When did having a smartphone become compulsory?

MayBee70

I don’t have a smart phone ( can’t even use the phone I do have) but use my iPad for everything. It broke down last week and I couldn’t function….contacting people, buying things, paying bills, reading the news. But I’ve realised I need to get a good phone and learn how to use it. But they’re @ £1000 and I assume I’ll have to pay a monthly fee too?

I think you will only need to pay that for a pretty "upmarket" phone.
My husband has this work bought an iPhone - 18 maths old I think for £350.
I bought a Samsung last year, directly from Samsung. I chose an A52s which is excellent for me. Samsung have regular offers on and as I bought a screen protector for £9 (buy 2 products and get 30% off) I got a massive discount - and used a voucher code too (and Quidco). It came to about £230 in the end.

There are android smartphones new for under £50

Depends on how much data and add-on services you’d want.

For example, I pay a tenner a month on a 10GB SIM only contract, but that includes free roaming in Europe, worth it to me since I’m there quite often.

My other half is with 02, gets 5GB data, and limited Europe roaming for £5 a month.

Money Saving Expert has providers priced by GB amounts www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

or you could look at USwitch, or Compare the Market.

£8 a month for instance.
Not advertising, other providers are available

A SIM card only contract should not cost too much and you generally get free phone calls, texts, WhatsApp etc.
Have a look at a price comparison site and you might be pleasantly surprised.

I have been offered second hand smart phones by various young members of my extended family - but how much a year will it cost me to hook it up to the internet?
I am 84 and don't have much money - if this goes on I'll soon become housebound.
I'm sure ordinarygirl and I are not alone.

I love my doro. The doro tablet can be used for parking. You’ll need to upgrade your phone to a 4g one because your phone will stop working soon.

Personally I’d go for a doro 7080 and a doro tablet.

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paying by phone has extra security and is very much safer than debit or credit cards and btw a credit card is more secure than a debit card

yes, that was the initial push for me, then getting a message that my phone would not accept 5G. Plus the fact that there would be no more security fixes on that older phone

I am never wed to my phone but it is already becoming familiar. I have taken some unwanted apps off and disabled buxby. I have a few more things to do but that can wait for another day

If some of you have old smartphones that operate on 3G be warned that 3G is going to be phased out.

Foxygloves

I think Ringgo charges 38p

The Ringgo charge is for the SMS reminder messages and can be turned off in the app. I like to get them though.
I get 3 messages at a charge of 33p plus vat.
I’ll turn it off next time as an experiment.

QwikPark is my favourite parking app as you don’t need to do anything. It sees you arriving and leaving the car park and automatically charges

I too embrace the technology but I cherry pick what works for me.
For instance only self service tills in a supermarket would pose no problem as they accept cashless payment by debit card so I have no need to bother with Apple Pay or a banking app on my phone.

I have no angst foxygloves, I am late to the party but have decided not to be a luddite and have embraced this technology

I am all for smart phones and I have one. Unfortunately the tips of my fingers on my right hand are numb following a less than successful carpal tunnel op, which makes using it difficutl and I am dyspraxic, which means poor fine motor control and a tendency to displace the order of letters and numbers when typing.

Both of which problems also occur when typing contributions on GN, which, no doubt, many will have noticed.

However, I do not see that as a good reason to ask why the world of smartphone use should be organised around my, fairly esoteric problems.

And they tell you when you book exactly how much you are paying, before you confirm.
Honestly compared to the bad old days of having to have the right coinage and a meter which was actually working, it’s a no-brainer.
Some years ago taking DH to his hospital appointment in London I dropped him at the station and went looking round and round and round for a parking space. Nothing to be had except outside the ice ink where the meters only took cash. And guess what, I didn’t have enough coinage. I flagged down a helpful motorist who generously just handed over the small change he had in the front of his car. Talk about the kindness of strangers! Unfortunately one of the £1 coins was damaged so I was still £1 short! I stopped a lady, explained briefly and she was happy to swap my home-made looking £1 coin for a perfect one. “Don’t worry, I’ll use it in Tescos” she laughed!
DH had left my ticket at the barrier for me as he had to take the train we had booked Passenger Assistance on and I eventually caught up with him at Euston.
Give me phone parking every time

I think Ringgo charges 38p

AreWeThereYet

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NotAGran55

I have just signed up for the QwikPark app and looking forward to using it. No more tickets or queuing to pay.

But beware, there are many different apps for different car parks.

Also beware that some parking apps charge an extra charge for using the app. It may only be an extra 30p a time but that adds up if (like us) you park somewhere most days of the week. And it didn't mention the extra charge when we paid, either. It just come through on the statement.

Which parking app charges the extra 30p please?

I have nothing against smart phones depending what you want them for, but they are not essential for paying for anything unless that is your choice.
Perhaps because I have a fear of losing my phone I don’t load Apple Pay or a banking app. , I can do internet banking from the “big” computer at home. I do cashless shopping all the time, tapping my debit card so I feel the facility is there to do as little or as much as one likes.
I have the Ringgo number stored on my phone for parking and have registered my car make, colour and reg with them but it’s the work of a moment to park a different (eg courtesy) car in whichever location- generally clearly signposted. There is the added advantage of being able to extend your parking without going back to your vehicle - or dashing out of a shop or restaurant because you are taking longer than expected.

There seems to be a lot of unnecessary angst on this issue.

My `new` phone came today. a reconditioned samsung S20 5G and so far so very good. All my info was easy to transfer from my old phone, it happened automatically via smart switch and everything is there in familiar appearance, even whatsapp

I still have to download google pay app and then load my cards and I think that is it.

Support for my old phone has stopped so I had to do it, also I needed to get 5G locally. Yesterday I went to waitrose and there was not even one cash till, same with b and q last week. No point me being upset about that, important for me to go with the flow and hence wanting to be able to use my new phone to pay. I am happy with security on my phone

I would say go ahead and do it, reconditioned phones from the company I used come with a 12 month guarantee. I bought the top grade of excellent, the other condition grades are good and fair. They all work. Company is called backmarket and I personally would recommend. I had 128 GB of storage and cost was a bit over £200

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NotAGran55

I have just signed up for the QwikPark app and looking forward to using it. No more tickets or queuing to pay.

But beware, there are many different apps for different car parks.

Also beware that some parking apps charge an extra charge for using the app. It may only be an extra 30p a time but that adds up if (like us) you park somewhere most days of the week. And it didn't mention the extra charge when we paid, either. It just come through on the statement.

wish me luck. I have just bought a reconditioned samsung. Much lighter and neater than the one I have, which I never took out of the house. I need to join the modern age, particularly being able to use an app for parking and will be putting a bank app on it too

This is a massive leap forward for me, I have never even transferred data between phones and don`t know if I am in the cloud. My sister is savvy, so I can be too. I like being in my little bubble but have to move forward, or be left behind

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Another of Android phones are just as safe as long as you bother to set them up properly. Although they are almost as expensive now.

ordinarygirl

Many local authorities are now requiring paying for parking via a phone. I want to instruct a solicitor but need to prove my ID via an app only available on a smartphone. I DON'T WANT ONE OR CAN AFFORD ONE
so when did live become so complicated ?
I thought technology was supposed to make life easier and not harder

People have asked the same thing many times before because they didn't trust these new fangled devices.

100 years ago you would be asking:
when did having electricity become compulsory?

80 years ago you would be asking:
when did having a telephone become compulsory?

50 years ago you would be asking:
when did having a bank card become compulsory?

Well all these things are now in everyday use but many people didn't want them in their lives.