"Yeah, uh, because you're all dumbfucks and we can get away with it because of that, we're going to charge you all for data storage that's already on your phone. Coming next on fucking you from all three ends (capitalism, politics, and outright theft), Sony is considering charging people for power that their future devices use with a required meter that monitors power consumption, also carbon taxing."

Or perhaps I've misunderstood something?

All I wanted last christmas was a smart phone. Just wanted the intuitive interface and the ability to store files. Basically a PDA that can make calls. They didn't want to pay the data plan, and neither did I, so they bought me one of those ridiculously overpriced "new" ipods that don't have the front camera (or was it the back one? can't remember) and barely a few gigs of storage. It was lighter, and that's about all is good about the newer one. I took it back, because it was something like 400 dollars. Way too much. Didn't get anything else for it either, I just didn't want that on my conscience, it just wouldn't get used enough for how much was paid for it.

What are some good alternatives to smart phones?

I was thinking getting one of those ipod nanos. I could go for the really early generation ones, or one of those fancy new generation touch screen ones. The former is very small and cheap, the latter would be a very nice watch (they marketed it as a watch, where you can buy wrist watch straps for it) and gadget in general, being a calculator and storage device in general, though it's expensive.

What are they gonna charge us for next? Breath- oh wait...

Steam charges for cloud storage for free, and these phone companies are so damn rich they can definitely afford the same infrastructure steam gives for free. To my knowledge if you have a smart phone, and you want to make calls with it, you HAVE to get a data plan along with the calling plan, which is fucked. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Move to the U.P.
They don't work up here. Problem solved. :D

I purchased a Google Nexus 5 directly from Google, $350 plus tax and shipping, and put it on the T-Mobile pre-paid $30 plan that they sell only at Walmart or on their website. $30/month for 100 voice minutes, unlimited texts, and 5 GB of 4G LTE data per month. Depending on how T-Mobile coverage is where you're located, it may or may not be a good deal. I was previously with Sprint and T-Mobile is ridiculously better in my area than Sprint.

I feel like I've got a great deal with this, but YMMV...


Edit: T-mobile has several pre-paid plan variations, some may suit you better than others. You should be able to choose any of these on a smartphone, even one without data, as long as you purchase a sim from them and activate it online selecting one of those plans.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

You get what you pay for, and smart phones or any and all tablet devices are sophisticated technology as fuck, let me tell you. If they weren't all made in china where factory overhead is extremely low for western standards, they'd be about five times costlier than what they retail for now.

Anyway, long story short, $400 for a miniature touchscreen computer doesn't strike me as all that expensive, considering.

Also, where I come from, you can basically pay per minute and only use that feature if you buy an unburdened phone and prepaid SIM card. You can't find that option in america?

Shouldn't cloud storage just be your dropbox/skydrive account?

If you want a good phone without a plan then it gets pricey, but since you're talking about Apple you're rich. Cheap and Apple don't go in the same sentence except when explaining oxymorons. You can get a phone that goes by month-to-month contracts but you'll want to make sure that you like the carrier. ATT, Verizon, Sprint/Virgin Mobile, maybe even that Cricket thing. You'll have to see which you like the most and their offerings because they all use different phone models.

But afaik ATT is going contract free or so with no "you're bound to this" so I'd look into them first.

I would assume so, the proper place for such taxes and fees is on the electricity itself. We have a higher tax on gas than most of the rest of the country and it doesn't matter which vehicle you put the gas into. The result is that people try to use less of the fuel in whatever they're driving.

But, you're absolutely correct that this is a stupid idea, I would assume that there's either more to it or that the article is wrong.

I think my phone retailed for something like $125, and is now under $100 if you pick one up used(Nokia Lumia 521). It's small, and due to it being a win8 phone, light on app options. But the touch screen is the best I've ever used, and it does all the important stuff, and is generally snappy.

I also like using it as a wifi hub it I need one for my tablet or in a pinch. It's humble by some measures, but it is a full fledged smart phone, and where it fails, it fails due to lack of something more than doing something poorly. The only thing that kinda pisses me off is the two updates I've had for it forcibly downloaded, both wiping out my data for the month and draining the battery dry overnight leaving me with no data and no alarm clock. I also wish it did reminders and not just alarms, but there was an app for that.

Plan wise I just did t-mobile's basic 50$ for unlimited basics and 500MB for data.