Cellphones are ubiquitous and available on almost any budget; they offer instant direct communication and peace of mind. For the people out there who do not have cellphones how do you accomplish this or are these features not important?
I still can’t IM, Email, video/audio chat and even send text messages and make phone calls. I just don’t have an actual cell phone. 
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So you Tweet from a camera. :}
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No peace of mind with mobile devices, rather the opposite. Or, a piece of one’s mind, possibly all of it, most of the time it seems. If you can function without one, kudos and props to you. I long for such simple life, but alas, I’m weaksauce.
Oh, it’s far from simple! I do all the same things (practically speaking) that most people do. I make audio and video calls. I tweet pictures. I handle email. It’s all the same. Except I take a slightly more difficult and cumbersome rout to accomplishing those tasks.
On the flip-side… I also experience less vendor lock-in, have more flexibility, pay less (than most) and give my information to less corporations.
So… just different.
@bryanlunduke
Cud you give us some idea of your specific favourite phones and we shall add them to the suggestions (?):
So, for data connection, are you on 4G or having to find wifi hotspots?
@oldgeek I’m pretty sure he’s on 4G but @bryanlunduke correct me if I’m wrong - you wouldn’t get much of a Wifi reception at a Linux conference, I don’t think.
I actually can’t think of any phones that I’m all that interested in. I’m not a big fan of having a cellular-account per device.
Though I think having something “phone sized” that is not a phone has some interesting uses. Something akin to the iPod Touch or the old Samsung Galaxy Player. Basically the modern equivalent to the PDA’s of the 1990’s and early 2000’s that ran PalmOS, etc…
You could say that, in order to get something like that I could simply get a cell phone and not get a cellular account with it… but I really don’t want a cell chip in there at all.
I have a mobile, 4G hotspot that I bring with me for when I’m not in range of reliable WiFi. Though I probably only need to use that for a few hours per month.
I tried going without any hotspot for a while… but found there was usually one or two instances, per month, that I wanted it. So I picked up a pay-as-you-go one. It’s not the cheapest in the world… but I probably spend an average of $15 to $20 per month for the data I use with it. Enough to make sure I can stay connected in a pinch.
I wrote this article back in 2014:
My general approach is still roughly the same. Though I’ve stopped using Skype entirely. And my device preferences have changed a bit as well.
There are still some rough spots. But, overall, I’m happier with my current setup than I ever was with a cell phone.
I dunno, perhaps one of the latest Motorolas would work.
I’ve asked mariogrip to add it to the list of ubports , cheers.
Barely related story: I got the chance to hang out with Martin Cooper (the guy that ran the team that created the first cell phone back at Motorola) at a Start Trek convention in Seattle. This was… jeeze… many years back. Very cool guy. He had 3 different cell phones on him – each from a different carrier. He hated them all. He had very colorful words for what he thought of them. 
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I’m not sure it’s worth supporting. It’s a useful form-factor (I think), but Samsung stopped making new versions some time back. I don’t even think you can buy them new anymore.
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Call me old skool but ever since the iPhone, the mobile market has gone to scheisse. My last worthy phone was the Nokia N900 (as a Finn I’m biased though), an open(ish), Linux-based (could run Debian via chroot!) magic box that made also phone calls. With the modern line-up of uber-phones, with all dem pixels and snappy dragons, as mentioned on the EP, we’re still waiting for that f**king battery life!
Actually for the evening events at scale there were other ones with delays as well. I had someone running debian in a chroot on a phone did not know what it was and I got them to install xbill on their phone. It became much more diffcult though without a keyboard and mouse.
I think cell phones don’t cause me peace of mind really. All phones in general make me more nervous. Also if you have a young adult still living with your parents saying take this cell phone or I am kicking you out of the house does not really improve things much.
Right there with ya. The old, Maemo powered N900 was fantastic. The best phone I’ve ever used. I’ve had a few moments where I was tempted to buy a used N900 to have as a backup phone, music/podcast player, on the go Telnet client and such.
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I have a cell phone, but it’s a non-smartphone with a prepaid plan that I only use in emergencies. Most of the time, I follow a similar rig to that of Mr. Lunduke. Technically, my primary “phone” is Google Hangouts + iPod Touch + Mobile Hotspot, but I end up using other devices (I now also carry a tablet and computer most places) and communication services (primarily Telegram at the moment).
As Bryan said, it costs less and provides more flexibility (although it can be inconvenient at times), and there’s nothing that one absolutely can’t do with this setup (except, in Bryan’s case, legally make an emergency call).
This is the one drawback. Luckily my wife has a cell phone. And I have the local dispatch numbers in my address book so I can simply call them directly if I’m anywhere near home. So it’s sort of like living in a time before 911 existed as a catch-all number.
I wish there were a non-iOS device like the iPod Touch still. I would love to have something in that form-factor to have with me on the go. The closest thing that’s currently shipping is the Samsung Galaxy Camera. Which is a good device… but I’d love, basically, an iPod Touch running Android (or something not so closed down).