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Comment by tibbon | Hacker News Reader

I've had a friend do this. He had all the smart phones from Palm ones up through the iPhone and then just decided no more. He's got a basic flip phone that's cheap and the battery lasts forever. Features include talking, sms and a calculator.

He's more than able to afford any phone out there, but just doesn't like the constant connection. He does own an iPod Touch that he uses on occasion with wifi, but mostly keeps it in his bag.

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Things I like about dumbphones:

  + No email--no, fuck you, you can't bug me during dinner because of something that just occurred to you.

  + No touchscreen--I can text without looking at my phone because I can feel the buttons.

  + It actually works as a phone, comfortably.

  + Battery lasts many days without issue.

  + I don't have to worry about it running arbitrary programs or getting viruses.

  + My old Nokia candybar was basically indestructible and waterproof. Even if it broke, replacing it was dirt cheap.

Do one thing and do it well.

FYI your text is cut off: http://imgur.com/hyhwJLr

(Mobile users get it even worse.)

If you weren't aware, you can scroll left-right on the <pre> tags.

Indeed you can; but it's a generally unpleasant experience. The original poster might not have noticed this; and it was a nice help to show them that it couldn't be seen. In the future they may take that into consideration when posting information with the <pre> tag :)

I keep hoping that eventually pg will fix the css for the <pre> tag.

One day, one day!

I'm not a fan of cell phones at all, even dumb ones. I hate being interrupted, being taken out of the zone, when I'm enjoying things. So I don't take the phone I have with me. I leave it in the car. And its permanently on silent.

It might be a bit selfish but I'll return your call when I feel like it, or not at all... generally its easier just to stop in and see someone face to face to resolve things.

The only reason I currently have a smart phone is work got annoyed with me and purchased me one (and a monthly contract), as I build and maintain our company mobiles apps. Suppose I should have emotive and behavioural affiliation with I'm building :) couldn't really win that argument. I'm looking forward to the day I leave and I can hand the phone back TBH... although I'm sure my other half isn't LOL bet I loose that argument as well.

Still hasn't changed my behaviour though. The only thing that has is the camera. I used to lug around heavier larger cameras, the small form factor smart phone cameras are nice.

You don't have to leave it in the car, to prevent it from interrupting you. Silent + no vibrate. And it is nice to be able to place a call anytime, nearly anywhere.

The problem with silent+no vibrate is that interruption still exists. I often take my phone out of my pocket when sitting for dinner, or just randomly when I become aware its there.

What I really should do, and might do after writing this is trying and balance the notification messages. reduce them to have no context at all, hopefully I wont accidentally read them.

But the real problem is once I have a problem on my mind it bugs me to I solve it. It takes over my thought processes and annoys me, and when this happens while I'm out on a stroll or out for dinner, I'll spend the rest of the evening thinking about it.

There's a variety of options. You could, for example, turn on and off email notifications completely, to the tune of your schedule. (You might need Tasker for that though)

I also don't like the constant connection

That's why there's the "Mobile Data" button that disables syncing, etc (At least on Android Phones)

I also don't need to read every email or see every notification (I leave them to not make a sound)

Unfortunately even like this battery life is 2 days tops for a new battery

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