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The question I’ve been wrestling with for the past few months levitra online, that has come to a boil this week, is whether or not a smart phone affords enough value to be worth the extra monthly expense.  I was surprised to realize what the driving factor behind my decision has been.

For years now, I’ve worked in computer related industries.  I’ve also moved all over the country.  When you combine those two things, you end up with a lot of friends scattered all over the globe that have something in common: they’re all very “plugged in”.  Facebook, for example, has been fantastic for me.  I’m back in touch with people that I’d lost touch with years or decades ago.  From a social standpoint, it has a certain perfection all it’s own, but that’s another post.

I don’t remember when I joined Facebook.  I do remember that it was something I did because someone (and I don’t remember who anymore) badgered me about it.  I promptly proceeded to ignore it.  Then something odd happened.  People started finding me.  Little by little, more and more people were added to my list.  I’m picky about my Facebook list - if you aren’t someone that was actually a friend, then you don’t get added.  There are certain exceptions - a few of my sister’s friends, as an example, are on my list because I’ve met them a few times, and I’ve enjoyed the thoughts and comments they’d posted on my sister’s page.

If you’re wondering when I’m going to get to the point, I’m getting there.  I’ve been finding that being connected to a network of friends is a very powerful thing - I get to keep up with what people are doing, I get feedback on things I’m doing, and I’ve had a chance to get to know some people better than I’ve had a chance to in the past.  Some of my friends have automated some of the sharing processes - posting where they’re at from their phones, or using Twitter to route updates, posting pictures from where ever they happen to be at the moment, of things they find interesting.  Then those updates elicit a range of responses and comments from other people.

I enjoy when people post from their smart phones.  Mobile pictures uploaded, location updates when someone is at an old haunt or somewhere new, the “on-the-spot” commentary and reviews.  In fact, I want to be able to post those things too.  And I want to be able to check and see what’s going on with the people I care about when I’m out and about but have a down moment (from the dentist’s waiting room this morning, for example).  But a smart phone - be it the Google G1 or the Apple iPhone or a Blackberry - would be an up-front investment of around $100 (I don’t need anything extravagant, the base model will serve my needs well) plus an additional $20 to $30 a month above what I currently pay for cell service.  There’s also the 2 year contract that comes with them.

I did the math both ways - “Oh wow, that’s an extra $720 over the course of the contract!” and “So I’d have to work an extra 20 minutes a week to pay for this”.

Something else I’ve had to consider is how I’ve changed in the past few years.  I’ve also gotten very good at talking myself out of spending money that I don’t need to spend.  The 1TB hard drive I wanted became a 640GB drive purchased many months later when it was on sale.  The Netbook that was really cool but that I wasn’t using was sold on Craigslist (for less than it was worth, but more than I paid for it, so that was a win-win).  My car has a cassette tape player, not the CD player with iPod port.  The 24″ LCD monitor was returned.  I’ve gotten pretty good at separating “want” from “need” and deciding what will add to my life, and what just adds to my “stuff”.

I took full advantage of the trial periods that cell phone companies offer.  I picked up the Google G1 by Tmobile and the iPhone.  I really liked the G1 as a device, and I likes that it was an open source product.  Unfortunately, the Tmobile network in my area is spotty and data is on the old, slow EDGE technology.  The data speed was a quarter to a third the speed that the iPhone was getting on the 3G network AT&T has here.  The trade off there is that while the G1 would have cost me around $71 a month, the iPhone will cost around $82.  But the iPhone will be usable, so I see the extra cost there as a frugal choice.  If you’re paying less for something that doesn’t do what you need, you aren’t being frugal.

There is one other difference between these phones that I thought I liked better about the G1, but on reflection, for me, makes the iPhone a better choice.  The G1 processes notifications constantly.  For me, because of where I am in my life, that would make me a slave to my phone.  The iPhone, on the other hand, I find I can put down and not think about until I’m ready to pick it up.  In a nutshell, I found myself meeting the G1 on it’s terms, while the iPhone seems to meet me on my terms.

I’m still in my trial period, I can still take the iPhone back if I want.  I don’t think I will.  In spite of not wanting to like it, it has some features I find very useful (not the least of which is that I no longer have to carry a phone, my iPod shuffle AND a camera).  But that isn’t the “killer app” for me.  The thing that makes this device valuable to me is that it keeps me connected to the people in my life.  In the end, it’s the people in our lives that matter.