I'm one of those people. I don't have a smartphone and don't want one. My phone is the cheapest piece of shit Nokia I could find. The online shop I buy computer stuff from had it on sale. I paid something like 15 EUR for it; completely unlocked, no carrier contract and the like, and got a couple of spare batteries for it.
For the lack of a better word, it's perfect. It can use it to talk to people and send SMS messages, which is precisely what I need a phone for. E-mail and Facebook happens on my workstation (or on my laptop if I'm away); I am a programmer though, which means that at least one computer is bound to be on in my home at any given moment. Work e-mail happens only on my work computer, and anything work related happens during work hours. I'm paid to worry about work for exactly eight hours of day, after those eight hours are gone they can stick it.
I also get a good week of battery life (to the point that I actually end up frantically searching for the damned charger because I misplace it). No updates break my phone, because there aren't any. I can also write an SMS without developing arthritis. The only thing I'd upgrade it to is a dumbphone with QWERTY keyboard. I've had it for about two years. Prior to that I was using a Nokia 1100 whose charger broke at a time when they weren't so easily available outside E-Bay and the like and I decided it's really not worth it. The small SMS limit was also bugging me (I had room for 50 messages or so and I'd regularly forget to clear them up).
As for the "always connected" part, I really think part of it self-inflicted. I've had e-mail and IM clients with sound alerts, on broadband (or at least permanent) Internet connections for far longer than smartphones have been around. If I hear the e-mail chime and don't feel like checking my e-mail, I don't check it. I know the poor guy at the other end of the line can't see I'm reading and therefore can't answer his e-mail, but hey, it's the risk of remote communication. Facebook chat alert while I'm in the shower? I finish showering, then check it. This isn't really that a big deal. My friends know that if something is urgent, they can reach me on the phone at any hour of day or night.
I know "society is offended" nowadays if you don't answer their IMs immediately, but I'm really not friends with all society, only with a handful of people (which is why my Facebook friend list also has, well, a handful of people!)
For the lack of a better word, it's perfect. It can use it to talk to people and send SMS messages, which is precisely what I need a phone for. E-mail and Facebook happens on my workstation (or on my laptop if I'm away); I am a programmer though, which means that at least one computer is bound to be on in my home at any given moment. Work e-mail happens only on my work computer, and anything work related happens during work hours. I'm paid to worry about work for exactly eight hours of day, after those eight hours are gone they can stick it.
I also get a good week of battery life (to the point that I actually end up frantically searching for the damned charger because I misplace it). No updates break my phone, because there aren't any. I can also write an SMS without developing arthritis. The only thing I'd upgrade it to is a dumbphone with QWERTY keyboard. I've had it for about two years. Prior to that I was using a Nokia 1100 whose charger broke at a time when they weren't so easily available outside E-Bay and the like and I decided it's really not worth it. The small SMS limit was also bugging me (I had room for 50 messages or so and I'd regularly forget to clear them up).
As for the "always connected" part, I really think part of it self-inflicted. I've had e-mail and IM clients with sound alerts, on broadband (or at least permanent) Internet connections for far longer than smartphones have been around. If I hear the e-mail chime and don't feel like checking my e-mail, I don't check it. I know the poor guy at the other end of the line can't see I'm reading and therefore can't answer his e-mail, but hey, it's the risk of remote communication. Facebook chat alert while I'm in the shower? I finish showering, then check it. This isn't really that a big deal. My friends know that if something is urgent, they can reach me on the phone at any hour of day or night.
I know "society is offended" nowadays if you don't answer their IMs immediately, but I'm really not friends with all society, only with a handful of people (which is why my Facebook friend list also has, well, a handful of people!)