Over the past year and half, I’ve used and thoroughly enjoyed my Android powered T-Mobile G1. Sure, it was a 1st gen device, but it was great. Fantastic keyboard, GPS, decent music player, ubiquitous ‘net access, slick interface—everything I love in a mobile gadget. The thing that ended up getting me, though, was the required monthly data plan that costs $25.
No, it’s not an arm and a leg, but $25 makes a difference when you’re paying back student loans and raising a kid. So I decided to hang it up—not one month after I declared to my wife “I’ll never not have an Android phone!” My contract was up for renewal, so I got a nice, inexpensive middle-of-the-road dumbphone: the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic.
I like it. The dedicated headphone jack, decent music player, and long (long!) battery life makes music listening pretty darn enjoyable, and it’s handy that I don’t have carry around a phone and an mp3 player. The 2 mega-pixel camera isn’t great, but isn’t horrible. I’d actually love the phone if T-Mobile didn’t lock down some of the features that it would ship with straight from Nokia (Google sync, Opera Mini Browser, etc). As is, I’ve decided to accept the limitations imposed on the device by T-Mobile as forced simplicity 
. So…no real web browsing, no cool contact management, no third party apps—just calls, music, and movie times/weather if I’m in a pinch.
Knowing my tendency toward really, really loving latest-and-greatest tech, you’d think that this “step back” would really irritate me. Surprising even myself, I’m finding that it’s not that bad, and that there are actually some real benefits to having this kind of device instead a more powerful one. For instance, battery life is a non-issue. I charge it every other day, even when I’m listening music through Bluetooth headphones for a couple hours. The 5130 is also smaller and lighter in my pocket than practically every smartphone, even with a protective case.
It’s also probably really good for me to be forcibly unplugged the ‘nets at times. Instead of burying myself in feeds when I’m sitting on the couch (just ‘cause my phone is there) I’m forced to decide to pick up my laptop or do something else. Although I don’t have as much information at my disposal when I’m out and about, I can always do a quick look up via mobile web—I don’t need flashy graphics for the essentials (directions, weather, movie times).
This move really seems consistent with my desire to go a more minimalist direction as well.
All-in-all, I’m loving having a dumbphone.
