You can get an Android phone for a decent price if you don't care about top-of-the-line $500+ phones (e.g. the Samsung Galaxy Q here - http://mobilicity.ca/phones/). If all you're looking for a 'dumb' phone with some niceties... I'm sure you can find plenty to complain about with respect to things like browser performance, etc, but that's not necessarily a priority in this case.

agreed! After a LOT of deliberation about what high-end smartphone to buy, I finally ended up on a Nokia 500 (Symbian Belle, Wi-fi, good sync support, super Nokia Maps) because I realised that I didn't want to always be connected, and I had no use of a super powerful phone, other than the fact that I could brag about it. I have no data plan. For most people the level of smart-ness offered by an entry level smart-phone is more than enough. Calendar/contacts/calling/messaging is pretty much the same quality across all mobile OSes. I think the whole app craze is propagated by social media junkies and corporates who want vendor lock-in or a Silicon Valley culture that values start-up invites and social wastes of time over everything else.