I’ve had my Droid X for about a month and a half; the soonest I could upgrade without paying almost $600. I don’t text, but I do like to surf the web without the weight, bulk, or boot times of my laptop, or enjoy a quick video game during breaks at work. What better way than with a pocket-sized computer that just happens to be able to make phone calls?
@palerider I don’t know about the throw-away mentality since we are talking something that is easily broken or lost, has a component that requires replacing every 2–3 years (the battery), and is prone to obsolescence in the same way computers are. I don’t know of many people that keep their phone more than two years without upgrading that actually care about technology in general. Those who only use their phone as a phone or (like @rts486) barely use them at all may keep theirs a bit longer than those who still run WinXP on a Pentium 4.
@TheOnlyNeffie People I know who broke their “fancy” phones are mostly the types of people who are shouldn’t have anything even remotely breakable in the first place. Have you ever left your phone in your pants pocket when you did laundry, or have you lost three phones that way this year alone? Are you prone to dropping stuff other than bodily waste into the toilet? Have you ever broken an LCD computer screen with your habit of throwing stuff on your desk and had something bounce into the glass and crack it? Can you own a normal set of shoes, or are you restricted to slip-ons due to a tendency to snap shoelaces when you try to tie them? I know some real klutzes.
That said, I prefer “candy bars” over sliders or especially flip-phones. I’ve never seen a flip-phone last more than about two years regardless. If nothing else, the wiring in the hinge goes out.
@rts486 Is it a 2126? If all you need is a basic phone, that thing is great. My old one was small, light, long-lasting, and could pull bars where others lost service. I still use it as an alarm clock.