You are walking down the road, humming that one song still stuck in your head from a week ago. Suddenly, you realize your pocket is a little lighter than it should be. As panic floods your mind, your hand automatically dives into your pocket to check it, and as feared, your phone isn’t there.
Your whole (online) life flashes before your eyes in slow motion as you realize a universal truth. Your trusty ol’ smartphone is gone.
In an instant, you have been robbed of some of the things you have wasted so much time on. Your high score in Color Switch that took you your whole semester-worth of classes to beat, tons of un-backed up ugly-selfies that you used to threaten your friends with, the impressive music collection that was the only reason your cool cousins brought you along for long drives; it’s all gone. Everything is gone.
We have all been there once (or twice, maybe even thrice). Be it dropping the phone in the toilet or on a concrete floor, getting it snatched at gunpoint or finding it suddenly vanished from our pockets, we all get the same feeling of hopelessness.
Fortunately, there might be a solution to it or more of a hack as you might call it. Instead of spending all your hard-earned money on one ultra-expensive phone, why not use it to buy two not-so-ultra-expensive phones? Here me out, as I make my case.
“Two average phones are better than one good phone.”
Here are some reasons why two phones are better than one.
1. Safety
Karachiites are already known as the master of the “two phone” technique. For any person who has an iPhone or a Galaxy S series phone (or any expensive smartphone) as their primary, you are also extremely likely to find a dirt-cheap Nokia 1100 or a Q-Mobile in their possession.
The expensive phone is most likely the stay-at-home phone, only to be taken out in the wild for functions, going out for food, or on special occasions. It is the one you use for your Snapchat, social networking, taking pictures, etc. Some people don’t even bother to buy a SIM for their smartphones. Why bother when you won’t even need it?
The other one is for real phone use, taking it out in the city and to be used for texting and calling purposes. It is the one you want to be caught with if some gentlemen on a bike cares to pay you a visit.
This is why you will almost never see a person using the latest iPhone talking on call while standing on a busy chowk in Karachi or other crime-infested urban cities in Pakistan.
The smart ones will be carrying a cheap dumb phone, nine times out of ten. (The tenth will learn soon enough why that is a good idea to begin with).
2. Battery
It is 2016 and surviving without a phone is simply not possible. Sadly, smartphones have pathetic battery lives. You can either buy a Moto Z Play— one of the longest lasting phones today— or go for a battery pack. The choice is pretty limited for heavy phone users.
On the other hand, there is a ton of choice if you want to go for two phones. You can buy one expensive smartphone of your choice and one cheap one for all your primary phone usage. It might cost a little more than buying a battery pack but it will save you the trouble of relying on just one phone so much.
3. Choice
Android or iPhone? The battle that has consumed so many comment sections on so many blog posts around the web. Android, known for its openness and abundance of choice, versus iPhone, touting its buttery smooth performance. While for some, the choice may be as clear as black and white, neither side can deny that the other one also has its merits.
So instead of picking one over the other, why not try out both? Don’t buy the latest Galaxy or the latest iPhone. Buy an older Galaxy, or an HTC, or some other comparatively cheap Android and an older iPhone so it is also economically feasible.
Try out the best of both the worlds. It is not okay to criticize something you have never used. Maybe, you might even find it in your heart to go over to the other side once you have used it.
4. Networks
Pakistani networks are always battling it out to provide the cheapest packages or to be the first one to introduce a new technology. Each one has its own qualities and personally, I find it better to have a choice between using at least two networks at all times.
Some networks have great bundle packages but are plagued by issues like cell reception in certain areas of the city. As a result, I have to juggle between two networks, depending on what my particular need is at that time.
You can always buy a dual-SIM phone if you want a choice between two carriers. However, as in the case of an Apple iPhone that doesn’t come with dual-SIM options, that does tend to limit your choices a bit.
5. Backup
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Living without a phone is never a choice, not even for a few days in this era of connectivity. What if there is a strike or something and you have some important calls to make that cannot wait? What if you dropped your phone, shattering its screen and it will take a week to get fixed?
It is always a good choice to have an extra phone on hand.
6. Work and Home
Many companies hand out ‘work’ phones to their employees. Sometimes, these phones even come with pre-installed software so they can only be used for work. This has a psychological effect on your work as well as home life.
The work phone can be for emails, calls, texts, etc, while the other one can for your leisure use. Not only will it help you draw a line between work and home, it will also make you less stressful when at home.
Even if you don’t get a phone specifically for work, you can just buy one for yourself.
So there you have it folks. Do you think having two phones is a necessity or a luxury? Let us know in the comments below.
i got a chill by thinking what if robber rob my both phones or i drop both of them ..oh no i will stick with one mini heart attack
You missed the whole point of a secondary phone; it exists so that you don’t put your primary and expensive phone at risk by taking it outside. We Karachiites rarely ever take both our phones outside. Personally I always leave my expensive phone at home and keep my secondary phone in case of an unexpected visit from “namaloom afraad”.
I live in Gujranwala but i also have two phones and i always leave my expensive phone at home
i some how cant understand why should i own a ultra expensive phone if i cant take it out. whats the meaning of owning it if it cant be daily driver in every day work. It does not make sense as we spend 15 hours out side home working. But yeap we dont have namaloom afarad here hahaha
in 2007 to 2013i used to have 2 fones.ab only one smart phone. inki jst battery ka issue hota ha.otherwise they are perfect daily drivers call,sms,social media, just perfect
Well every man thinks what is best for himself and it didn’t mean that i don’t take my mobile for my work or with hangout with my friends i only leave my phone at home when i think that the area where i am going is suspicious and i should be cautious when going there. P.S Namaloom Afrrad can be everywhere :D
What I’ve found out is that you rarely ever need the expensive phone outside. Probably just listening to some music during commutes or having a round of candy crush during bathroom breaks, and even a cheap QMobile can tide you over for that.
Man, theft can happen anywhere. I was goign through Facebook and saw a story that Monis Rahman of Rozee had his mobile stolen in Lahore, on Main Bouleverd Gulberg in the afternoon time! He stopped his car on the side of the road to send SMS and someone came with gun and took it.
That is not really a place you would think of as high crime and there are always lots of police in the area, but apparently it happened.
The expensive one goes in the socks during commutes, or some secret compartment deep in your backpack.
i still prefer one phone, can not bear the hassle
2 phones. Both dual sims :)
With night packages?
Nop.. 3 Postoaid 1 prepaid without any balace and package :P
That one without balance would be mobilink or Warid… hope am right
Yup its mobilink but my primery number is also mobilink postpaid with M999 package. The best postpaid package in Pakistan.
Word “here” in “Here me out” should be “hear”. Editors please, you ought to be diligent before you upload an article. Such mistakes are not expected of ProPakistani. Thanks.
You must be new to the site, such mistakes are the norm. Editors are asleep.
do people have that much time put everything in two phones? send msgs or calls to ur friend from 2nd number and hardly most friends will save ur 2nd number. do u use google plus and facebook together?
That is #6 in the article: different phones for different set of contacts. I have done it that way for over ten years, believe me it is very useful when you do not want annoying customer calling you at 9am directly instead of using company hotline.
I used to have, charge both phones, check both phones for messages / call logs, if you put one at home then you may miss lots of updates, can’t carry both at a time (hard to carry both at a time outside). One is always better than two phones. Battery is no more an issue in this era, you can even have a slim power bank with you, or go for any phone having 4K or 4.5, or even 5K battery (I am having infinix note pro & I charge it once every two days normally).
Agree , in past mery pas 9 say 10 phone hoa krty thy , esa dil ukta gea ha ab aik b wazni lagta ha mazaq ni
Are you serious? Which phone has 5k mAh battery lol?
yup, check out Lenovo P1.
I don’t usually comment on articles.
but I am compelled to say that propakisani should raise their standard of articles. It looks like a cheap article the sole purpose of which is to waste time….
mobile phones must have some kind of mechanism to explode one it is triggered when some try to steal it …… takay agay ja ke chor ki ph*t jaye ……
I think samsung was try to do the same, but us se to customer he ki ph*t jaye !
Living in small city(Sukkur) i have no problem having a single smartphone. Galaxy j5. Where i am connected to internet and social networking and also using the same phone for texting calling etc. And i have no battery issue. This is the advantage of living in a small city. 2 .2 phone sambhalna mere lye bohat mushkil hai.
Two phones mean double the headache especially when having a call on one and other start buzzing by someone who is also very important. So it’s better to keep one dual sim all the time.
When you come up with a method to stop these perpetrators, kindly inform us. For the time being, shame on you for just passing off comments while hiding behind your computer screen.
in my view… never ever buy a expensive phone…. any phone never last for one year or more… every one replace or buy a new phone with in a year or so… My Formula is different… buy two Q Mobiles under 15000 range… and Chill…. without any fear in mind… and on the other hand these phones gives you better result and at the end not gave you huge lose when you want to replace them…. regards…