That first “no” is me.
You see, it’s a prestige thing: if I need you, then I’ll call you. ;-)

In all honesty though, the occasional inconvenience of needing a phone on the road is handily offset by the incomparable feeling of being above it all and out of reach. I’ve realized that to me, it’s not about saving the few bucks, it’s about staying myself in this world, staying independent, handling my own emergencies “manually”. And I’m certainly not one to shun communication; it just seems to me that any communication done by telephone (mobile or landline, actually) can almost never be really relevant - and I hate wasting time.

If I ever get a mobile phone, it’ll be to observe the lowly but proud
footsoldier that is the bitmap font in action, in the trenches.

hhp

Wow. Hrant, you are actually the only person I can think of that does not have a mobile phone. Must be nice. I actually sleep with mine (in all seriousness).

Hrant,

I don’t own a cell phone either, I simply don’t want one. And the last time we moved we trashed our answering machine, and never got a new one. It’s nice not to be easily reachable. =)

It has to be nice to be in a position where you can be unreachable.
Running a business, that’s just not a remote possibility — especilly if you fly a lot.

Yes I use a mobile phone for:
Text messages,
Photo’s at 2mp
Calls
Alarm clock
Timer for food.
Emergency contact ie.. ICE In Case of Emergency number on your person
Emergency news photos and video.
Documentation of something that you want to show someone with the camera, always on you.
and a radio.

I have 3 mobile phones, one active but on a different network, one pay as you go for friends and relatives visiting London, and my 3rd 2mp new main phone. And about 2 other not used ones.

London bombings and other phone photos at 1.4mp and 2mp
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93279914@N00/sets/740849/

Mobile phones are the best invention since electricity. It’s just too bad America only marketed the phones to business men and missed the boat on bring communication to places like China where it’s too expensive to put in land phone lines. Many people use their phones as a main phone in Europe and around the world.

you can switch them off.

I would actually love to have a means of reading my email and doing light web browsing on the road - if it’s affordable and comfortable. It’s the idea of some piece of badly designed electronics constantly playing music for attention, and facilitating senseless yakking at me that turns me off.

As for turning it off, that just makes people angrier than not being able to reach you at all - because it’s a device intended for quick turnaround, otherwise they could just leave a message at a home/office landline (unless it’s Lauri).

hhp

I’ve only had one for a little over a year. I generally don’t give out the number, but sometimes forward my regular number to it. I don’t use it a lot. I don’t always take it with me. I like the convenience of it. I hate the installed ring tone choices and the fact that you have to pay if you want a different one (none of which are much better). I hate the ergonomics of the phone I got. Just about everything about the way it’s designed is ridiculous. Next time I will choose more wisely.

I miss the old Bell Telephone models. Not many features, but well thought out design and reliable.

I didn’t want a cell phone until four months ago, It’s a super tool for flirting.

Héctor

I’m very surprised the “no” proportion is so high. Maybe it’s a[nother] case of the “rebels” wanting to make a point, while the “mainstreamers” don’t see the point.

hhp

Surely Hrant

Héctor

I use a mobile. However, I don’t give the number to clients. I’m very lucky to have clients that understand when to reach me and when I can reach them. I also practice ‘selective answering’ as I do think mobiles are an invasion of privacy. I should also add that when I’m driving and my mobile rings I’ve been known to have a few close calls.

I’d like a cell phone with an mechanical analog dial. Maybe then I’d carry one. There must be a market for something like that. Something like the Mockia Deskia, but portable.

Grant, perhaps you’d be interested in something from Pokia. :)

I’ve just noticed Pokia is linked too the Mokia site.

Norway was (and maybe still is?) the first country in the world with 100% of it’s population over the age 16 owning a mobile phone. i certainly have one. and i use it a lot. sms, e-mail, voice, calendar (in sync with my mac), alarm clock, paying for parking, cinema etc. and for sketching type! the sony ericsson p9000 has got a useful sketchbook-software to do simple sketching. the skecthes are in .gif format and can be sent as e-mail or mms.
here are 2 sketches done on the phone:

http://www.melkeveien.no/magnus/mobile_sketch.gif

http://www.melkeveien.no/magnus/rev.gif

Magnus

I thought Finland was first/most. Although -AFAIK- Lebanon is the
only country with more -working- cell numbers than landlines! :-)

The sketching is cool!

hhp

well you know. we have almost too much money here in norway. got to spend it on something.

Bah, I feel so reckless, young, and naive. I think for most people my age (21), parents require that we use a cell phone. You know, so they would be the first to find out if we ever crash our cars, get arrested, or end up in the hospital. Or so we can just tell them how our day was and generally keep in touch.

Mobiles are so yesterday (not that I’d be without mine…) - anyone else use voip?

I’d like a cell phone with an mechanical analog dial.

That would be fun for about 10 minutes. After that, it would just be annoying.

I have a little nostalgia for rotary dials, but push buttons are better and faster. A rotary dial takes longer to dial a number if the numbers are higher (and 0 is in the 10 spot). How stupid is that? (Oh, no! Got to dial 9 . . . . . . . . . 1 . 1 . !)

Hell yeah I use a mobile phone. You pretty much have to with kids.

I have a Motorola RAZR which is not the most feature-rich phone ever but I like it.

And I do give out the number to clients. I’ve never encountered one who abused it.

I use a mobile and use it to check emails and check train/bus times and yes to edeverett I use voip. Unfortunately until my pc can fit in my pocket I guess I’m stuck with using a mobile!
That said voip is a very underated means of communication. I think the name puts some people off as it sounds complicated, if it were called iPhone I’m sure it would take off in an instant! hmmm…… (note ellipsis !!)

Yes, I finally caved this summer when it was thrust on me by my sister-in-law who upgraded and wanted the credit for passing it on. I carry it around because it’s pretty tiny, but I don’t like talking on it, and generally have it turned off. I hate the idea of it, and I think it looks ridiculous to be walking down the street talking into a *thing*, but it has come in handy a couple of times, for sure.

Oh, and one of my home phones is actually of the old clunky black rotary variety… Still works. I still use it.

But I should add that I’m a bit of an anti-techie in some respects — I only got internet at home a month ago and I don’t (and won’t) own a TV.

We have VOIP at work. All of the university switched a couple of years ago.

Kristina

So now I’m wondering: What percentage of US adults* have mobiles?

* Or should we include teens and even preens now?

hhp

I like my mobile phone, and I have to admit I am a bit of a geek with it. To be honest, if I could buy exactly the same phone with the speaker and microphone removed, and purely use it for text messages, email, browsing, shoot-from-the-hip photography, lightweight PDA type stuff and the odd game, then I’d be an awful lot happier. I think its time for mobile phones to move to the next step - dumping voice calls altogether!

Stephen Fry illustrated the problem with (all) telephones perfectly. He said they’re impossibly rude, simply sitting there screaming “SPEAK TO ME, SPEAK TO ME, SPEAK TO ME” like a demanding child.

Before someone suggests turning off my ringer, or diverting to voicemail - Hrant is right, that just makes people irrationally angry.