Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 25, 2014

The point of a smartphone has nothing to do with talking.

Just because it has “phone” in its name, everybody tries to tell you how you could find a way to talk cheaper….

If that’s all you want… great.You don’t want a smartphone.Fine.But smartphones, like tablets, are for people who want the magic of having the internet in their pockets. Or who want their devices to be a decent quality camera, a screen to share pictures with friends, a map of wherever you find yourself….a reader of codes on products, a place to store addresses and shopping lists, a calendar with pop-up reminders…oh yeah, a translator that can tell you how to say something, and pronounce it aloud…I could go on and on.

You can have a tablet or iPod or some such and do most of that stuff wirelessly, without paying for phone service… but only where you can find an open wireless network. And you can’t talk on it.

If you want to have more access, you pay for phone service… and you can talk and text on it also.

Somebody said yesterday phones are cheap…no, smartphones cost hundreds of dollars, $600 or so for a high end one like Janis probably has….if it’s not time for your plan to pay for an upgrade…. or doesn’t offer them.At upgrade time, you might pay $100-200…. or get a slightly lesser model (last year’s whiz kid) for free.

Usually that’s every two years, if at all…. so if you lose or break it in between, you have to pay retail, buy a cheaper type phone…. or rely on your insurance.

My plan no longer offers upgrades, and there’s no way I could pay hundreds… … so you bet my phone is insured.

I may have to give it up soon, anyway…. but right now, it’s like having a science fiction device…. not just a phone. I hardly talk on it cos my landline is unlimited… but I love to carry the internet with me.

Just read a couple of posts above…. want to say before I submit this…the virtual “keys” on my smartphone are way bigger than the keys on my old flip phone.