My friend, who is
not into tech, computers, etc. much at all is thinking about getting some sort of Internet access. She hates computers (has a laptop she never uses), so we've pretty much ruled out getting Internet for her house, simply because that's $45/month that she'll never use to its fullest.
Her latest idea is to upgrade from her little "phone/text-only" flip-phone to something Internet/e-mail capable. She doesn't want to leave Verizon (termination fees, etc.).
I told her about the iPhone coming soon, it looks like. She owned one before (a 3G) and gripes about it still. She's a bit of a pill, so I need to pin her down and find out exactly what she didn't like. But assuming she's dead-set against an iPhone (if/when it comes to Verizon), what else is there? I can go to the site (and I am), but all that stuff runs together for me. I told her that I don't follow and keep up with the "smartphone market", and that I'm probably not going to be much help (without some help of my own, which is what I'm doing now).
If she wants to get her head out of her butt and consider an iPhone, then yes...I'd be able to help her with that. But I need a "plan B" if she's not open to that (or if it doesn't come to Verizon in a timely manner). She lives near her 60-something parents, who, oddly enough,
do have DSL/WiFi, so she could always zip over there if she had to do any sort of updates or registration (or my place too, for that matter).
But basically she'd just like something that she could put her Hotmail account on, and quickly check a website or other online info (weather, movie schedules, local attractions and events, etc.) while out and about. This woman is constantly on-the-go, has a three-year-old son who she's always doing things with, works a floating third-shift and, as I said, isn't impressed by tech and all this stuff. She's not wanting a bunch of overhead or spec-whore type features and functions.
My gut says "wait on the iPhone", since we're so close (and let's be honest...for a non-techie, it's the easiest, most straightforward of them all, IMO). But in the event she tells me "hell no!" (and means it), what else should I be looking at from Verizon? She doesn't have Internet or WiFi in her house. She does at her parents, my house, and her work, so something that is WiFi-capable would be great (save on data usage). While she's at home and out and about, it would be on 3G. But she's not the type to surf and keep her face buried in the thing, so I'm asking about phones themselves, BUT plans too.
I'm trying to help her out some, even though anything outside the Apple, the iPhone and iOS is just all meaningless, confusing gibberish to me...
Someone like Robo needs to come here and take me to Verizon-smartphone-options-for-a-non-techie school.
Give me something I can pass on to this person in the next few hours or days!
Meanwhile, I'm going to try and find out what she's got against the iPhone...
