I can't live without my smart phone. Well, I could, that's obviously an exaggeration but what I'm saying is I LOOOVE it. I had a Blackberry for years and now have an iPhone and would not have any other phone right now. It does so much. I love being able to access email and internet so easily. The apps available for it are endless. My son has preschool games on it so it not only keeps me connected but keeps my son busy in restaurants, etc.

Nope...I have a plain cell phone that just has Internet access and takes pictures and videos.
Handy for reading e-mails, etc.

I no longer need to write/read word documents, no need for spread sheets or listening to music.

I have a storm and no, I don't like it at all. I liked my Bold better but seeing the keys when I wear my contacts was difficult so I got the storm. That rectified the problem but I hate the touch pad and have had the phone replaced once because of it. I'm waiting to see what this new one is like, the one with the sliding keypad, forget the name.

The other plus of the stomn is that the phone keypad displays as a true phone keypad so you can call vanity numbers easily, unlike my Bold.

I love the functionality. It keeps me in touch with my boss 24/7...important for my job. I love the way the email downloads automatically and the quickness of the internet.

Does that mean like an iphone? I have an iphone and love it. I text a bit with the "kids" during the day, take pix, send pix, watch my email, check KT, amuse myself while I wait in doctor's office, etc.

I have a plain jane T-Mobile. Buy minutes by the year.

I have an iPhone and love it. I am always connected. I text, check e-mail, check the forums I go to and do anything else I need to do online. I seldom get on my computer now.

I have an iPhone - love this thing. As mentioned earlier I'm always connected without having to sit in front of a computer. Plus it has great apps that help me run my life all from my phone. I use it very little as a "phone". It's more of a pocket sized computer. And I love the GPS and google maps when I'm going somewhere I'm not familiar with.

Yes. It allows me to access both work and personal email, as well as work IM.
I much prefer to access the internet on a computer, but there's nothing like being able to see the flight delays before they are posted at the airport gate, or to quickly look up an address.
I am not one of those folks who always has their phone with them, but when I want to be in touch, I really like having my blackberry.

I like my smart phone super much! The best thing is the google voice. The other day I was late to my doctors appointment and wanted to call to tell them I would be there shortly. I spoke the doctors name and city into the phone, it came up with his number from some google phone book I'm guessing. I pressed his highlighted number and that's all it took. Just two steps. Google voice has saved me so much time! Oh and the free google maps has gps on it. Countless times I have looked up places on this phone. I have a droid with a fairly big screen. I can see the gps easily.

Funny you should ask. My son badgered and badgered me to get an iPhone for about three years and I wasn't interested in getting one. He bought me one as a surprise and I LOVE it...lol! I love the apps, the way you can sync contacts and your calendar and I love getting email and internet on it. On occasion, the camera feature has come in handy. Oh, and the phone feature is good too :)

I don't, but my son has the Droid-X and LOVES it!! It's pretty much a small computer in his hand!

I have the Palm Pre...and I love it.

My daughter has had em all...I'm not kidding...I've never known anyone who can talk them into trading like she can.
She now has the EVO and I think she is finally satified. She really likes it.

I have a Samsung Highlight. I like it but it's no iPhone! The iPhone can do everything and my phone is somewhat limited. However, the camera is pretty good, I like the touch screen, I text, and I access the internet on it. Now that I have internet available on my phone, I would have a hard time going back...but it totally depends on how much you go online and how often you would actually use it to know if it's worth the money to you.

I have a Blackberry Curve 8530 smart phone. Would much prefer an iPhone but the company I work for gave me the Blackberry and pays the phone bill so I'm not complaining too loudly. :-) And it sure beats the laptop they gave me for portability. LOL

Jodi-

I have a Droid and I love it. Like country_bumpkin mentioned about Droid X, it's more of a computer then a phone. Actually, it's an excellent tiny computer and only a so-so phone (meaning phone call quality - it sounds a little tinny to me). Some of the functions/applications that I use all of the time are text (with a couple of my step-daughters), facebook, flashlight, internet browser, GPS, camera (and video recording), clock, calculator, weatherbug, Pandora radio.

GPS is the greatest ever. I use it all the time! I also have and have used (but not all the time) a compass and a stopwatch.

I'm planning on purchasing a birding application. This will be my one pricy application (and so far the only one I'll have paid for).It is called iBird Pro and it contains 924 species of American birds, over 1000 drawings, 2500 photos, 5 hours of song recordings from the Cornell Ornithology Lab. In depth descriptions, search engine to ID birds by color, shape, habitat. Color range maps. It includes lifetime updates with the purchase. It costs 19.99. I just haven't pulled out my credit card yet (can order right over the phone) but I will. A friend has the iPhone version and it is fantastic!

A little side note, my son works for a company that develops applications (mostly medical related) for iPhone and Android and the things they are doing is just amazing. One he has been working on tracks food, meds, etc for diabetics. One is for people who suffer from migraines. One is for doctors, to calculate dosages on particular prescription meds... and so on and so forth. Pretty cool stuff.

My iPhone is 3 weeks old. Before that I just had a "normal" cellphone and didn't text, take photos or anything (it could take photos but I never did and I had texting disabled by the phone company). Joe decided he was getting an iPhone and he wanted me to have one as well.

My sister has one and she said I wouldn't be able to live without it once I got it. It's nice and it certainly saved my life (LOL) when I was in CA because I have a GPS application on it. I text Joe and my sisters now so that is neat. I like the games (Boggle, Bookworm, etc) and I like being able to update facebook and twitter "on the go". Sure I could live without it but it is a nice "luxury".

Nope, I have a "dumb" phone. I use it only for phone calls, not for a camera, GPS, texting or any of that other stuff.

Thanks everyone for your input. I still haven't decided what to do. The basic plan is $50. a month, I get the phone free. I'm just not sure I would use all those features etc. I don't use face book and twitter, hate things like that. I do use email but nothing for work etc. I am just thinking hubby wants me to get this so HE can use it LOL! My contract is up and I can upgrade for free...he can't for a couple more years.
By the way have all you smart phone people read the warnings about posting your smart phone photos? I started a thread about it a few weeks back, pretty scary how someone can locate you in moments with them.

No my phone is smart - I'm the dumb one. I haven't mastered all of the new things it can do. But then I've only had it 1 day - it's a Droid X.

The GPS is fantastic - we went on a road trip and used my husband's Droid to navigate and it was perfect.

I've had Windows Mobile smartphones for years. Right now, I have the HTC Fuze. I use it for phone, email, text, internet, as an mp3 player, as a camera, as an ebook reader, and as a GPS (with Google Maps or Bing). It has mobile versions of Microsoft Word and Excel, so I can write a legal memorandum while sitting in court without a laptop.

The newest fun thing I discovered about my smartphone (when I went on vacation last month) is that it can create a mobile hotspot, so all three of us were able to connect to the internet through my cell phone.

I've thought of upgrading to the Evo, but am not sure I want to be without a real keyboard, which my Fuze has.

I don't want one. First, I won't pay $50 or more a month for what I can get for a few dollars and also I want a bigger screen on my computer as I get older, not a tiny one! So I sure wouldn't want to surf and stuff on a phone. I'm not so addicted to email and texting that I can't check it occasionally during the day or even go a few days without it so for me, the computer is far preferable and a phone is for phone calls. I hear you can do that on a phone these days! :)

I just have a cell phone, although it has a camera, I haven't figured out how to use it.

after reading all these comments, I was wondering -- many of yoou have these small computers with you all the time. Can you get viruses on these computers/smartphones?

The worst thing about all these smart phone, and anything from Apple, is that they don't have real Querty keys...you have to slide your finger or tap to do things.

Not the best if you have arthritis in your hands...in fact, downright impossible to use.

DS's girlfriend has a Droid. she LOVES it.
they were going to an aquarium, and the sign said it
was cheaper to buy tickets online, instead of right
there, so she bought their tickets, right there in line
on her phone and just showed the ticket upc code that was on her phone screen. She also got them motel reservations
they are always cheaper online than just showing up
at the motel. It costs more money though.
But she doesn't have cable or internet at her ap't.
so she loves accessing her facebook that she uses as
her email, on her phone. It was fun to watch their
cross country trip , they would take photos
with her Droid and post them on her facebook! lol
has GPS too!

No I don't, I use the least expensive cell service I can buy which is around $8. a month. It rarely rings, but need it for when I take a road trip alone. Even if I did want one, I wouldn't pay the monthly charges.

None of these things is essential to me. There's also such constant marketing of 'newer, better, faster', whatever. But then, I'm so old I remember when IBM touted its PC's by saying I could store my recipes on one. LOL

How much do you spend per month on contracts for all your gizmo's? How many devices have you junked? How would your life change if your hand-held devices ceased to function tomorrow? Are any of them 'essential' and why?

I might be interested in an e-book with a cell phone feature. I don't want to play games or take pictures. I would like to eliminate the paper and transportation waste of books, magazines and newspapers. It's scary to think of Third World workers being poisoned as they scavenge metals from discarded devices -- and of the mountains of plastic 'remains' buried or dumped in the ocean.