That's a good thought, I miss being able to answer my phone without looking at the screen... For all the computing I do, my iPad mini is completely sufficient, but I don't do that much... Considered briefly getting something like a Surface, but I only upgrade when my device breaks(or I need to switch carriers), so I have a first gen iPad mini, and a beat up old iPhone 4

 

Having just reached 3/4 of a century in age (there is a scary thought) and having to live on a reduced income for a significant portion of a decade which really upsets the availability of cash to buy things like food and housing the concept of a phone that does more than let me contact others when needed and then only as required really alters the acceptance of a device that one could call "smart" in that it does something else as in the presentation of Dick Tracy of comic book fame really distorts the definition of what a phone is and what it should do.
It was not that long ago it seems when the use of the phone was to turn the crank and when the operator answered one could ask something like "Gail could you connect me with guy I need to plan the paper rout out" and through the magic of unseen manipulations the next voice I would hear would be Guy's voice.
I can now place in my pocked a phone smaller than a package of cigarettes rather than using a wheel barrel to transport it in and I can still talk to guy who is now a number of states away rather than just down the street or so. But I have to push a button or two rather than tell the phone to find him.
Technology has made using the phone to make the phone call a bit more cumbersome as it requires me to know what number to use however technology has made it easier to transport. Aka, it is now in my shirt pocket.
I just have not developed the need to have a telephone that does more than make a phone call which was it's basic intent in the first place. And a flip phone is nice and affordable too. It is a bit more complex in that I accidently discovered there is a button on the side that amplifies the voice content so that I can hear it better. You would have thought that after owning it for better than a decade I might have discovered it sooner. But I didn't. And as to cost? I do not need to pay more to use the phone than I do to make a car payment. What is the point to that?
I guess I must have missed something some where.
Would you believe that many times I just leave it in the car and walk away and when I get back I check to see if some one had called and what the phone number was? And if I don't recognize it I just plain erase it and don't bother trying to figure who or what called me.
How much smarter can I ask the phone to be eh?
I dunno. I guess getting older affects me more than I thought it did.

 

"Would you believe that many times I just leave it in the car and walk away and when I get back I check to see if some one had called and what the phone number was? And if I don't recognize it I just plain erase it and don't bother trying to figure who or what called me."

This reminds me of someone a friend of mine knew that (before the days of touch tone) finally got phone service for the first time and one day while the friend was there at dinner the phone rang. The guy just ignored it and kept on with dinner. The friend asked why he wasn't answering it and he said "I got the phone for MY convenience, not THEIRS."

Sometimes I remember this and that I'm not paying outrageous bills so that people (or robot apps) can bug the heck out of me.

 

If I don't recognize the number and someone doesn't leave a message, I figure it's either NOT IMPORTANT or a spammer.

 

This is so funny! Now with the latest version of Android (Nougat) you can run more than one app at a time in windows (welcome back to 1992). Of course just like last time, older apps often don't work or work right in these windows. You would think after 27 years of experience they would have anticipated this and programmed for it. Nope, same mistakes (or planned obsolescence?) as last time. "Smart" phone, right.

 

I agree in part with some of the sentiments raised, it does tend to feel like some of these new 'smart' devices are just reintroducing ideas that have been around for a while. But if you don't really do too much with it, i don't think theres even a need to really stress it. I am in the same boat bonestock, I have an old iphone and the 1st generation surface and they work pretty well for basic things