Indeed. The Moto X is the most overlooked, but not under-rated, phone in recent history. The reviewers loved it. It is a truly awesome phone. They just failed to drum up sales to match.
I recently used a Nexus 5 for a week. While a nice piece of hardware, I found myself consistently wanting the little extras that the Moto X comes with.
It makes other phones seem like such a bad deal. You can get it online for under $60 new, and the warranty is great. I use one with no plan, just WiFi, and usually carry a hotspot. Data-only plans are so much cheaper than voice for whatever reason. You can even find free ones with monthly limits that give you more than enough for voice/text.
I've often been in the no phone camp, just checking messages on my computer when I'm around it, so if you're inclined toward that style, I definitely recommend a cheap Android phone with no plan.
You left out the options for "I use a dumbphone" and "I don't carry a phone at all". This being HN, I suspect we've got a significant proportion in those categories.
I consider my phone entertainment; I mostly use it for reading HN and watching Netflix while in bed. It's great that it's free, it's not great that I can't remove it (I can 'disable' it, I think, but can't get rid of it)
Outside of phone-app developers, does it matter much anymore? The top two major platforms seemed to have hit feature parity and plateau, and they cover the vast majority of the smartphone market. I haven't been excited, or even very interested, in a new smartphone feature in a few years.
Droid Razr, but I will be switching to a no-contract MVNO shortly to save about $1500 / year over Verizon, once they get the new Moto X. Both would count as "other".
Often no phone at all. I own a flip phone with a usable tactile keyboard (for texting), but I try to leave it at home as often as possible and I discourage people from contacting me too much on it.
There are a lot of good arguments in favor of all the wonderful things smartphones do for people. I'm not going to argue against any of them.
But I'm also old enough to remember how people used to socialize before smart phones (or even cell phones), and I miss that. I don't mind getting lost sometimes, and I already have too many distractions in my life. I'm not terribly social to begin with, and I don't get to get away often enough, so when I do, I definitely don't want to stay connected to the internet and family and all that. I've gone hiking with people that stopped in the middle of the hike to tweet something and I don't like it.
I keep wishing someone would come along and develop a modular phone system -- something like phonebloks, but with basic one-button functionality to answer a call and bluetooth for pairing with other devices, so that it can be used with a laptop or a 5" tablet or whatever. Probably not much of a market for that though.
I was thinking about driving before GPS recently and I had to go somewhere I've never been to before. So I resolved to just look at Google maps before hand and then just try to driver there and back without my GPS unit or resorting to my phone. I really enjoyed it. I had to pay attention to where I was and what direction I was going. I feel like I actually learned the area better. So I get what you're saying.
I own a smartphone and almost never receive phone calls, my friends know to text or email me. I also never reply to texts immediately, unless it is urgent. I had information overload for many years and in the last year it's been delightful to escape this stuff. I achieved it mostly by adjusting behaviour and communicating to friends my preferences, not by abandoning tech.
I still carry my phone with me everywhere. It is useful when sitting on a bus, in a bathroom, doctors office, etc where you need to kill time and don't have a book. Or for utility reasons such as GPS, weather, public transit times, and booking a Hailo/Uber.
I can use the latter without sacrificing my connectedness to the present world.
Do you feel that if you carry it around, you'll feel compelled to use it? Or people will start contacting you more? Is it worth the sacrifice of utility?
A little of both. I know that I'm easily distracted and I would readily fall into the trap of letting my smartphone fill all of my idle time. I battle that in other places, but the battle itself is a nuisance, so I've started to avoid temptation altogether.
But I also know some people who will contact me frequently even if I ask not to be. "I don't carry a phone" and "I didn't have my phone on me" has turned out to be a good way to get that to stop, and it's nice not to lie to people I care about (even though I'd rather not talk to them several times a day).
I kinda miss tactile keys, even if you had to press 4 times to get the letter S. I could definitely dial and adequately text and barely take my eyes off the road. Softkeys are probably why there are so many accidents caused by texting.
Plus I have a working backup dumbphone which is Samsung but I'm not using it lately. The Blackberry is the only one I use as a phone, the others are internet devices. If the BB croaks I will go back to the dumbphone to use as a phone. They last me 1 week+ between charges (aftermarket brick battery for the BB).
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 146 ms ] threadI recently used a Nexus 5 for a week. While a nice piece of hardware, I found myself consistently wanting the little extras that the Moto X comes with.
I voted Other. I love the cheap Android phones with a no-contract plan!
I've often been in the no phone camp, just checking messages on my computer when I'm around it, so if you're inclined toward that style, I definitely recommend a cheap Android phone with no plan.
[1]: http://fairphone.com/
Often no phone at all. I own a flip phone with a usable tactile keyboard (for texting), but I try to leave it at home as often as possible and I discourage people from contacting me too much on it.
There are a lot of good arguments in favor of all the wonderful things smartphones do for people. I'm not going to argue against any of them.
But I'm also old enough to remember how people used to socialize before smart phones (or even cell phones), and I miss that. I don't mind getting lost sometimes, and I already have too many distractions in my life. I'm not terribly social to begin with, and I don't get to get away often enough, so when I do, I definitely don't want to stay connected to the internet and family and all that. I've gone hiking with people that stopped in the middle of the hike to tweet something and I don't like it.
I keep wishing someone would come along and develop a modular phone system -- something like phonebloks, but with basic one-button functionality to answer a call and bluetooth for pairing with other devices, so that it can be used with a laptop or a 5" tablet or whatever. Probably not much of a market for that though.
I still carry my phone with me everywhere. It is useful when sitting on a bus, in a bathroom, doctors office, etc where you need to kill time and don't have a book. Or for utility reasons such as GPS, weather, public transit times, and booking a Hailo/Uber.
I can use the latter without sacrificing my connectedness to the present world.
Do you feel that if you carry it around, you'll feel compelled to use it? Or people will start contacting you more? Is it worth the sacrifice of utility?
But I also know some people who will contact me frequently even if I ask not to be. "I don't carry a phone" and "I didn't have my phone on me" has turned out to be a good way to get that to stop, and it's nice not to lie to people I care about (even though I'd rather not talk to them several times a day).
Plus I have a working backup dumbphone which is Samsung but I'm not using it lately. The Blackberry is the only one I use as a phone, the others are internet devices. If the BB croaks I will go back to the dumbphone to use as a phone. They last me 1 week+ between charges (aftermarket brick battery for the BB).