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LONDON, UK – Smartphones or normal phones? Which is best? As a user of smartphones for a long time now, I’ve decided to ditch my Nokia N8 – temporarily – in an attempt to slow things down a bit, and to understand whether I actually need a smartphone, or is owning one a luxury. Yesterday I began my diary and today it continues.

Friday night I set the alarm on my Nokia C3 Touch and Type, which is my phone for the week that’s running on Series 40 – not a smartphone. Saturday morning I awoke to my new alarm tone at around 9am as I needed to make sure I didn’t sleep in. My phone receives very little use over the weekend as there’s always lots of work to do around the home.

The week begins again and so does my normal daily routine. As part of my morning waking up process, I like to log into Twitter to see what I’ve missed from the grapevine overnight. This is where I realise that Gravity isn’t going to serve me here, as it’s not available on S40 models. I found something else that works, though.

That something is Communities – an app that’s already installed in the applications folder, under extras – and decide to load it up. It’s given me the option to login to my Twitter and Facebook account, which is handy, and I’ve now got the updates I need. Communities looks similar to the Social app that’s available for smartphones, so it’s nice to see something similar on a S40 phone. I get up, make some breakfast and post my morning tweet, through Communities. Onto work I go.

I’ve found a video which shows you how Communities works on a Series 40 phone. It is, however, not demoed on a C3 Touch and Type and was uploaded September last year, so some minor changes have been made in newer versions. But you’ll get the idea.

Mid-morning
I’ve had a conference call today, so this Series 40 phone was my workhorse for relaying all the many voices thrown over the airways. The quality of the call was just the same as I’d experience on my smartphone, so, job done.

16:00
Sitting at my work computer, I receive – yet – another email on my laptop. It dawns on me that I actually don’t need push email on my phone for my general day to day activities. Being connected to the Internet and only a few feet away from my computer throughout the day, I always hear my incoming emails alert on my laptop. Interesting thought.

23:50
I’ve wound down from my day and it’s time for bed. I hit the sack leaving my C3-01 on my bedside table.