Cheap Tech

You mean you TALK on your phone?

While cell phones have become nearly ubiquitous in American society, fewer and fewer people, especially young people, are actually using them to talk.

Most adults still use their phones for calls, averaging five voice calls a day, according to a recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

But texting is gaining ground. Some 72 percent of adults send and receive text messages, but 87 percent of teenage users text. Teens average 50 text messages a day, according to the Pew report.

My youngest son is NOT an average user.

Our Verizon bill includes phones for my wife, a college student and a high-schooler.

My wife has her phone off as much as she has it on. She spent 256 minutes talking on her cell last month. She also sent a measly 28 texts.

But the two boys treat their cell phones like a lifeline. Their phones are almost always on. The college student logged 651 voice minutes last month (out-of-state girlfriend) and sent 361 texts 

The high-schooler spent 158 minutes talking and sent -- brace yourself -- 10,907 texts!

I can't imagine sending that many texts, and I type for a living.

The other day I saw a woman waiting for her food at a local restaurant. She held one phone to her ear with her shoulder and was texting with a second phone at the same time.

My life should be so interesting!

Verizon iPhone is simply not worth the wait

Rumors of a deal that would allow Verizon to sell Apple's iPhone are swirling once again.

And, on Thursday, Verizon announced it would begin selling the iPad by the end of the month.

Which leaves the cheap tech shopper wondering ... is it worth the wait for an iPhone on Verizon's network?

Nah.

Truth is, data plans (from all the carriers) are ridiculously expensive. Added fees for tethering make the most useful smartphone an even pricier option.

Nearly all of my gadget-freak friends own iPod Touches and rely on the nearest free Wi-Fi to connect. While all of them lust for an iPhone, they love the Touch — and the extra $20 to $30 a month in their pockets -- enough to resist.

Have you sprung for a smartphone? Is it worth the money?

 

Where is the iPhone killer?

Anyone who knows me well can attest to my disdain for Apple products.

It's not that Apple doesn't make fine hardware and software. In fact, the opposite is true, Apple makes some extraordinary products. It's just that Apple charges such a premium for its technology that many of their devices are priced out of reach for most consumers.

Consider the iPhone. It is, in my estimation, a marvel of technology. Sure, it has some shortcomings -- a mediocre camera, the inability to have more than one app open at a time, no option for additional storage, etc... -- but it is a very slick machine that works in an intuitive manner. And, developers flocked to it, creating hundreds of interesting and sometimes productive iPhone applications.

But the thing is cursedly expensive to own. A new generation iPhone will set you back $199 if you sign up for AT&T wireless for 2 years at $65 per month. That's $1,759 before taxes!

So, what's a cheapskate to do? How about an iPhone without AT&T?

Enter the iPod Touch. It does most everything an iPhone can do, except make calls and take photos. The Touch can access the Internet via Wi-Fi, so whenever you're in a hotspot, you can check your e-mail, update your Facebook, etc. There's even a hack available that will allow Touch users to make phone calls over the Internet (with purchase of optional headset, since the Touch lacks a microphone).

After digging around on the Internet for a few days, I was unable to find a single device that compared in features to the Touch that didn't involve a wireless contract.

This is what I'd like to see: A Wi-Fi-enabled device that has all of  the functionality of the Touch but also has a decent camera, the ability to multitask, a flash slot for additional storage and a microphone for making VOIP calls. Kind of like a smartphone without the requisite king's ransom wireless plan.

Does such a thing exist?

I couldn't find one.

So, I shelled out $214 for an 8 GB Touch. And, I'll probably pay the $10 upgrade fee (yes, a brand new device you have to pay to upgrade -- it's the Apple way!) so that I can use it with my Bluetooth headset.

Knowing my luck, some astute hardware maker will unveil an iPhone killer in the next few months, and I'll be kicking myself and, once again, cursing Apple.

Dial2Do is perfect for the text-challenged

I'm in new service called dial2do. dial2do turns voice into text and I'm actually making this calls by talking into my phone. Powered by

Dial2Do

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OK, so the service isn't perfect, but it is wicked cool. And it's free!

Dial2Do turns your voice into text and ties into dozens of services, ranging from e-mail, to Twitter to Remember the Milk.

My eldest son does nearly all of his communicating by text message. But texting on a cell phone is a laborious, frustrating endeavor for this cheap-phoned, fat-thumbed, glasses-needing, middle-aged skinflint.

Dail2Do lets me send texts to my son simply by talking, which, as my friends will attest, I have no problem doing whatsoever.

Even though Dial2Do might get a few things wrong, it will still likely have fewer typos than if I'm punching a note into my 222-33-555 # 7-44-666-66-33 (that's "cell phone" in texting hell).

And you can't beat free. Now that's cheap!

Who needs an iPod?

Sure, those white earbuds look cool on Bono, but I think they're downright uncomfortable. And that dangling cord? Might as well put a sign on your back that says, "I've got $300 in my pocket!"

I have an eclectic taste in music, running the gamut from John Coltrane to Frank Sinatra to Talking Heads to Korn. One of my first investments in high school after getting a job at the local grocery store was to purchase a kick-butt audio system that my parents would never let me dial up past 3. It was awesome! And a colossal waste of money.

But here I am, 30 years later, looking at an iPod? Tempting, but the Reward Zone card stayed in my pocket.

When MP3 players first hit the shelves, I went out and spent $25 on a portable CD player that could play MP3 files on CD-RWs. I spent another $15 for a tape adapter for the car and made it convenient with a strip of Velcro tape. For $40, I had the equivalent of an iPod and an iTrip. Not quite as stylish nor as sleek as Apple, but for me it was just peachy.

Then, when I signed up for a new cell phone plan, I noticed my free-with-contract phone (Alltel's Hue, also known as the Samsung SCH-r500) had a music player.

Hmm.

The phone also had a slot for a microSD card.

Hmm again.

And, it had Bluetooth.

Eureka!

With a little Googling, I found a highly regarded stereo Bluetooth headset (the NS-BTHDP from Insignia, Best Buy's store brand) for $50 and picked up a 2GB microSD card for another $20 (they're even cheaper now).

Now I have music in my pocket and wireless headphones, and it cost much less than a comparable MP3 player. An added bonus is that the headset has a microphone and pauses the music when I answer a call. All without opening  the phone.

Where you want Bach or rock from your cell phone, there are some caveats to consider:

• While I got lucky with my phone, some Bluetooth phones don't support the A2DP profile that enables stereo sound (my son's LG Scoop, for example, wouldn't pair with my headphones)
• Don't expect to get the Apple user experience from your cell phone (unless you have an iPhone -- in which case shouldn't be reading this blog). The interface can be clunky. 
• The media player on my phone doesn't support the latest version of ID3 metadata. That's geek-speak for the description attached to your audio file that tells your media player what it's playing. There's a way to work around this with the right FREE software, but that's for another post.
• There can be limitations on the size of the microSD card your phone can use. The manual for my phone says it has a 1GB limit, but my 2GB card works fine (the initial file listing just takes a while).

So, back to the question at hand: Who needs an iPod?

Not me. I'm cheap.