QOTD: Phone or PDA first?

26 November 2009 by Shaun 9 Comments

Is your smartphone a phone or a PDA first for you? I suspect I am in the minority, but my smartphone is still a phone first in my mind even if I do more PDA type stuff with it.

9 Comments »

Jason said:

Tricky one. I carry smartphone first and foremost because it is a phone. However, I find myself primarily using every other feature on the device except for the phone part. But if you take away all the smart features, I would have no problems. But if you take away the phone feature, I’d feel very uneasy every time I step out the door.

# 26 November 2009 at 5:00 am

gavinfabl said:

Got to be phone, but the convergence of one brick is great.

# 26 November 2009 at 8:56 am

Statto said:

A but of both. As with Jason I would feel uncomfortable without the “phone” as having access to a phone 24/7 has become the norm.

But in day to day use, the non-phone side gets more use with Twitter, RSS feeds, email, texts (if you don’t count that as phone/voice), PIM etc.

Bear in mind, my iPhone is pretty much entirely personal use only. I have a non smart work phone which almost never rings, and I’m usually in my office most days with access to phone/internet.

# 26 November 2009 at 9:53 am

DavidGreen said:

My first thought was PDA with some phone functionality, after Jason and Statto’s comments, it makes you think.
For me also, the phone is the least used portion of the device. Its the software that gets most of my attention.

# 26 November 2009 at 11:08 am

jah said:

One box or two?

I would be happy to have a very basic smartphphone like the Nokia E52 (one month battery life!) and a PDA like a Clie TH55 as long as the PDA could use the phones internet connection.

If it had to a one box solution, I would still prefer phone functionality over PDA because in business & personal spheres making calls and talking to people is very important to me.

# 26 November 2009 at 11:18 am

lazyboy said:

I think this is a false choice. The best devices can be many things, and do them ALL well – phone, PDA, media player, web browser, gaming device, camera, gps etc. I never make this distinction in my mind, I just pick up the device and use it for what’s needed at the time.

# 26 November 2009 at 12:21 pm

elbowz said:

In order of utilisation I’d say:

1. Messaging device
2. MP3 player
3. Web browser
4. Navigation device
5. Camera
6. Phone

But that’s the beauty of convergence isn’t it, one device to rule them all…

# 26 November 2009 at 1:30 pm

Zelph said:

What? There’s a phone in this thing? I thought it was just my ears that were ringing!

# 26 November 2009 at 2:11 pm

David said:

I always thought PDA first, phone second but I need to qualify that.

I’m on a long overseas trip at the moment and have data turned off my iphone to save costs. I still find it useful as a PDA but really miss the connectivity part. I mean REALLY miss that. I don’t muse it much as a phone but the connectivity that the phone part provides is essential to me.

So PDA but I really need data.

Does this mean I’m voting PDA or phone. I’m not sure.

Sid

# 27 November 2009 at 11:34 am