Downgrading to a dumb phone

Both my wife and I are on, what I call, first-generation smart phones. They are Windows Mobile 6.1 phones that require the $30 data plan, but they're really not all that great. Ever since we've gotten them, my wife has wanted a regular, flip phone. As we come up on the end of our 2-year contract with Verizon, I'm salivating over all the possibilities. iPhone? Droid? Which Droid? Wait for iPhone5? Even the Windows phones look cool.

But, again, my wife mentioned last night "I'm just going to get a flip phone".

Hmm.

Simplify

She went on to explain how a flip phone for her made sense... she doesn't like getting all those email notifications. She recently quit her job and will be staying home with the children so she can easily fire up her laptop to do any email, web browsing, etc - why does she need it on her phone?

That makes sense for her, but what about for me? I need to update Facebook, check my e-mail, maybe tweet, use Evernote. But one of the things I've also been trying to do is to simplify. I'm definitely not a minimalist (yet) - but I strive to simplify my life. After my wife said that again, I needed to take a step back.

This could be an opportunity to take a step in the "simplify" direction.

Budget

Obviously budget is always a concern. But data plans cost $30 per phone... $60 for my wife and I's phone's together. That means we've spent $1440 on data plan in the last 2 years.

And beyond that, like I mentioned, my wife is at home now so we do have to pay special attention to budget to make sure it can all work. That makes this a good time to downgrade.

Computers

And once I thought about it... when I'm at home I have a laptop as well. When I'm at work I'm sitting at a computer. How often do I need to be on the internet when I'm not at one of those two places?

And even with a new smart phone - isn't using the internet on a big computer still better and easier?

Not so dumb?

Then I did some research on feature phones (dumb phones) - phones that don't require a data plan. Turns out there are a couple that don't look so dumb. One of the phones I'm looking at has wifi. There again, I've got wifi at home and wifi at work.

This wifi capability would allow us to continue using the web for practical reasons - like keeping both my wife and I's calendar on our phones in sync by using Google Calendar. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure that will still work, but it's still a possibility.

Still Capable

I won't be able to update my Facebook status from WalMart parking lot anymore? Wrong. I can use text messaging for that. Text messaging can be used for a lot of things - even to send emails in some cases.

I won't be able to check my friends Facebook status from WalMart anymore? Ok, I'm willing to give that up.

Conclusion

Not that the new smart phones aren't cool - I know they are. But the question is, are they that cool? Are they worth the price you pay for them? I'm about 90% sure I'll be downgrading to a dumb phone shortly.