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I don't have one. The only time I need one is if I am out and want to look something up, which isn't very often. But then I just call someone on my regular phone and have them look it up for me. Equally effective.
I've got an Iphone 4S and wouldn't give it up. I mainly use it for web browsing, GPS, calls and itunes. It just beats having a separate phone, GPS ipod/mp3 and it means I can look something up on the fly when I'm out. Just convenience more than anything as with most things in modern life.
1. Email, calendar, alarm
I agree that you should not try not to read your emails instantly when you're at your workstation, as it tends to interrupt your train of thought and result in poorer time management. That said, I've found it extremely useful to have the ability to reply to emails or check my schedule instantly at certain parts of the day, e.g. when I'm commuting, waiting for the plane to taxi, at lunch or dinner etc. - that's when the smartphone comes in very handy.
2. Browser, map and GPS
These have made a huge difference when I'm moving from commuting from place to place. I have to make work-related trips about twice per day and can't live without these.
3. Tethering
Tethering (USB, bluetooth, or carrier/hardware) is also extremely important if you fly very often. I've found about half of the domestic airports to have unusable Wi-Fi networks, including major hubs like JFK, ORD, DFW. It doesn't seem to be a problem on the west coast, nor BOS (which is unreliable maybe 10~20% of the time), but still a major time sink when you spend 15-30 minutes of your life each time trying to get a Wi-Fi signal.
4. Apps
I'm not sure about Milwaukee, but if you live in a large city like San Francisco, apps like Flywheel and Uber are very useful for transportation. The Bloomberg app is useful too. Any train, shuttle schedule or note-taking app is also hugely important. Honestly, that's about it. I don't use Facebook on my phone either - but that's because the Facebook app has been crap. It's slightly better on iOS but it's still crap.
I'm considering the unlocked Nexus 5 with a prepaid plan too, but what I hate most about Android phones are their keypads. It's been annoyingly inaccurate even after years of practice. I don't use an iPhone but I've found it very easy to type on as soon as soon as I get my hands on one, without any practice. I can't tell if it's the hardware latency, the software latency difference between the Objective-C and Java native code, or the predictive algorithm on iOS vs Android.
The prepaid plan is about $38.20 (200 MB) or $18.20 cheaper per month, and the phone is $250 (Nexus 5) to $450 (iPhone 5S) more without a contract, ignoring that you can resell the phone on eBay. This amounts to a $666.80 (Nexus 5), $466.80 (iPhone 5S), $186.80 (Nexus 5) or -$14.20 (iPhone 5S) savings, meaning that you are generally better off getting the plan anyway unless you make do with 200 MB. I'm willing to pay that $233.40/year differential for a keypad...
I'm still on my plan from a previous employer, I guess it saves 23% off the plan. Sprint has slightly better employee discounts than AT&T or Verizon, but the former has worse connectivity and coverage on its 4G network than AT&T/Verizon 3G.
IMO it seems that people don't want to pay the additional monthly charge until they find that one app that makes it worth it for them. EX: my dad works outside and is an avid sporting clays shooter, once he found out he could get weather on his phone with radar, he was sold.......What is it with old guys and weather????
My wife takes alot of pics of our kids and can upload them to whatever site it is she uses to organize them. SHe also has a small glowing object to stare at while nursing at 11pm and 2am and 4am.......
My brother got one and says it's just a toy, and not really worth it, but he does like his facts and chicks app as well as chive
For about a year or more I patiently (and politely) hounded friends/associates for a hand-me-down (Sprint/Ting) smartphone because I didn't think I needed one. A generous person finally gave me and my mom their old phones and I proved to myself that I still didn't need a smartphone.
But I really do enjoy using it on WiFi: watching videos, browsing, radio (TuneIn), checking email (easier/lazier than using a computer).
But 2-year service contracts and "unlimited" data costs are not worth it to me.
This is where I highly recommend switching to Ting if you have decent Sprint coverage in your area. You pay for what you use. I pay $12-$15/month for my low usage. Find a free used Sprint phone, or cheap Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G (Android Gingerbread, SPH-D700: $75) or low cost Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch (Android Jelly Bean, SPH-D710: $120). Prices are from Swappa. Model numbers mentioned are for Sprint/Ting only. Ting is now accepting certain Sprint iPhone 4/4S models.
EDIT: Sprint is in the middle of a major network upgrade and will be turning up their 800Mhz spectrum any day now. This will greatly improve coverage and building/tree penetration for voice/text/2G/4G LTE (not 3G as of yet). Most all current Sprint phones being used support 800Mhz. If anyone is considering purchasing a brand new phone then I highly recommend Tri-Band LTE (Sprint Spark) phones: LG Nexus 5, LG G2, HTC One Max, Samsung Galaxy S4T, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, and Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
I just upgraded my hand-me-down 3 year old Sprint Samsung Epic 4G to CyanogenMod which is a community developed Android Jelly Bean variant. Man what a difference! Its like I got a new phone! I can't wait for Android Kit Kat!
CyanogenMod is making news recently with their Windows-based installer. Be very careful before taking the leap. Depending on your phone not all carrier functions may be available. But if you have a really old Android Gingerbread phone or tablet I would put some effort into researching it.
A full-featured Android phone can now be bought on Alibaba for $35. Given the price trend, that means that within a couple of years all 8 billion humans will have a fully-Internet equipped, sensor enabled mobile computer within reach. What will that mean for humanity?
Personally, as traders, I believe we should strive to be early adopters. We should be ready to shake off our fossilized notions about technologies, even ones that we are attached to, and turn on a dime to embrace the new.
I am not an early adopter by any means, and my first iPhone was my fourth smartphone. Now I have an iPhone5, and although I love it dearly, it's practically perfect, nevertheless I wish I could upgrade to a 5S, because I need to understand the implications of the several new groundbreaking mobile technologies the 5S contains.
That is, I believe it is very important to understand mobility.
The way you understand is by getting skin in the game.