What will it take for me to buy a cell phone?

I will first start off this posting letting you know that I love technology and the ways that it can advance and improve our social and work lives.

I last had a cellphone eleven years ago and back then it was just voice service. It was for those emergencies that never seemed to happen; not that I am complaining. I don't think my wife has never had a phone outside of using anything for work related purposes, and again it would have been just voice service. So the closest my family has come to a modern smart phone is my 3rd generation iPod Touch (the one without the camera).

Here are the reasons I don't have one currently.

1) Cost - They don't come cheap. Be it the phone purchase or the addition of a data plan. I don't see the value in it.

2) Accessibility - I work in an office and I sit beside a phone, if someone calls me, there is a really good chance I'll be there.

3) Necessity - I've gotten by the last eleven years without one, and I'm not sure what would change that.

Which leads me back to the question of this post, What will it take for me to buy a cell phone?

I've often joked that I'm waiting until they are more like the 'Tricorder' device from Star Trek. With all the apps that are available these days I wonder how far off we really are. Now since I have been out of the cell/smart phone scene for a decade, forgive me if I mention a feature that already exists.

Ideas of what it will take for me to buy a cell phone?

1) Home automation - I would love to be able to use it to open and close my garage door. I could find out if I closed it or not on the days I have rushed out the door. Likewise, I can see what

lights are on in the house and maybe also know how much energy is being used. I realize that this might be actually be a new app idea and not a cell phone feature, but oh well.

2) Grrr Argh!!!

I started this out thinking that I could come up with some new features of a cell phone that would improve my life that would be able to overcome the first three reasons I don't have one. Alas, I can't do it. It still comes back to cost and necessity for me. I pay maybe $25 dollars a month for my land-line and I can justify doubling that just so I can text someone or post a photo straight to Twitter. So I need to rethink my approach..

3) Cost - They need to have a cheaper data plan (and maybe they already do) for a family thinking about making the transition. Once we start using the phone and see how it improves our communication needs and have a better understanding of how much data we actually need, then they can introduce more expensive offers. Just right now, it seems like too big of a jump to make.

4) Necessity - Like most things in this world, everything is digital. As soon as it makes more sense to just have a cell phone with Google Wallet versus carrying around rolls of quarters for payphones and a physical wallet with my debit and credit cards, then I can see making the transition. The world might make the decision for me. No one asked me if I didn't want to fill out a withdrawal slip at my bank (some readers are now scratching their heads), but that is just the way banking evolved. They gave me a card and told me to use it.

So the bottom line right now is that we really don't know what it will take for me to buy a cell phone. All the features and benefits can't seem to compete with the perceived high cost I have. I think there would have to be a few changes in other aspects of my life before I see a smart phone in my future.

I am hoping that some people more creative than me can offer up some reasons I should buy a cell phone. What do current cell phone users wish their devices could do?