What with all the recent hoopla about privacy vs. national security, I’m kind of feeling like going off the grid. But for the purposes of this post, I am going to stuff that feeling deep inside my closet, you know, behind the twenty pairs of jeans I haven’t worn in five years. And let’s move rapidly along, because (as usual) I need your advice.
You see, my husband just got a “special offer” email from Verizon, and the special offer is $100 off an iPhone. And he and I are both up to renew our contracts. And we are also about to have a child, which seems related in my brain but probably isn’t.
Anyway, he and I have both had flip phones for the past approximately one thousand years and we are jointly wondering whether we should just bite the bullet and get iPhones or not.
Now, before you jump to the comments section and say, “Yes! Buy an iPhone! It’s the best thing ever!” I would like to discuss it, you know, one-sidedly, as one does in a blog post, for a bit longer. (You: Total shock that I wouldn’t want to end a post after just 180 words.)
Now, if I know anything about the iPhone, it’s that it inspires some sort of rabid fandom that totally erases any measure of practicality or reasonability (or at least it SEEMS SO, from the vantage of an iPhone skeptic)… so if you are right now heading to the comments section ANYWAY, I would like to plead with you to put on your most practical response pants and respond in as practical and frugal a manner as you can. Because the “it’s so cool!” argument just isn’t compelling enough to win me over.
Here’s my case AGAINST getting an iPhone.
1. It’s expensive. Getting an iPhone means paying for a) the phone and b) the data plan and c) some ludicrous phone upgrade fee that Verizon has drummed up ON TOP OF the normal cost of having a phone. And, since there’s no way my husband is getting an iPhone and I’m not (FAIRNESS), we’re talking a doubling of those things. Based on a rough estimate, getting iPhones will cost us an extra (approximately) $800 this year, and an extra (approximately) $500 a year after that.
Listen, I get that different people make different choices about how to spend their money. I have no problem paying $6 for a pint of raspberries if I am in the mood for raspberries, but I cannot stomach the thought of paying more than $6 for a tube of mascara, even though I wear mascara Every Single Day. I don’t have any problems with YOU paying $80 bucks for your mascara, if that is what you choose to prioritize in your budget. That’s totally FINE. I probably spend a great deal of time longing for your luxurious eyelashes. It’s just… not how I choose to apportion my funds. (And you might be totally SHOCKED that I am happy to spend so much on such a small amount of raspberries, which go bad so quickly you really have to eat them over the course or a day or two. Which is FINE. I’m not forcing you to buy raspberries.) Anyway, the idea of paying an extra (EXTRA) $500 a year just to have a fancy phone that I’ve never really needed or missed before seems, well, to borrow Swistle’s term, STARTLING.
And the thing is, well, we’re having this baby. And I hear that babies are expensive. Plus, I’m taking some time off work for maternity leave, which means that – even with my job’s extraordinarily generous maternity leave policy – I will be earning less than I would otherwise. Plus then there’s the cost of daycare once I go back to work. Plus the cost of HAVING the baby. So. Expensive. What I’m saying is, even though we are fortunate enough to be able to consider spending an extra $500 a year (GULP), it would still be an expense that would require budgetary cutbacks elsewhere, and, frankly, it seems like a perfectly RIDICULOUS amount of money to be spending on what I see as a Fun Gadget Luxury Item.
I am talking myself out of this iPhone right here in this first bullet. But! I promised my husband I would ask you to weigh in, Internet, so I shall soldier on!
2. I don’t actually NEED an iPhone. I think a phone is probably a need. I mean, it’s not topping Maslow’s hierarchy or anything, but I think it’s reasonable to say that having a way people can get in touch with you and a way that you can get in touch with others in an emergency is a necessity. But that’s A phone, not an iPhone.
Now, I know most (all?) people use their iPhones for more than just phoning. Texting, Facebooking, emailing, web browsing, photographing… plus other things I’m sure I’ve never even THOUGHT of. But… I have a computer for email purposes. I have a camera. I don’t really use Facebook (although when I do: computer). And my phone texts just fine – well, it SENDS texts just fine; it does not receive texts quite as well: sometimes I get texts from people (with iPhones, no doubt) that appear as just a series of squares – and besides, I’m not a big texter to begin with.
Sure, there have been a few isolated times when I’ve felt like having an iPhone would be really handy. When you’re halfway between home and a store you need to visit, but you don’t know if the store is open on Sundays and you really don’t want to drive the extra 30 minutes just to SEE if it’s open on Sundays, but it would be a real pain to have to drive a whole HOUR to the store next weekend… THAT is when an iPhone would be useful. Or when you’re at the mall and you see a tie that you think your husband would LOVE, and it’s even on sale, but the sale ends today and your husband is stuck at the hospital and also is very picky about ties… it would be so nice to just snap a picture of the tie and text it to him for an immediate response. Or when you’re at the grocery store and you see that baby back ribs are on special and you would LOVE to make ribs for dinner, but you can’t for the life of you remember the ingredients for the sauce… it would be great to be able to look up the recipe right there in the meat aisle.
But these “man, I wish I had an iPhone” occurrences are – for me, at least – fewer and farther between than you might expect. Really, I get along just fine with my little flip phone and my computer. I don’t mind taking photos with my camera – it’s very easy to upload them to my computer and the quality is, as I understand it (which is not very well, I’m just trying to be honest here), better than you might find with an iPhone photograph.
3. In general, the iPhone “culture” annoys me. I really hope you don’t take offense here, Internet, because I am sure YOU are perfectly polite when it comes to your phone habits. But it seems to me that iPhones engender a kind of… electronic dependence and a self-prioritization that I don’t find particularly savory. I am thinking of the people who bring their iPhones to work meetings and leaf through emails during the meeting. Or the people who set their iPhones on the table during a meal and respond to texts or Facebook posts while we’re eating/conversing.
I get that things are now very different from when I was kid. Our culture places a premium on connectivity, and the ability to be in-the-know and involved at all times, anywhere… and in-person interaction has dropped in value… and the boundaries of social acceptability have loosened to embrace our electronic devices…
But it annoys me, okay? If you and I are at lunch, I want to talk to YOU, not watch the hilarious YouTube video someone linked to on your Facebook page or wait for you to scroll through the funny message your brother just texted you before you complete a sentence. I find the whole thing disruptive and disrespectful and yes, I fully realize that I sound like a crotchety old bag shouting “kids these days!” and “stay off my lawn!” but that’s how I FEEL. And I don’t want to give in to that pull to be connected all day every day, to turn into a person whose attention is only half on her companion and half on whatever it is people need to constantly LOOK AT when they have iPhones.
Also, I don’t want my HUSBAND to turn into one of those people. He had a smart phone a few years ago, when his parents still paid for his phone service. And I recall that he always seemed to be looking something up – at lunch, he’d Google the craft beer on the menu… Or we’d be walking through Target and he’d compare the price of the vacuum we wanted to buy to whatever Amazon was selling it for… Or we’d be waiting for a movie to start and he’d look up the latest sports scores. I don’t know. What I’m saying is, while I FULLY ADMIT that perhaps my memory of this is distorted, and that it wasn’t as bad as I remember it was, it drove me CRAZY and I don’t want that to be our lives. I want to pay attention to each other when we’re together.
(As a potentially-relevant-or-not aside: I remember going on car trips with my family where all I wanted to do was curl up in the back seat and devour the latest Christopher Pike novel, and my father would constantly interrupt me to suggest that I look outside at the scenery! Look at those cows! What an unusual rock formation! Isn’t the Blackfoot particularly full this year? Back then, I just wanted him to leave me alone so I could read. But now I completely understand where he was coming from. Adulthood: Unlocked.)
Also: STOP USING YOUR IPHONE WHILE DRIVING IT’S DANGEROUS.
Okay, so those are my reasons NOT to get an iPhone.
Solid reasons, no? And yet here I am, really and truly contemplating getting an iPhone ANYWAY.
Here are my reasons FOR getting an iPhone.
1. It seems like having an iPhone and being a parent complement each other quite well. I suspect that I will want to take nine billion pictures of the little one in the coming months (and years), and that doing so will be MUCH easier with an iPhone rather than having to keep my camera on hand TOO.
Plus, while uploading photos from my camera to my computer is no big deal, it seems like it will be much simpler to just… text a photo I’ve just taken on my phone to my husband or my mother-in-law or whomever. In fact, it sounds like I could do all that one-handed, while nursing or holding a sleeping infant. And, since I always have my phone on me, I wouldn’t have to worry about the baby doing something adorable and photo-worthy while we’re out grocery shopping, or whatever, and I don’t have my camera on hand.
Plus, middle-of-the-night feedings/shushings/inability-to-sleepings. You, Internet, have taught me the value of an iPhone for easy, one-handed web browsing or Twittering or blogging. We do have an iPad, but even that seems unwieldy if I am trying to nurse and read at the same time.
Plus, apps. Like apps that track nursing frequency. White noise apps. Apps you can use to distract a slightly older child while in the waiting room of a doctor’s office. I don’t even KNOW, but I get the sense that they are a godsend for a multitude of reasons.
Plus, FaceTime. This baby’s grandparents ALL live far away. Same goes for Auntie and Uncle. I imagine keeping in touch is much easier with FaceTime – something that even my off-the-grid parents will be able to use, since my mom just bought an iPad.
2. It seems inevitable. Okay, I realize that this reason is pretty ridiculous. But it really does seem like non-smartphone options are going the way of the cassette tape. If, in a few years, we’ll be forced to buy a smartphone anyway, why not jump on the bandwagon NOW when we can take advantage of all the kid-specific benefits listed above?
In other giving-in-to-peer-pressure justificationism, I am also growing weary of not being able to see texts from people with smartphones… Of missing out on cute photos because the screen on my flip phone is the size of a postage stamp… Of being the last person to respond to a work email because I only check my email on a computer… Of getting half-incredulous, half-mocking, “THAT’S your PHONE?” comments when I get a call. Everybody’s doing it, and I am tired of resisting.
Okay, so you’ve heard my reasons FOR and my reasons AGAINST. Now, I would love to hear YOUR thoughts.
If you were to step inside my brain, to try to really understand my reasons FOR and AGAINST, even if they are completely opposite from YOUR reasons for or against owning an iPhone, what would you say to sway me one way or another?
Why do you love your iPhone, if you have one? What are its most practical uses? What makes it worth the money?
What reasons FOR or AGAINST and I overlooking?
I am with you on being a smart phone hold-out, for basically all of the reasons you listed. But, my husband does have one. It is handy to have for some things when we are out and about. I do feel the pressure, especially working in a high-tech field. But, I can always think of things I would rather do with the money! My other issue is that I am really bad at charging my phone. My current one needs to be charged about once a week. Smartphones need to be charged at least once a day – seems like a hassle to me.
The reasons you have for not getting an iphone are all valid and i agree with all of them. However… i would give up a lot before i gave up my smartphone. When hannah was small, turning on and using a computer was an insurmountable task. I did ALL my internetting- email, facebook, twitter, emailing photos, reading blogs, reading news- on my phone. She would not allow me to put her down ever, and my phone allowed me to feel connected to the world during a very isolating time, one-handed.
And now, i use it for the things you mentioned- looking up ingredients when i forgot my grocery list, texting and emailing photos of my kid to my family (SO much easier than uploading and sending), DIRECTIONS (probably #1 fave feature), and keeping in contact with friends here. We use Meetup a lot for our moms group, and being able to see last minute playdates (and post them, when i find myself at the park wishing for company) is awesome.
That all being said, we use Ting and pay far less than we were paying with Verizon, and i dont have an iphone. I know theyre super awesome, but there are some features that annoy me and i LOVE having a Google phone for the navigation through google maps. Its like having a GPS with you all the time. LOVE.
Smartphones do suck for one thing: blog commenting. Forgive all the missing caps!
1. I use my smartphone when out all the time. It is my GPS device (way more up-to-date than my actual 5-years-old GPS unit) (and more user-friendly, too). I look up recipes in the grocery store (although rarely, I’ll admit). I do check store hours. I also check for store coupons – like if I decide to go to Michael’s randomly, I can look up their ever-present coupon on my phone and get 20% off. Also: Kohl’s emails coupons that have smartphone codes so you never even have to deal with paper.
It’s also my most-used Kindle format. I have a Kindle, and the app on my iPad, but I just seem to prefer the phone. Plus, it’s always with me so I can read when I’m in a waiting room or something.
2. However, when nursing, I ALWAYS used the iPad. I found I needed something that could be no-handed as opposed to always needing one hand: something I could set on the nursing pillow and still be able to use. I couldn’t set the phone down and still use it – the screen got to be too far away to see and the phone would slide around. I LOVED my nursing/diaper/sleep tracking app on the iPad and that’s also how we do FaceTime.
I’m not much of a cell phone person at all (I just use mine for texting and some data stuff; I have a data-only plan for deaf and hard of hearing people so it doesn’t accept voice calls…which I LOVE). But I admit, I did consider an iPhone, for many of the reasons you mentioned.
My husband (and adult son) are vehemently anti-Apple and were appalled that I even considered an iPhone. They touted the benefits of an Android smartphone. Then I went to check out prices and yea, that reigned me in. The monthly fee for an iPhone is a lot more than an Android smartphone, plus the phone itself is more expensive. I have NO other Apple products so it’s not like it could ‘talk’ to any of my other devices.
So I went with a very, very basic Samsung smartphone (a Replenish, which I don’t recommend because it doesn’t have enough memory for apps, but I wanted an actual keyboard so I like it for texting). When this contract is up, I’ll upgrade to a more vigorous Android smartphone, most likely — my son just got an HTC 1 and it looks pretty cool!
So my (long-winded) suggestion is to also consider other smartphones, not just the iPhone — you can do all the things you wanted but perhaps at a cost of less than $800 per year. 🙂
You’re reasons for not wanting to get an iPhone are totally valid and make absolute sense. I say that as an avid iPhone owner and user myself. They ARE expensive, and you didn’t even factor in the $30 effing tank of a cover you have to get to protect the phone because as you pointed out, this thing is an INVESTMENT and if it ever breaks or cracks you’re like, NOOOOOOOOO. And you die a little bit inside because they cost so much effing money. So I feel you.
That being said, let me tell you why I love mine. They ALL have to do with being a parent.
1) Like you pointed out, the pictures. I take approximately a gazillion pictures of my kid. Picture that I text to family, my husband while he’s at work, and obnoxiously post on instagram. Actually, the internet really only sees a very small, insignificant portion of the pictures I actually take of my kid. BUT! Having this iphone has allowed me to quickly capture moments that are awesome and so fleeting that I might’ve missed had I had to run and get the Canon out of the closet (which I naturally don’t keep on hand because it’s big and nice). I almost never used the camera feature of my phone until E was born. Now I’m uploading them to my computer once every 2 weeks because I run out of space. And because of said camera, I have an awesome photo album of pictures from E’s first year to flip through because they were good enough quality to have printed and put in a photo album.
2) The apps. Even if only for 2 apps alone: a nursing app, and a white noise app. I kid you not. The single 2 best things that happened to me when E was a newborn. I actually used the nursing app until E was a good 7 months old. The white noise app was a godsend. GOD. SEND. Until we moved E into her own room and invested in an amazing white noise machine (Dohm. Pricey, but well worth every cent of that $52 on Amazon). If you need to know why it was a godsend, I refer you to troublesometots.com (website on baby sleep), and Isisparenting.com (search for sleep webinars and learn everything you ever wanted or needed to know about baby sleep and the science behind it). These two places will reveal to you why good, loud, constant white noise is a gift to behold. We still have the white noise apps on our phones for when we’re in the car for long trips and she’s sleeping, or if we’re traveling or something. GOD. SEND.
Okay this third one has nothing to do with being a parent really, but here goes.
3) Music. I love all the music. I love that my phone and my ipod are one and the same. One device. Meets all my needs. Music for working out, but I still have my phone just in case I’m needed.
4) FaceTime. Dear Lord, my mother in law. She LOVES to FaceTime with E. And as much as she sometimes drives me batty, I love that she is such a good grandmother. She makes E smile and laugh and it’s great to have that contact with family since we live so far away from EVERYONE in our families.
5) The internets. Like someone above said, I do almost all my internet-ing these days on my phone. Facebook, twitter, email, etc. Even more, when E was brand new? My phone is what kept me entertained during all those middle of the night nursing sessions (and there were plenty). I also spent excessive time googling, “BABY SLEEP,” at 2am whilst nursing and learned ALL THE THINGS about baby sleep. This is where I found troublesometots.com, and how I discovered @nancyholtzman on twitter, who is the internet’s greatest gift to all new moms (quite seriously. She is a super hardcore certified lactation consultant and mom/baby nurse for, like, a 25+ years, and tweets ALL things baby related: sleep, poop, nursing, feeding in general, play time, taking care of yourself as a mom, sick babies, you name it…). I seriously found these things in the wee hours of the night while feeding E because I had my glorious iphone.
6) Unrelated to me or my needs, but for your husband: my husband LOVES LOVES LOVES his iphone. There are an ABSURD number of helpful medical apps for so many things. A million resources at the touch of a finger. No need to run back to look up anything ever on a computer, or whatever, because there are so many medical resources (apps) you can get immediately on your phone that give you instant knowledge when you need it.
I could keep going, but I’ll stop there. Good luck with your decision making! I totally understand not wanting to make the investment!
I don’t have a strong opinion on iphone vs. other-kind-of-smart-phone (Husband just got some sort of Samsung smart phone for me and it works great!), but I will say this: IT IS WORTH ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT YOU CAN REASONABLY PAY TO BE ABLE TO TALK TO PEOPLE (Twitter) WHILE YOU ARE UP IN THE NIGHT, NUMEROUS TIMES AND NUMEROUS LENGTHS OF TIME, WITH THE BABY. ANY! AMOUNT! (Seriously: there are not enough caps in the world to show you how strongly I feel about this!) And a smart phone seems like just the right size for that sort of thing.
And I HAVE recently discovered that it is MUCH EASIER/FASTER to take a picture on a smart phone to email to someone, instead of finding the camera, taking the picture, plugging the camera into the computer to upload the picture, editing/saving the picture, and then opening the email program to attach the picture to a message.
I think a smartphone is the best investment a new mom can make. It keeps you in touch with other adults ans other mons during an isolated time. You can use it one handed. The middle of the night nursing sessions were impossible to read a book during, and I needed something to entertain me for 30+ minutes and keep me awake! Internet, Facebook, twitter, books, research, etc. the camera availability is an added bonus, as is the white noise app and feeding app. And you can watch tv shows or netflix if you have it. I’m an apple fan, and had an iPod touch first then got an iPhone last year. I also am reluctant to have my computer near this baby who spits up.
Really, saving my sanity every night at 3 am was honestly priceless. All the other bits of it are nice, but that one has been a lifesaver.
Although I hear you on the husband front, so we just have no phones at the table, etc.
I am going to step out of my perpetual lurking and explain to you my very similar situation: my old, beaten and abused but nevertheless generally functional flip-phone had gotten to a point where I had to acknowledge it probably needed replacing. I have been perfectly happy with my bottom-of-the-line phone as a phone, but occasionally found myself wishing for the nice shiny feature here, or the ability to read the first letter of every text that came through, or to check a note from my email while not near a computer, so on. This is pretty much where my reasoning went:
Cost: Initially expensive. Grumble grumble grumble. I could get a 4S for less, or a 4 for pretty much nothing, but then I’m stuck with that for two years.. so if I’m getting an iphone, I might as well get the newest one (hmph, grumble grumble). Expected cost, $200.
Cost #2: I was spending $30/month on my flip-phone for unlimited texts + some number of minutes that was never an issue but couldn’t go lower. Projected iphone monthly cost – adding on to my boyfriend’s plan, here, rather than sticking with my previous plan – $40. Difference: negligible. *A side note that the actual cost turned out to be $50/month rather than $40/month, so difference: actually slightly less negligible than expected. And all costs considered, means I think your $800/year increase for two of you for the first year is probably in the right ballpark.
Durability and size: my flip-phone was nice and small. It fit nicely in a pocket and was never an issue. Iphones? Iphones are bigger and feel much clunkier. Iphones do not fit nicely in my pocket when on a horse. I have no concerns about dropping a flip-phone off the horse, because if it breaks, so what – I’ll spend $30 to replace the silly thing. Iphones? AGHHH DO NOT BREAK!
* To deal with the non-breaking-ness, boyfriend suggested an Otterbox. Adds clunkiness and size, dramatically increases durability.
Multi-use: My flip phone did not even have a proper keyboard. This was occasionally frustrating. But when it came down to it, it worked for texts and for phone calls, and generally it did its job well.
An iphone gave me a GPS-tracking-for-trail-rides function (for which I’ve considered buying a $100+ GPS in the past, which would be ONE MORE THING that had to be attached to the horse), a flashlight (ridiculously useful in much of my life), a basic camera (previously had camera attached to horse also – while camera functionality is certainly not Shiny and Fancy and Marvelous, I’m often perfectly happy with basic photos), and directions to whereever I want to go. Honestly, that last one was a huge point in the iPhone’s favor. I am terrible at navigating myself new places and it’s incredibly stressful.
I bought the iPhone. I don’t have a ton of apps on it. I still miss the same amount of calls because I’m busy doing Other Stuff and forget to look at my phone. I have it set so I *can* check emails on my phone, but it doesn’t check for me and yell at me whenever something new shows up.
Especially given that all of your #1 pros-for-iPhone points seem valid, from my very non-parenting standpoint, I’d be inclined to suggest you go ahead and bite the bullet and buy the stupid iPhones, if only so that you don’t realize in six months that actually, you really DO want all those features, and now it will cost you a small fortune MORE. If an iPhone can cut down on the number of things you have to carry around in addition to all the baby-stuff, it might be well worth it (I’m thinking in your case: camera, phone, notebook/pen to scribble nursing times down on, or five if you can’t find the last notebook, iPad/laptop/computer for multitasking-while-nursing).
I really have nothing new to add that hasn’t already been said. I guess I would ask, what would you give up? Because I do very much love my iphone. There are many things I would give up for it, and many I would not. My phone has become my: task and grocery list (which I can sync with the hubs), recipe book, meal planner, music player, calendar (also synced with the hubs), gps, camera, webcam, and source of entertainment. It’s even the remote for our TV now. That’s so very handy, and so time-saving, that I would happily give up other things for it, it just depends what that is. I got my iphone when my daughter was about 2, and instantly it made my life easier.
Keep your cheap flip phone and get an iPod touch! There’s wifi freaking EVERYWHERE these days. That way you can FaceTime, take photos, use apps, etc without the recurrent monthly data plan fee.
And then if you feel bereft at some point and need data on the road or get tired of carrying two devices you can get an IPhone solid in the knowledge that you need/want the few extra features it has over the Touch,
I am a self admitted iPhone/smart phone lover but I will tell you the ways my iPhone was really fantastic with the baby.
1. “Baby Connect” app that B and I both have and we were able to log bottles, pumping sessions, diapers, weight, medication, etc. It also let me time my nursing sessions which was pretty important in the early days. The syncing feature was a nice way for B to feel connected when he went back to work- he could log on, see what I’d added and send me a text or email and feel like he was a part of her day.
2. Kindle, iBook and Netflix apps. Those late night sessions are a doozy (you have to stay awake!) and propping my phone up and reading or watching something was really fantastic. Moreso when we were traveling/out in public and I went to nurse alone in a private area by myself.
3. Twitter/Facebook/texting connectivity to friends and other Moms. I LOVE my Macbook but I don’t think I pulled it out once in those first few weeks. You just can’t juggle it all, and for me, I was only able to read email/news/etc on my phone in short bursts.
4. FaceTime really IS awesome for grandparents and other family members.
5. I also use my phone to play white noise & lullaby’s for baby girl.
Lots of people have made most of the same comments that I would have regarding pros and cons and I don’t want to repeat. I will say straight up that I love my iphone, as does my husband, but we are super fortunate since our respective employers pay for them 100% I’ve always wondered if I didn’t have the free iphone, whether or not I would be an iphone convert because I do think all of your cons are very valid points and I often catch myself on my phone and wonder how I became this person. Anyway, I got my answer this week when my iphone was accidentally ruined by my husband and small child. Even though my work paid for my phone and pays for all related data and service costs, since the accident was so squarely the fault of our family personally, I admitted the circumstances to my employer and was very fairly told that I would have personally pay for the replacement phone cost. I was given the option of a much less expensive replacement phone or the iphone, and as much as it pained me, and as Switstle would say STARTLED me, the choice was clear. I NEEDED my smart phone, for all of the reasons other commenters mentioned, and I needed it back as soon as was humanly possible. So here I am, $200 poorer and very happy.
I also do not have a smartphone for many of the reasons you listed! I am probably one of the only people in their mid 20s that does not. I have a few suggestions though.
No contract plans. You do have to buy the phone (look at google nexus 4, it’s $299 and its unlocked and contract free! or you could buy a used iphone off of ebay) but then it’s only around $35-50 a month for unlimited everything (look at Boost Mobile). You can cancel anytime, too. Much, much cheaper option. And if you ever travel internationally just pop a local SIM into the phone and boom, international service.
Ipod touch. I bought one with credit card points so it was free but new ones are $229 for the 16GB. Looks and functions exactly like an iphone but does not make calls through a cell signal. It only uses WIFI. But I can facetime my dad on his iphone because we both have iOS 6. I can iMessage anyone through WIFI to their iphone and of course I can call anyone with skype. I’m sure you could set something similar up with google voice. Now, one doesn’t always have WIFI, but I have WIFI about 98% of the time so this works for me. Plus I can take pictures and then send them via email or iMessage or post to facebook! All the benefits of the iphone, but far less expensive. I actually LOVE my ipod touch. Though I do admit, the allure of the full on iphone is huge.
But then I think about just how much that would cost. And how I could use that money in a more satisfying way and I’m back in reality of thinking that I do NOT, in fact, need an iphone.
I don’t have a smart phone either. I use a bottom of the line ATT cell phone. I guess it’s my statement that I don’t want my life ruled by the system. I can still call him when he’s at the hospital, text him, take pictures, etc.
I have had a newborn without a smart phone and a newborn with a smart phone. Get the phone. Definitely get the phone. You spend a lot of time stuck under the baby and it is really nice to have something to do. Plus pictures and baby tracking apps and all that other stuff. So worth it.
I didn’t really care if I had an iPhone or not, but my husband really wanted one, so we both got them, and I really do love it.
My boss resisted having an iPhone until this January. He was really mad about getting one, but he needed a smart phone after our company took away our Blackberries. ANYWAY, he is a total convert too.
I think your reasoning against getting one makes sense, but I think if you get one you’ll be happy that you did.
Look, our smartphones are super useful. We use the GPS function and the Eating Gluten Free app a lot.
But we also can’t tear ourselves away from the damned things when we’re doing things like eating or watching television. I love the convenience of the stupid things, but I kind of wish I could go back in time and just flip phones again because we’re never going to go back to just a phone again even though I kind of wish I was stronger and could resist the urge to check my email for the 3489203489203th time that day right before I go to bed.
YES with all your parent reasons. Total lifesaver. Completely worth it for that alone. But let me present you with another option. Hub got a smart phone (droid first, iPhone second) and I kept my flip for all your above reasons. So half the bill. BUT, I got an iPod touch that I use with our house and with all the other gazillion places that have free wifi, and it has most of the benefits of the iPhone with only one up front cost. Plus Hub and I can use messenger with it (and so do Jen and I)
I think all your points are valid ones. I have not read through the other comments so I’m sorry if I happen to repeat a bit. For starters, I have an iphone, as does my husband. I started with a Blackberry, then got a Droid and now this thing. I am not a huge fan of the iphone but that could be because it makes me feel like I have jumped onto some bandwagon of other iphone people and that bugs me. Also, within seven months a button on top doesn’t work anymore. Ever since we both got the iphone we do exactly what you said in your post: we look up things when we are out, we map out destinations, we play silly time-wasting (albeit fun) games like Song Pop and Words with Friends, if I have ANY downtime I immediately grab my phone and check something…facebook (AGAIN) or email or my calendar or Google something. I hate that I am addicted! HATE IT! We pay so more for cell phones than any other bill we have! (For the record, that bugs me too). I will agree the photo aspect is handy, especially with a baby coming but I am constantly trying to decide if I even want this phone anymore. I also have a Kindle and I could easily check facebook, email, AND play games on that thing too (the difference being wifi/3/4G, etc.). I will say this type of phone makes traveling wonderful and if push comes to shove and I am desperate to read something but have forgotten a book or my Kindle I have access to all my books on my phone. But, to date I have only done that once. Texting is also nice and easy with a smart phone and we do a lot of texting. I hate what we (as a society) have become with all these phones in our faces all the time. Kids, teens, adults…they all seem to have their noses in their phones 24/7.
I am currently typing this comment from my iPhone. Here’s what I use mine for: everything. You WILL be taking approximately 1400 pictures of your wee one in the coming months and years. And while I don’t think that having the fanciest phone is the biggest deal ever, having a smartphone makes things, lots of things, easier. It is great to hand Eriana my phone when I just can’t entertain her for another minute but we have several left in a public place. I love being able to take relatively high quality photos of her to send to my husband. Now. I LOVE my iPhone, but my husband has equal feelings for his Windows Phone, and I know others who adore their Android phones. It will still be an annual investment, and $500 a year IS a whole or of money. But perhaps go with a less expensive phone from the get-go? Unless you’re just an Apple person, having a smartphone doesn’t mean having to have an iPhone for the initial $800. Especially if you’re due for upgrades anyway. You should be able to get other phones for VERY cheap. And you can FaceTime from your iPad so Little One can talk to his grandparents.
My only thought in the matter is this: the best camera to use is the one you have WITH you. Lugging the big camera around every day is cumbersome. It is very handy to have a a nice camera inside a phone that is going to be with me anyway – it’s not something extra to remember or lug. Middle of the night social media is nice if you have it, but I didn’t for the first few months, and didn’t use it then once I converted to the masses.
I’ll second/third/fourth the “you need an iphone w a baby”. I have an 8week old and can’t count the number of times I’ve been breastfeeding and googled “how to get a newborn to sleep” and 7million other things, or read a book on it while I nursed, or facebooked because I hadn’t talked to someone who could do more than coo in the past 24 hours and it was 3am. You probably won’t log onto your computer for weeks. A smart phone is definitely a point toward new-mom sanity. Definitely. Definitely.