Akyla. it’s one of the reasons i can’t ditch my data plan on AT&T.
I recently switched providers from Verizon to T-Mobile. My Galaxy 3 is awesome and I have unlimited everything for 80 a month. It is livable, and I use the thing for so much more than just a phone and games. My original Droid saved my ass with translation software and multi-lingual input capability when I was in Tokyo two years ago.
my friends that have the S3 love it, too, jeff135729a! and yeah – i can’t wait for spoken-word translation apps to get more advanced. the universal translator of Star Trek needs to be a reality!
😐 Is it sad that i did the exact same thing Popbot did just the other day?
heheh. not sad, M3LWARE. i’m sure Popbot would say your decision was brilliant!
I think that I’ve mentioned that I had a cellphone several years ago and that I have no desire to be on an electronic leash 24/7/365. This is still true. (My iPad is different because it’s *MY* electronic b!+¢h. *I* decide when I use it, *not* the other way around.)
funny, the few times i’ve accidentally left my cellphone at home, at first i was like: PANIC! but then, once i got used to it, i was like like: *sighhhh* kinda nice not to be “leashed”!
Heh heh.
I have a Sony Ericsson slider phone, that has been dropped into several pieces on pavement countless times, after which I simply put it back together and keep using it. I make calls with it, and keep a basic calendar/to do list. The camera is barely worth using.
No texting, music or interwebs.
My plan costs me about 8 bucks a month.
Luddites for the win!
My Nokia ditto, during its 8 years it could have died so many times but it’s simply indestructible.
i used to have a Nokia that i dropped a couple times – once in the toilet – Formel! and yep, just like you and Mollusk have related, it kept on ticking. i still have it, and i bet if i plugged it in, it’d power on just fine.
WOW! $8/month!!?? now that’s extremely tempting, Mollusk! definite win. 😀
I couldn’t.. I actually need the phone for work, since I tend to run into problems on one of my jobs and I need to get information on it.. Without he interwebs how could I do such a thing?
Like programming a hello kitty television to be controlled by a cable remote control( real job… I, don’t like speaking about it)
Also I need the GPS for when I’m going somewhere new, and directions people give me arent always correct
yeah, the GPS is a life saver (and a time saver!) to have loaded onto the phone, Satoshieyes. can’t tell you how many times i’ve used that thing to get me where i need to go. (and i’ve found Waze is a decent app to find alternate routes when i run into traffic, too.) as far as programming Hello Kitty TVs, i couldn’t say – Bad Badtz Maru’s my homie when it comes to that stuff. 🙂
In May, the GPS that my dad gave me went kaput on my way to a sci-fi convention in Hunt Valley, MD. Luckily, my smartphone had that feature. Since then, I’ve been using that feature whenever I go somewhere unfamiliar. I’ve been to my aunt’s house in Carthage, NY, a Stevie Nicks concert in Pittsburgh, PA, Dorney Park in Allentown, PA and a sci-fi convention in Cherry Hill, NJ using the GPS feature in my smartphone. I also visit websites and listen to music on my breaks at work. I’d miss my smartphone if I didn’t have it but at the same time I’d get by without it.
if i didn’t have GPS/Maps on my phone it would be horrible, Rainey, but yeah, not altogether hopeless. i guess i’d have to go back to planning my journey beforehand. the horror! glad to hear your GPS is getting a workout. 🙂
I have a smart phone, and I can’t live without it anymore. >_< I went for most of my life without a cell phone of my own (the four of us kids shared a phone that went with whoever was out and about in case they needed to be reached), and then I got a cell phone because I moved out and needed my own phone number…and it's just…gotten…worse. Now I always reach for it when I think of something I want to see on the internet, or when I'm bored and want to check my e-mail…
I almost miss the old days of the flip phone we kids all shared.
heh. “almost” but “not quite” i take it, Tiana? 😉
yeah, my phone has become pretty much indispensable when i leave my apartment these days. now that these things can actually make purchases at some places i visit (like Starbucks) it’s becoming more important than even my wallet!
Shouldn’t let our life be controlled by technology so much. A “real” sci-fi world would be a nightmare, to impersonal and cold and plastic. Brrr…*shiver*
typo: *too
i don’t know, Formel… “impersonal and cold and plastic” could be one sci-fi future, but “awesome bionic legs, arms and eyes” and “hoverboards” could be another!
No hoverboards please, our legs would atrophy and we’d die. 😀
Never said anything against medical technology.
at this point I don’t think I ever could. I’m on my second smartphone now (went from Droid 2 to iphone 4s) All four of my family members have smartphones. yea I text a lot but I love apps. I like being mayor of places on foursquare. Nope, not giving it up.
If I were to play foursquare, the only place I would be mayor of id my house. I don’t like going out much.
🙂
great upgrade, dj! a bunch of my friends are always checking in on foursquare but i never got into it, fearing i would become obsessed with becoming mayor of all my favorite places. that desire still burns within me at times.
That’s my problem I love being mayor of places and get a little sad when I lose them.
I miss those old phones! I wish I could fold my iPhone in half, or at least have a keyboard.
now that they have technology that lets you bend your screen without damage, it’s possible you could just roll up your phone (w/ keyboard) and put it in your pocket in a few years, Nat!
Like I said previously I don’t own one… might not ever. I know I won’t go out of hte way for it. Just not something that interests me besides telling a friend “Can I mess around with your IPhone for a bit” “OOO DOES THIS MEAN~” “NO I am not getting a smart phone. I just wanna play (Insert game here) for a bit.” “… Raron… The present misses you.” “When the present gets better phone coverage then the past then I might consider saying hi to it.” “… No you shut up.” … I have this conversation once a month.
heheh. i have internal debates like that about new gadgets all the time, Raron! and, hey – if you can get some game time in on a friend’s phone occasionally, that’s just one less reason why you need to get one yourself, right?
Hot damn, I haven’t been keeping up with any of the comics I read, and when I finally do check them, I find that they have been updated quite a few times. Sweet. Also, love the strip, Popbot seems to be very similar to my Da.
thanks for the love, Noramil! glad you can relate to the strip, and happy you caught up!
I do actually own a smartphone, but you would not exactly have to stab me in the hand or something for me to let go of it. I can give it away for a week or two even, but the only thing I would need then is a watch or other way of seeing what time it is.
My first phone looked almost like the one in the strip, except it was red… And since I didnt use it that much I lost it a fall afternoon someplace, and my grandparents found it in the next spring in a ditch. The screen didnt work, so I was without one for about a year, not that it mattered.
hmm… i might need to be stabbed in the hand to let go of my phone, DAS, mostly because i’ve been clutching it for so long, i think i’m cybernetically bonded with it now. and at least your grandparents actually found your lost phone for you. do you remember how it got in that ditch?
I think it was when I jumped over it at some point, and my pocket with my phone in it was open. Anyway, it was unusable.
I’d make a comment on how I don’t see the point of smartphones in my life, but then I got an iPhone 4 the day after you posted this.
ha! well, i’m happy the strip is timely for you, NeoD. don’t fight it when your iPhone starts taking over your life. 😉
Never had a Smartphone and when I see the use my SO has for his own, I don’t think I’ll jump the shark any time soon.
The price for these phones are ludicrous, moreso when you know that people tend to buy the newest ones as soon as they’re out / they can afford them.
It’s really nice to have games and being able to check out Internet whenever needed, I must admit that. But the apps are usually glorified time eaters, seldom time savers. When they are, you forget about their mere existence, anyway.
Being a geek, I fear to be sucked in this technologic black-hole, because I know how appealing it can be…
i agree: the price of this stuff’s pretty ludicrous, dralou. as much as i love new tech, i just can’t see myself buying a new smartphone every year. i usually like to skip a generation or two before i pick up a new one. makes the upgrade that much better, too.
and while i agree that there are many more time-wasting apps vs time-saving apps, i do use a bunch of productivity apps on my phone which are invaluable to staying (somewhat) organized! but yeah, for every Evernote there are three variations of Angry Birds. 😉
I can’t live with a smartphone. I can’t. I’d be stressed out of my mind. I already work in front of a PC doing all PC-things for a great majority of my hours. When I step away from the PC, I don’t need to bring its little brother along reminding me the exact same things I do on a PC.
It’s probably why I have a dinky semi-smart phone (Samsung Y something), with the cheapest plan (no internet, just calling and texting). Maybe one day I’ll get a smartphone. Maybe.
I’ve had both traditional mobiles and smartphones and, seeing the comments, i must be the only one that thinks that smartphones are better even for basic phone things- sending SMS, using the agenda, looking last number you called are done , in my opinion, in a more intuitive way, you don’t have to fiddle with menus and special buttons and arrowkeys and things like those, everything is more findable. Am i really the only one?
I bought a cheap Android phone from Walmart for $120 (Android 2.3, actually), jailbroke it (which was easy since that version was first jailbroken years ago), installed the right apps, now I have phone service whenever I have wifi, so whenever I’m at home or at work I have a working phone and can text. What about when I’m driving? Are you crazy, it’s illegal to use a phone while driving. :p
Since I jailbroke it, I also removed all the pre-installed crap that I knew I’d never need. Turns out removing Orkut breaks the phone, though, so I had to reinstall that.
I don’t even use a mobile phone at all. Tried it some years back but simply found that I don’t need it. So phoneless since 4 years except my home phone. Just don’t want to pay for something I never use. If I ever need one I’ll go with an old Nokia, you know those things with the monochrome displays and actual keys.
But I’m all about high tech when it comes to computers and internet. Weird, ain’t it?
I’ve had a square purple flip-phone since I was, like, thirteen. I keep it because it’s freaking invincible, and it’s battery will last almost a week, with me using it daily. However, it can’t receive texts containing emojis.