When you’ve decided to go the route of using a smartphone, you’ve acknowledged that you will sign up for a higher cost of living. Devices, plans, applications, and even accessories all become a part of the lifestyle of the smartphone user. But, if we were to pay some attention to that good word stewardship, we see at times that the higher costs we are seeing with smartphones can be avoided if we make some better decisions.

Over at ReadWrite, Tim McCormick has been doing a few articles on using a smartphone but taking a drastic and much different approach towards using it. He’s written two pieces looking at different aspects of using a smartphone.

Over the last six months, I’ve made an experiment of giving up my $90/month cellular + data plan, and exploring alternative ways to use my smartphone (iPhone) costing as little as $5/mo. The key point is that you don’t need a contract or a subscription to use a smartphone, contrary to just about everything you ever hear.

Read the rest of How to Drop Your Data Plan and Still Use Your Smartphone

…Intermittent connectivity helps to automatically counter one of the key behavioral problems with the Web and mobile tech: the so-called “buffet table problem.” That is, when you have seemingly infinite more options to explore, like an endless buffet table, you tend to keep foraging, hoping for better options; rather than stopping, sitting down, enjoying and digesting what you’ve already gathered. In combination with “save it for later” behaviors (see #6), not-always-on connections help you stop and absorb what you’ve already gathered…

Read the rest of What Life is Like for A Smartphone User Without A Data Plan

Earlier this year, I had some financial situations that took me not just offline, but also away from having a phone line for a while. Besides being an exercise in being a more savvy mobile user, I also was able to reclaim some of my sanity towards mobility. And then with resources such as PrePaid Phone News’s PrePaid Plans Guides, I was not only able to get back into being connected, but also drop my cost of owning and using a mobile by 50% each month.

I hear often at ministry events that the cost of smartphone ownership is a problem for many. Between unbearable data plans, or travel needs which don’t lend themselves to easy solutions, it can be pretty hard to see how mobile works in a cost/time/connectivity efficient manner. Then again, there’s a lot that we assume about owning a mobile that really isn’t true. Which, if we were to take heed towards, would make us a lot more savvy towards mobility than what we’ve done previously.