<p>If you have a data plan through your carrier, a smart phone lets you access the internet whereever you are. So you probably only really need a smart phone if it is necessary for you to have that access even when you are away from a computer. </p>
<p>A smart phone also acts as a pda (personal data assistant), which means you will have your calendar, contacts, to-do list, etc., with you at all times. You do not need internet access for that, but it means you don’t have to have a separate gadget for pda-type features.</p>
<p>Beyond that, a smart phone gives you access to a lot of useful or just plain fun apps. Some of those apps require internet access, but many do not. There are hundreds of thousands of apps. I have about 50 that I use on a regular basis; I use maybe a dozen of them every day.</p>
<p>Just one fun example of how you might use a smart phone: say you’re on line at the post office, and it’s a very slow moving line. You’re not in a hurry, but you want a way to pass the time. No problem: just tap on the College Confidential Forum icon on your smart phone, and you can catch up on all the latest posts! </p>
<p>Much depends on the apps you use.
My Blackberry was good for checking email & for sifting through folders on long train rides & it also kept my laptop up to date as I could trade files back & forth.
I didn’t use it for listening to music or watching tv.
on my ipod touch, I used for listening to music, watching movies on flights & reading books.
Apps like * Dirr’s guide to trees & shrubs, Audubon bird guides & Merck Medical manual* are very handy to have in your bag.</p>
<p>my iphone consolidates those uses into one tool+ it has a pretty good camera for a cell phone.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info everybody. I’ll think about it. I am afraid I am already too internet-addicted, not sure I want to feed the dragon…I have a private practice and book my patients using an old fashioned planner. Then I sit there for at least 2-3 minutes while my clients go through complicated finger gymnastics, entering the appt time in their smart phones. It looks very time consuming…and finger tiring. Now if a smart phone appt entry could sync with my quickbooks that I use for patient & insurance billing, that might be something.</p>
<p>This is a big decision now going on in my family. All of our kids are still on the family plan as it is cheaper for them that way (they must pay their share if they graduated college). </p>
<p>D2 (still in college) just got a iPhone4 this week. She loves it. My D1, a first year analyst as a derivative trader working for a major investment banking firm in NYC was definitely going to switch from her Blackberry to iPhone. But after talking to numerous folks and putting it out on facebook–she is going for a droid. Probably the Samsung Infuse.</p>
<p>My H and I will probably go for a droid because we heard they are better. Do not know what S will do.</p>