Mobile phone recommendations?

Well Mark, I haven't bought one yet, and after using my wife's iPhone 4S, I see it's a no-brainer to use.

She needs it for work, to be able to check clients' emails from anywhere, anytime. I don't because, other than while in the automobile or while skiing down a mountain, I'm never more than 30 feet from a computer.

Okay, I may change my mind later.

That said, I have a Kindle Fire, and while it is does not have a phone or camera, it works a lot like an overgrown smart phone. I can access the Web, read books, watch videos, read .pdf files, read/write emails (a computer is much easier). The only thing I use it for is to read .pdf and to watch mp4 videos.

Apps are software. That's all. On a computer you use a wordprocessing program to write, on a smartphone you use a word proessing app to write.

If you want to watch video you use a video app - the Kindle uses a video app called Gallery. There are others.

As for texting - I'm still confused as to why someone would want to communicate in a manner slower than using morse code, when one could just leave a voicemail message that the other person could listen to instead of trying to read a txt message while driving.

Hmmm - during my ham radio days I could read and send morse code at 30 words per minute, maybe I should hook a code key to my cellphone.

So now we have voice recognition apps for smartphones. You talk your message into the phone just as you would talking to voicemail, and the phone converts it into a txt message.

With a text to speach app, the person to whom you sent the txt message (the one you spoke) gets to listen to your message in a computer generated voice. Hmmm - okay back to morse code.

..-. -... -.. . .- . ---.. ....

:-Don

To funny. Morse is auditory, and I had to sound each letter in my head in order to decode that. Didahdidit didit dahdidah dahdidah day didididit didit dididit.

At any rate, I think the simplicity went out as each manufacturer tried to out "do" the others by adding more features.

Several years ago I bought a cordeless phone to put in our kithen, when I got it home, and opened the box, I discovered the instruction manual was more than an inch thick! I tried using the phone without reading the manual, but I could not make any sense of it. What were they thinking?

For almost 30 years I used Hasselblad cameras in my work. They were expensive, well made, lasted forever, and did not have any whistles and bells. These were simple, bare-bones cameras that did the job.

Then digital came along and the camera makers began adding all sorts of extras (even to the professional cameras), both because they could, and because they would each add more features than their competition. The cameras became unbelievably complicated. I would just set the controls on mine to manual, and life was easy again.

:-Don

Hey Mark - I hope all is well! (I'm doing pretty well with my 4 hours per day BTW) =)

You really don't know how awesome having apps & internet everywhere is until you really experience.

The ability to have an "exo-brain" that is also an encyclopedia of knowledge is awesome. I think most places [in the US] will have a 30-day trial period, so you can try having your data plan and see how you like it.

I recommend getting a smartphone HEAVILY. You will gradually learn how to use it to your exact specifications.

I'm traveling internationally right now, so I've been smart-phone less for quite some time, and while being disconnected feels good, I miss being able to know everything at any time =)

I would avoid Android (even though I love it) but it has a much higher learning curve than iPhones.

Basically, there are apps out there for literally everything, - whether you are looking up maps, checking the forums while waiting at the doctor's office, or reading news on the can - you'll eventually tweak your smartphone usage to exactly how you want it..and you'll love it.

Get an iPhone 4s. I used to be a stalwart supporter of RIM and their Blackberry products - I recently parted with my Bold 9900 and Blackberry Playbook.

Long story short, I got fed up with RIM's products, consistently failing on me in so many ways.

You won't be disappointed with the iPhone, or even an android phone. The iPhone's ease of use and just that fact that it 'works' is enough.