Does having a smart phone plays a role in your LDR?

[Jess!]

Hey!

When me and my SO became long distance we bought a new cell phone. It was in last september. I had no idea on the advances of technology so I asked a cheap dual sim card for my Bday since I thought that was the best way to keep in touch. My parents bought me one, so I was not asking for something expensive. (In my country we buy the 'whole' cellphone right away which is very expensive).

But my partner actually bought himself a smartphone and uses whatsapp to text his friends. All this months I was actually thinking that having myself one would be easier and would allow me to do more stuff. Like send him pictures when I'm doing something with friends and so on. But of course, my cellphone is working so its unnecessary.
But Im curious about you guys! Did having one affected your LDR in a positive way? Im curious

[snow_girl]

I don't think anyone is going to say having a cell phone was negative for their relationship.

[Jess!]

ahaha, that is right. But i meant a smartphone! my cellphone is just an ordinary cellphone, therefore I cannot benefit from all the new advantages they provide... that's why I asked:P

[snow_girl]

I don't think anyone is going to say having a smart phone was negative for their relationship.

Corrected.

[Jess!]

I was not looking for a yes or no answer. I know people in LDR which have very nice phone-connections so they call for free with a normal phone. In my case this would be super expensive, but I also don't know if in the end it makes such a difference...

[kattermole]

My SO had some really crap mobile phone when we first got together, I already had an iPhone. He rapidly got one too as we were texting so much, it was a pain on his ancient phone. We use a few apps together so it has been convenient for sending photos for free (via Whatsapp and Avocado) and we both play some iPhone games now which are fun. We've also used it to Skype in some situations we're away from PCs but want a sneaky bit of face time. We both get free minutes to call each other bundled with our phone package so we don't have to worry about call costs, which is good as we speak a lot. I think there are some apps to make calls over internet instead of having to pay to call internationally, but we haven't had to use those as we're in the same country.

[Jess!]

That's cool indeed! we text from free but still, only texting. And we had lots of problems with this, because there are/were times where one of us didn't received the other texts. Like when I was at a festival with a male friend and my partner didn't received all my texts, where I shared a lot of infos for him to feel included. Often his texts come ''incomplete'' (says my cellphone). And calling is freaking expensive and I didn't even acknoledged one could skype via smartphone! ahah.

[kattermole]

We had the missing text problem with his old phone too, it was extremely annoying!

[Jess!]

Damn sure! I took it to the store for them to fixe it. Afterwards it was even worst! But then they repared again and I decided Im not going to bother. When this one gets "kaputt" again, then I will buy a proper one. Although then I wont be LDR

[kittyo9]

I have a smart phone, but my SO does not (too expensive and risky due to a high number of phone thefts where he lives). Being international, he would LOVE to be able to text me during the day when he's away at school or wherever (he's often gone for 10 hours a day), but he cannot. He has told me many times how frustrating it is to be able to receive texts from me (I can text him using his phone service's website up to 10x a day) but not to be able to respond to them. We end up spending a majority of our time at our computers because of it. Having a smart phone has allowed me to have the mobility to go places (the grocery store, the lab, other peoples' houses, etc.) and still keep in touch with him and message him on facebook, but he is required to be on his computer if he wants to talk to me.

We also used to skype right before going to sleep using my smartphone so that I could lay in bed. This was before he had a webcam, and we just wanted to talk to each other while I was falling asleep. It was wonderful to be able to take the conversation away from my computer.

[abna1]

I'm sort of in the same situation as you are. I have a smartphone.. my SO doesn't. We're very restricted as far as communication over the phone goes. Texting and calling have been very expensive. My phone bills were crazy high ! Whatsapp would be very convenient for texting and sharing pictures and there are plenty of apps that you can use to call each other for free (or very little money) if only you both have the app.
I've also recently come across an app that's like a platform for couples (a bit like Facebook) You get a private page that you can send each other messages and post pictures to that only the two of you have access to.
I'm only finding these things because I can't use them

Here's something cool that the lovely mllebamako recommended to me. Rebtel allows you to make cheap calls internationally.
In your case 0.18 euros to his mobile per minute (or 0.015 euros to his landline) I just registered last night and I love it !
And the best thing is... you don't need a smartphone to use it !

[Alle1770]

It's definitely a great advantage for our relationship If it wasn't for me having a smartphone, there would be no way for us to talk during daytime since I'm in school all day and only have like 2-3 hours over when I get home at night that we can talk (when he is on his lunch break). With a smartphone, that I've downloaded Skype to, I can communicate with him just as well as I would with a laptop, but it's easier to sneak around with a phone than an entire computer It also enables me to call him for free if I'm not at home but connected to either the mobile network or WiFi, which means I can call him to tell him what I'm doing or something like that when I'm out with friends or out travelling.

So for me/us it's definitely made things easier than it would have been with a "normal" phone It would be even easier/more fun to communicate if he had a smartphone too, but I know he doesn't really use his phone for anything other than calls/texts so no need to put more money on that when it already works good. But if he had one too, I guess I would Snapchat/Facebook/play games against him all the time xD

[Jess!]

It's definitely a great advantage for our relationship If it wasn't for me having a smartphone, there would be no way for us to talk during daytime since I'm in school all day and only have like 2-3 hours over when I get home at night that we can talk (when he is on his lunch break). With a smartphone, that I've downloaded Skype to, I can communicate with him just as well as I would with a laptop, but it's easier to sneak around with a phone than an entire computer It also enables me to call him for free if I'm not at home but connected to either the mobile network or WiFi, which means I can call him to tell him what I'm doing or something like that when I'm out with friends or out travelling.

So for me/us it's definitely made things easier than it would have been with a "normal" phone It would be even easier/more fun to communicate if he had a smartphone too, but I know he doesn't really use his phone for anything other than calls/texts so no need to put more money on that when it already works good. But if he had one too, I guess I would Snapchat/Facebook/play games against him all the time xD

Ahaha! This! wE only get to skype 2 hours every other week, if we're lucky. When he arrives from work I can skype, but I have to respect my family dinner timetable, so we only have 2h30 at maximum. Its seems too little, specially since i need to connect my webcam everytime and then I always feel we didn't speak that much... Then I work during the weekend (when he is free) which is also not that cool... Now Im not planning to buy one and luckily we end the distance in 10 weeks! My partner does not use it that much, so we don't feel the difference, but It would be so handy if I could just skype with my cellphone!

[Jess!]

Abna 1:
Nice! thank you!!
Maybe you can check Lycamobile too? They say it's quite nice! For us calling isn't that good, because you always spend some money and I feel I need to say something quick and not having an actuall conversation.That platform seems very nice!

[Jess!]

I have a smart phone, but my SO does not (too expensive and risky due to a high number of phone thefts where he lives). Being international, he would LOVE to be able to text me during the day when he's away at school or wherever (he's often gone for 10 hours a day), but he cannot. He has told me many times how frustrating it is to be able to receive texts from me (I can text him using his phone service's website up to 10x a day) but not to be able to respond to them. We end up spending a majority of our time at our computers because of it. Having a smart phone has allowed me to have the mobility to go places (the grocery store, the lab, other peoples' houses, etc.) and still keep in touch with him and message him on facebook, but he is required to be on his computer if he wants to talk to me.

We also used to skype right before going to sleep using my smartphone so that I could lay in bed. This was before he had a webcam, and we just wanted to talk to each other while I was falling asleep. It was wonderful to be able to take the conversation away from my computer.

I wish I could help you... I have a cellphone plan which allows me to text for free to my countries numbers (my bf has a card form the same provider) and he does the same since I have a card of his own provider. It's a bit confusing, but basically we text for free. It's nice, sure, but you always wish something was better... Maybe you could try Lycamobile? I think it is very good to text! That's good to skype without a computer

I hope you get through all of that!