Freddy Like His Dumbphone

I kinda enjoyed this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, although the title is a bit misleading. Forget Smartphones- Dumbphones Are Now Hip isn't quite right as the article say less than 30% of users use phones other than smartphones. 

I wouldn't say that makes it hip, but It did make me feel a little bit less the loneliest guy in the world. Whad'ya know? I'm not the only guy in the world without a smartphone.

I'm not like the gal featured at the beginning of the story who doesn't even do the computer much. I live on this computer for much of the day, but I don't feel any need to be staring into a smartphone all day long. I have a dumbphone- an LG221C(?) with Tracfone that I rarely use.

If there are any of you out there like some mentioned in the article that have had the same phone for 5 years or more, it might be in your best interest to buy a new phone. If nothing else, you could end up with a better deal.

My old Tracfone was similar to the one I have now except the screen image was more difficult to read and it didn't have browser capabilities.  I only replaced it because the battery didn't seem to be fully charging after around 3 years of use. Bought a new dumbphone similar to what I'd been using and was pleased that it not only had a better and slightly larger screen view, it also was a much better deal.

I paid around $21.00 every 3 months on my old Tracfone. That gave me 60 minutes of use, although you get to carry over any unused minutes. You also got charged double minutes for calls outside of your service area, or "roaming".

With the new phone I pay the same but get double minutes for the life of the phone- that's 120 minutes instead of 60. Not only that, but no roaming fees. Calls are priced the same no matter where you are or where you're calling.

If you're one of those old phone holdouts, it won't hurt to take a look at what what kind of deal you might get if you buy a new phone. It doesn't have to be an expensive phone, either. Newer dumbphones can be quite a bit better than the old one you're replacing.