Alright, so ever since these gadgets hit the market and have been causing a ruckus, I've always been against them. Especially since I have read articles on them about certain things that the cell phone carriers and companies can do with them without you ever knowing.

I've been pretty anti-progressive with this technology. Seems as though people are becoming more and more dependant on technology. Its getting out of hand with how freaking attached people are becoming with their phones. I constantly see people and not just young people texting on their phones oblivious to the world around them.

Then, you also have the obscene charges to operate them. Darn near $100 a month to use them! Thats ridiculous! As you can tell by now, the whole idea has been a huge turn-off to cross over to the dark side. I've always been for the most part a simpleton with this and have found that a feature phone is about all I need. Until now?

Despite all the downfalls, I really 'am liking the idea of being able to look something up with it. Phone books have not been so commonplace now and most of the time I have to resort to using the net to look up a number or get directions, etc.

But what if I'm not near the computer? Thats where I see a data phone coming into play. I could look up a number, location, etc. anywhere I have cell phone service. Not to mention, if I got stranded on the road, I could even possibly troubleshoot something as I could get on the web.

But really, despite the pros and cons, is it really worth the extra needed to own/operate one?

I continually ask myself everyday I come to such a crossroad and have a slight hint that I could be compromising my freedom for security:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

I guess it all really boils down to how much of my privacy I'm knowingly exposing...

So can anyone convince me they really are worth having?

It is definitely nice to look stuff up anywhere and everywhere. I used to have sprint which had an unlimited data plan and I rigged it all up with the family to where it was a wifi hotspot using the network carrier towers from here to detroit michigan. It was awesome. But they have since made sure to block every way you can do that (you aren't supposed to be able to do that without another $20/month charge). However, using just the phone is fine and you can get to everything on the web and yeah it really is awesome. But, $100 a month is BS. Internet at home isn't even that much and cell phones can barely even come close to what a laptop can use. I was paying $100 for mine and eventually asked why when I could just get a stupid phone and jump on my parent's plan for free using their minutes (they have thousands in rollover) and unlimited texting. It's a no brainer. If it were me and you were going on a vacation, download the FSM and bring a laptop.. I mean thats $1200 a year you can spend on a new laptop every 5 years, a DAMN nice laptop that will last all 5 years without a sweat. As with anything else these days, it's just another luxury..Write down everyones number in the 911 section as well and now you have a smart phone for your break down times. You will lose data before you lose voice signal. Data is very flakey in a lot of places especially mountainous places. I got a smart phone (Nokia N8) and turned the data settings all completely off so they can't charge me anything for having it since they don't know about it. So I can use it in wifi places and all kinds of stuff. It has offline maps for use with the GPS as well. That is pretty slick with the smart phones though being able to google a place then have it just take you straight to it. Still tomtom does the same thing and a hell of a lot better. Phones are kinda hard to use with GPS. IMHO, take your laptop.. get a stupid phone (keep your current one if thats the case), and get a tomtom or something for GPS. Oh and the batteries on smart phones last only a few days compared to the weeks you can get out of a stupid phone. I mean they are nice but $100/month is just too much. If you can afford it without sacrificing anything else then go for it. I personally don't think I will ever go back to one.

I was the same way until I picked up this iPhone earlier this year and now it would be hard ( for a while) to be without it. It is very expensive but so is everything else these days.

keep the dumb phone, get a 3g ipad, the data plans are from 15-50 a month. pending how much usages they use. if you have wifi at home then it's great. heck even on the road find a coffee shop or most modern hotels offer free wifi park in the parking lot to use it. them learn how to turn the tracking features off of the smart devices.

I pads have data plans now? Thought they ran off WiFi only?It depends on needs and uses. I have had one for a few years now with the Android platform and love it. Compared to having a regular cell phone it is an extra 40 to 50 a month. So I keep the smart phone and did away with the home phone and internet service. The wife has a company issued tablet and we run our computer off of it with a wifi adapter.We juggled our bills around and don't pay anymore than if we kept a landline / internet service with regular phones.what are your concerns with privacy? The govt can ping a plainJane cellphone and be on your doorr step in no time if that's what they want to do....