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One major advantage is the impact on phone battery life - partly because various services aren't repeatedly pinging over the mobile network (especially in "nots

One major advantage is the impact on phone battery life - partly because various services aren't repeatedly pinging over the mobile network (especially in "notspots"), WiFi tends not to burn through battery. And partly because it tends to change your behaviour to do more focused things (the phone isn't constantly trying to distract you as it often can't, so you don't then waste time and power on these distractions). I don't think I'd abandoned a SIM card in the near future but having used my old phone without the SIM as an alternate for my new phone on a few occasions, the old phone battery went from being awful to lasting way longer than my brand new phone of comparable specs.

Ayesh 7y ago
You can always use the phone on flight mode (to turn off radio), and selectively turn on GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc).
- RupertEisenhart 7y ago
  Flight mode is the only way of living
ehnto 7y ago
I got a smart watch after being staunchly anti-smartwatch, because I can now leave my phone at home. It was a compromise that allowed me to stay connected via phone while not having a distraction-factory in my pocket. I don't have anything but the phone app and weather on there, and I have a whitelist so only friends and family can contact me. I delay text messages 'til I get home if I can, and I get maybe 2 phone calls a week. My biggest issue with the phone was it could distract me with a notification, and I could dive into it for too long after dealing with the notification. That doesn't happen on the watch because frankly, they can't do all that much and they are a pain in the ass to use for anything more than a quick sentence. Could I just "be a better person" and be disciplined with my phone? Totally. But I've tried numerous times, so this is my method and it's been working well.
ip26 7y ago
Cellular really isn't all that power hungry, the problem is really data period, i.e. your phone being awake at all. If you get a 500MB plan, set everything unimportant to restrict background data, and turn off WiFi your phone can last for days.

Ayesh 7y ago

You can always use the phone on flight mode (to turn off radio), and selectively turn on GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc).

RupertEisenhart 7y ago
Flight mode is the only way of living

ehnto 7y ago

I got a smart watch after being staunchly anti-smartwatch, because I can now leave my phone at home. It was a compromise that allowed me to stay connected via phone while not having a distraction-factory in my pocket. I don't have anything but the phone app and weather on there, and I have a whitelist so only friends and family can contact me. I delay text messages 'til I get home if I can, and I get maybe 2 phone calls a week. My biggest issue with the phone was it could distract me with a notification, and I could dive into it for too long after dealing with the notification. That doesn't happen on the watch because frankly, they can't do all that much and they are a pain in the ass to use for anything more than a quick sentence. Could I just "be a better person" and be disciplined with my phone? Totally. But I've tried numerous times, so this is my method and it's been working well.

ip26 7y ago

Cellular really isn't all that power hungry, the problem is really data period, i.e. your phone being awake at all. If you get a 500MB plan, set everything unimportant to restrict background data, and turn off WiFi your phone can last for days.