While the numbers are rising, those older than 45 are the most stubborn when it comes to buying a smart phone.
According to Nielsen, only 45 percent of folks between 45-54, only 33 percent of us between 55-64 (that's me!) and just 22 percent of those older than 65 own a smart phone, compared to more than 60 percent of those between 18-44.
What are you waiting for? Why are we gray beards reluctant to join the smart phone generation?
I hear four reasons mostly:
Pro smart phone arguments
They're too expensive: Cost is becoming less of an issue. Several last generation smart phones are now free or close to it, including the iPhone 3GS. It's only the monthly fee that might be a bit pricey. But prepaid cell companies such as Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile offer both Android phones and low unlimited data fees starting at $50 and $35 a month respectively.
Plus, you'll feel far more comfortable chucking your landline phone when you get a smart phone. The money you save on not having a landline could pay for your smart phone service.
Why do I need one? This a common caveat for older consumers when faced with a new technology. Depending on how you define "need" (strictly speaking, you really need only a few a few things like food and sleep), you don't "need" one.
But with hundreds of thousands of apps, you'll find a lot of uses for them, even if it's just having a good camera handy, or checking your email when you're not home, or having your music with you without having to also schlep along an MP3 player.
But you'll love one feature in particular – visual voice mail. Instead of having to listen to each message you get in boring sequence, you'll be able to immediately tap and listen to only the messages you really want to hear.
Perhaps the best reason to get a smart phone: keeping in closer contact with your kids or grandkids, especially if you learn to text and the video chat.
They're too complicated. Ya got me there. Sometimes even I find smart phones a bit confusing and frustrating.
But I also find folks over-think their gadgets. I sometimes watch my parents puzzle over how to perform a function. When they look to me to solve their dilemma, I ask: "If you were designing this, where you put it?" Their answer – and the solution – is usually the obvious. But because they assume the thing is complicated, they tend not to think the operation is as obvious as I just illustrated.
Gadgets can be daunting, yes, but their basic operations can be quickly mastered if you stop over-thinking them, and their more complex features can be conquered over time. Discovering this can be quite rewarding, happily disproving the old saw about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks.
Plus, now you'll have an excuse to call or text your kids or grandkids – to ask them how to work your new phone! It'll be one of the few things you can communicate about.
I can't read the screen. Those with presbyopia or other eyesight issues find discerning the details on even a 3.5- or 4-inch touchscreen requires either a magnifying glass or squinting.
Which brings us to the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Is it a small tablet or a big phone?
As I mentioned last week (Best New Smart Phones – #1: Samsung Galaxy Note), the 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Note sports the biggest screen of any smart phone extant, a bright 5.3 inches. You can see the Note's impressive size is the photo above – that's the original Samsung Galaxy for AT&T with a 4-inch screen that looks like a miniature next to it.
I've been playing with the Note for just about a week, and initially I had the same complaints a lot of others have had: it's too small to be a tablet, it's too big to be a phone.
But then I got to thinking: maybe Note is exactly the right size for those forced to squint at normal-sized smart phone screens.
Everything is bigger on the Note screen. Text, especially the Web, is easier to read, app icons are larger and easier to discern and accurately tap to open, and the touch keyboard keys are larger and easier to tap type on.
It's not only the Note's screen size that is more senior friendly. Note's girth is counter-intuitively easier to handle for those whose fingers aren't quite as dexterous as they once were – while you can hold Note in one hand, you are almost forced to hold it with two hands, making it less likely to slip from your fingers.
Note also fits neatly and comfortably into a man's shirt breast pocket or an inside pocket of a suit. Because Note's weight is distributed over a broad 5.78 x 3.27-inch surface area, its 6.28 ounces doesn't feel heavy.
Writing notes
While Note's touch QWERTY is larger and easier to tap on, some folks find tap-typing uncomfortable. Note solves that problem with an app called S Memo, which essentially turns Note into a digital note pad.
Mounted into a slot at the bottom of Note is a stylus, a decidedly low-tech instrument. But with it – or your finger – you can scrawl and email notes as you see in the photo, or draw or import photos.
I'm not arguing for Note, mind you. It is a bit expensive – $300 from AT&T plus a two-year contract. And it feels weird when you hold it up to your ear as a phone, and it's a slippery little devil. And S Memo does have a learning curve.
But I am arguing for you to get a smart phone. You will fee uncomfortable and stupid at first, but you'll soon see what everyone else is enjoying.