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Why I No Longer Have a Cell Phone

Guest post by: Bill Golden

Article Overview: I have grown up with technology, dating back to the earliest Apple computers in the late 70′s. I have also grown up with cell phones, those used-to-be giant plastic things you tried to hold in your hand. I have been through more cell phones and cell phone companies that I can remember.

Why I No Longer Have a Cell Phone

I have grown up with technology, dating back to the earliest Apple computers in the late 70′s. I have also grown up with cell phones, those used-to-be giant plastic things you tried to hold in your hand. I have been through more cell phones and cell phone companies that I can remember. Recently, I switched to a Samsung Epic smartphone running the Android operating system. I am on my third Samsung Epic smartphone since last October. The first one just plain died...locked up...no fix. The second had two audio processor failures and eventually refused to connect properly to the Sprint network. Going through this process, including learning all the capabilities of a smartphone, installing/de-installing apps, etc., I came to fully understand just how much a smartphone is a hand-held computer that has phone capabilities as just one of its functions. (Actually, I already understood this technology shift, but my actions did not reflect my understanding.)

This new awareness has caused me to now treat my smartphone like a computer instead of like a call phone. Probably less than 10% of the device is actually a cell phone - the rest is all about productivity. Here are some of the changes I have made in how I use this smartphone device.

1) I now watch where I put the phone and I always carefully carry it. When thought of as just a phone, I tended to be less careful. I know it sounds strange, but changing how I thought of the device from a phone to a computer changed the *value* of the technology.

2) I am now very careful as to which applications I install and am quick to remove applications I end up not using very much. In my 2nd Samsung Epic iteration, my smartphone's battery was dead in less than 2 hours because of all the apps running on it, but in my most recent iteration, I can go nearly triple that.

3) Just like with a computer, I don't blank out the screen in 30 seconds. Instead, I keep it active for 10 minutes. This might sound like a battery waster, but it is actually a great time saver for me.

It's great to no longer have a cell phone. You should give it a try!

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Article Tags: Android, Apple, apple computers, cell phone, cell phone companies, computer, Epic, Samsung, Sprint



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