Five things I love about my smartphone

I took a long, long time to get onto the smartphone wagon.   I don’t regret that at all, and there are occasionally times where I think life was better without smartphones.

But on the other hand there are a lot of things I really do love about having a phone!

1. Having a camera in my pocket

I used to be dependent on my SLR, which I still do love more than my phone camera.

But it’s hard to beat having a camera with me all the time, and I love how easy it is to send/upload photos from a smartphone.

(It’s a bit more of a process with an SLR and a memory card, especially since my SLR is older and doesn’t have fancy digital features like the newer ones do.)

2. Texting

I really, really love the ability to check in on the people that I love without having to make phone calls.   It’s so handy to be able to send a message whenever I have time, and they can feel free to respond whenever they have time.

And I also love texting when I need to reach out for help and encouragement…especially helpful when two of my besties are no longer local to me!

3. Remote check deposit

I know it’s a little random, but my soul, this is one of my favorite things about having a smartphone. I love, love, love not having to go to the bank to deposit checks anymore.   So fantastic!

4. Instagram

I don’t use a ton of apps on my phone, but Instagram is one of my faves.   And you can’t really use Instagram without a smartphone or other mobile device.

It’s definitely one of the things I’d miss most if I gave up a smartphone.

5. Maps/Navigation

I’m not very directionally challenged, but I still think Google Maps/Waze are awesome! I love being able to look up the fastest routes, and I appreciate that Waze can redirect you around traffic jams.

And when I’m going somewhere new, these apps are invaluable.

They’re   definitely better than the old stand-alone GPS units, and way, way, way better than the old MapQuest printouts we used to use (remember those??).

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What are your favorite things about your smartphone?

(assuming you have one…if you don’t, I’m very impressed!)

P.S. According to my phone’s battery stats, email is one of the top five things I use on my smartphone.   But I have mixed feelings about email on my phone.   It’s easy to read mail on mobile, but it’s a pain to respond to anything, so sometimes I end up reading things without responding.

Whereas when I check email on my actual computer, I’m much more likely to actually respond to and deal with the important stuff.

P.P.S. I have an iPhone SE (my second smartphone), which I bought on Amazon. And I have service through Ting, which is so, so affordable for our family.   I‘ve written about Ting lots of times in the past, and if you’d like to try them with a $25 discount, you can click on my affiliate link.