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You can also broadcast the crime to a live audience via Periscope (app).
Yes, directly to the cloud. So even if someone does something to the phone, any video is saved and known about. When cellphones were fairly new it was a discovery that criminals would see that someone had a phone and leave them alone.
I originally obtained one about 13 years ago for emergency purposes, in case I have a cardiac problem while out 'n' about. I use it to call my husband for various reasons. I also have my doctor use my cell, and I use it for private important calls away from my office.
I rarely call people just to chat. And I do not text unless I feel that I must. I cannot "get" how people can stand punching all those buttons to send messages - to me it's awkward and a pain in the ass.
My cell is an old flip-phone that I've had for 8 years and it works every bit as good as it did then. I still think I pay too much for it, $46 a month, but it's nothing compared to what a lot of people pay for all the bells 'n' whistles.
It helps to have great eyesight and dinky fingers. They're awkward and clumsy and horribly designed. Who'd have ever thought the Dick Tracy design for the wrist from 60-70 years ago would become the model for today's palm held communicator. 2-Way Wrist Radio - Dick Tracy Wiki - Wikia
Of course there are many good things about them. I'm not against technological leaps either. But, you must allow me to vent my frustrations at how they completely by-passed the radio options available. Far fewer repeaters (towers) necessary. More fun too. The built in digital cameras are truly their best asset. Digital cameras are in fact or at least in my opinion a far greater invention with far greater and more important uses.
Other than being of fundamentally poor design and awkward to handle and operate cell phones are an added expense and luxury. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind or have them toss their phones I'm just venting remember? It still drives me nuts when I speak to someone with their head turned to receive no response and then they turn and you see the cell phone attached to their ear. Ugh...Then there's the clueless numb-nut that loudly jabbers away on his/her life anchor in the doctor's office waiting area. You hear all their business when you are really only concerned with your own.
I love my cell phone. I use it for just about everything.
I text friends and family.
I get coupon codes texted to me from local stores.
I keep my grocery lists on it.
I keep my "to do" lists on it.
I check the weather radar and forecast on it.
I check the current temperature on it.
I get severe weather alerts on it.
I have WAZE, Google Maps, and Apple maps on it, which verbally direct me to locations via Bluetooth as I am driving.
It's my alarm clock.
It's my calendar, complete with alerts.
I can access my home security system on it.
I can remotely start my car with it.
It has several exercise apps.
I can read the news via several local news apps.
I can Tweet and read Twitter news feeds.
I save money via the Target Cartwheel app.
I can take pictures.
I can show others pictures I have taken.
I can access all sorts of files (Word, Excel, other documents) via Dropbox.
I can follow several friends and relatives who have Caringbridge sites.
I can listen to my free Amazon Prime music.
If I pair my phone to my speaker, I can broadcast my music via a speaker.
I can read and send email.
I can search for things on the interwebz.
I have my address book on there with everyone's phone number, email addresses, and mailing addresses.
OH...and I sometimes make and get phone calls.
When I get a phone call in the car, I use my bluetooth and have handsfree use.
I can make a handsfree call in the car simply by saying "Call Sue", and it will automatically dial Sue's number.
And Siri is even sometimes useful for information, too.
Edited to add the Airline Boarding Passes! Whenever I fly, I have the boarding passes directly on my phone. Super convenient.
Yeah, I really like my cell phone.
I technically still have a "land line", simply because it's part of a package of having my Internet. However, my handset does not work, and I have not answered nor made a call from my landline in 4 years or more. The important people in my life know and use my cell number. Anyone looking up my number gets my "home phone", which really goes nowhere now.
Last edited by PeachSalsa; 02-06-2016 at 11:47 AM..
I love my Samsung Galaxy smart phone. We have a land line that we switched over to Ooma and kept our same number. It costs us roughly $6 a month. The Samsung is roughly $33 a month. It has unlimited text and only 100 minutes a month for talk, which I never use up. Having both phones is still cheaper then the one limited land line through AT&T which would nickel and dime you to death. You can also block as many calls with Ooma as you want vs only 20 with AT&T.
My Facebook account is on the smart phone and I was able to have a live conversation with our house sitter while we were in Scotland for free over the internet using Facebook messenger.
John downloaded our boarding passes on the phone which made checking in for our flight way easy.
I also love the talk to text option and Google voice search. Push a button, ask the phone what you're looking for, and bingo, there it is lightening fast.
The unlimited text comes in handy, especially with the shorties and a couple of friends that were costing me a fortune with the track phone and expensive texts. It's also nice having group texts and I remember a really fun game of hide and seek by candle light with shorties and texting them to find their locations.
There is a GPS on the phone but I prefer the one that runs off of the car battery. I prefer to chat with friends, surf the internet, or listen to music on road trips ( No I'm not driving when I do this. I believe it's irresponsible.)
The phone has enriched my life in so many ways, but that being said, it sleeps at home or in the car if we're at the movies. I do not answer it or a text if I'm having a face to face with someone. We went ice skating on Friday and there was this guy on his phone for a good half an hour. We're only on the rink for an hour and a half. What a waste.
I think I love real life much more then I love my phone, and it's still better to call me on my land line. I miss a lot of calls and texts on my cell. You won't find it in my presence while we're skiing or roller skating either and don't even think about disturbing my bike time. You won't be able to reach out and touch me for hours.
It's an extremely costly and inefficient technology. It hasn't simply added a hundred bucks a month give or take to our cost of living but has covered our landscapes with thousands of huge eyesore towers. The infrastructure required to make these wonderful little marvels function is mind boggling. Seeing the masses with elbow bent jabbering away on them with a look of stupor on their faces is laughable.
I finally gave in and got my no frills cell phone in the last couple of years. I did so because all the rest of my bunch had them (Droids & IPhones) and the landline cost increased considerably. We dumped the landline (big mistake) since most everyone else has dumped the service they had to drastically raise rates.
Now my cell phones stays in the closet until I leave the house. I take it with me but rarely turn it on. I'm not a cell phone zombie. Of course for a few situations the cell phone is a great thing but with the availability of landlines so widespread most could have done just fine without them.
Sadly I have to admit I have owned one for a number of years and use it daily. Mainly because most of my friends don't seem to know how to dial to communicate anymore, they just text. So as the world "progresses" so must we. I somewhat feel the same way about the internet. It's taken away from real life and living. Just think of the thousands of dollars each household spends annually on things like cell phones and internet. I would be happy buying encyclopedias and having a house phone again and saving money. My theory is cell phones and sites like facebook etc takes away ones ability to learn patience as we no longer have to wait for information or to hear from a friend. We want everything now. While technology has it's advantages, it certainly has it's flaws. Question is what are we willing to give up in order to gain something better.
I would be happy buying encyclopedias and having a house phone again and saving money. .
But would you be happy having outdated information in an encyclopedia? When I was growing up, I had access to a set of Britannica encyclopedias. I read them religiously. I was a voracious reader and read all the time. The problem was much of the information in them was outdated, since the encyclopedias were purchased when my mother was a teenager. It's so great now to be able to search for current information.
This morning I was talking to someone about the crane collapse in New York. I was able to google the story, pull up a map of the accident, and have immediate access to the information.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, with no Internet, we would not have CITY DATA!! That would be awful. Just awful.
I really like this technology we have. I can text each of my children, not interrupt whatever it is they are doing (work, class, a date, a party), and have them reply to me when they get a moment. They know I do not expect an immediate response, just as they know to not expect an immediate response from me. Texting is much less intrusive than a phone call. If I am meeting one of them somewhere, we can text each other when we've arrived (especially helpful at a large venue) so we can find each other.
But would you be happy having outdated information in an encyclopedia? When I was growing up, I had access to a set of Britannica encyclopedias. I read them religiously. I was a voracious reader and read all the time. The problem was much of the information in them was outdated, since the encyclopedias were purchased when my mother was a teenager. It's so great now to be able to search for current information.
This morning I was talking to someone about the crane collapse in New York. I was able to google the story, pull up a map of the accident, and have immediate access to the information.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, with no Internet, we would not have CITY DATA!! That would be awful. Just awful.
I really like this technology we have. I can text each of my children, not interrupt whatever it is they are doing (work, class, a date, a party), and have them reply to me when they get a moment. They know I do not expect an immediate response, just as they know to not expect an immediate response from me. Texting is much less intrusive than a phone call. If I am meeting one of them somewhere, we can text each other when we've arrived (especially helpful at a large venue) so we can find each other.
LOL all very good points. I like some things and dislike others. All in all it can be good when used for the right purposes.
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It still drives me nuts when I speak to someone with their head turned to receive no response and then they turn and you see the cell phone attached to their ear. Ugh...Then there's the clueless numb-nut that loudly jabbers away on his/her life anchor in the doctor's office waiting area. You hear all their business when you are really only concerned with your own. 
That would be awful. Just awful.
