Smartphones And Actual Phone Calls

The more sophisticated my phone gets, the shittier it is at making calls. On my current phone (a horrible Android with Blackberry style keyboard) the number keys go to text entry and a web search by default. You actually have to struggle to make a call. That’s partly cause this phone sucks, but it’s also how people use smartphones. According to a recent survey, making calls is now only the fifth most popular thing users do.

Every day, the average smartphone user spends 128 minutes actively using the device. That’s just over two hours. The average user is spending those 128 minutes surfing the Internet (for nearly 25 minutes), engaging in social networking (for more than 17), listening to music (more than 15), and playing games (more than 14).

What the average user is doing relatively little of, however, is talking — using the smartphone as, you know, a phone. The average user is spending around 12 minutes doing that — making talking with friends a less popular activity than playing, say, “Words with Friends.” (The Atlantic)

While this is good and bad, I have long thought about getting a dumbphone to, you know, make calls. Gosh, I remember the days, I had an Ericcson flip with one line text display. It had a talk and end button. Hitting the talk immediately got me to my call log, so I could call someone back in two pushes. The numbers were for dialing. Back then my computer had as much power as my cell phone does now.

I kinda miss those days, but I guess they’re like childhood. You miss being a kid, but nobody’s going to give up sex and alcohol. You miss it, but just go on being an encumbered adult. Do I miss having a device that just made calls? Yup. But I’m not giving up email.

Posted on Monday, July 9th, 2012 in Tech.

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