Help needed on Mobile Phones

[UKRob]

@Vacumatic - like you I don’t use the phone much and have a Virgin, limited calls and data contract, for just over £5 per month. However, I do prefer a smart phone because I can link calls directly to my hearing aids and it was useful for a recent (curtailed) trip to Madeira in being able to show COVID test results and passenger location details. I’m pretty sure we are all going to need this facility for the foreseeable future rather than depend on printed certificates.

Actually, changing the subject, I was impressed when returning to Manchester airport, that Border Control just needed our passports to confirm that all test and location details were in order - one of the advantages of being able to complete the location form online.

 

[Vacumatic]

@Vacumatic - like you I don’t use the phone much and have a Virgin, limited calls and data contract, for just over £5 per month. However, I do prefer a smart phone because I can link calls directly to my hearing aids and it was useful for a recent (curtailed) trip to Madeira in being able to show COVID test results and passenger location details. I’m pretty sure we are all going to need this facility for the foreseeable future rather than depend on printed certificates.

Actually, changing the subject, I was impressed when returning to Manchester airport, that Border Control just needed our passports to confirm that all test and location details were in order - one of the advantages of being able to complete the location form online.

Hi Rob

It was news to me that Border Control would know of tests (and vaccinations?) through the passport, that is impressive.

It had occurred to me that I may not have a choice whether I had a smart or dumb phone in the future, whether for banking, security passes or evidence of some sort.

I must admit that I think I will miss the qwerty keyboard for texts, I just begrudge spending a few hundred pounds on something that I don't really need or want. as I mentioned, a few years ago all my clients were in Israel, UAE and Saudi, I had a Blackberry and these guys expected a response to an email within 20 minutes and to answer a call straight away, day or night, seven days a week, although they wouldn't answer their phones on a saturday they expected me to answer on a sunday. I swore to myself that there would come a day when I wasn't tied to a smart mobile phone, thankfully, at least for the time being, that day is here.

 

[HereticHermit]

@Vacumatic I am in the same boat and tied to BlackBerry since OS 4 to 10 version. Much as I dread carrying a mobile and I am not into greatest and latest phones; I admit that it takes some advance planning and old world arrangements if I still have to use my BlackBerry.
Insisting to keep using old tech (that's how tech savvy cowboys term any old communication equipment) leave me frustrating and causing delays in 'getting the work done'. In this increasingly complex data driven world, choices are bipolar, either you buy apple or android. Neither is a smart choice.
I am really hoping that feature phones make a true comeback as a communication device and not continue to develop into missile launchers and discotheque on the go.