Do we really need to buy phones like S4, iPhone 5, or HTC to survive?

I'm not a very rich person, and I have never had a phone with data. Just a basic call/text plan.

But it seems like nowadays, everyone needs an advanced smartphones with Android or iOS in them to stay in touch with everyone.

I just need a good looking phone, that has a good battery life, a strong slim build, and can access the internet properly.

If I buy a phone like Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows phone), isn't that enough?

Sure, most of us died, horribly, before they existed.

You don't need to be rich to have any of those phones… For me they come handy as there's lots of useful apps like google map as I usually get lost and I need to check my emails all the time

Will the wolf survive?

Do we really need a "good looking" phone? If its cheap and reliable isn't "butt-ugly" irrelevant?

HTC sucks. I've got an Inspire and it restarts like once every hour.

I use a free texting app on it. No data plan or phone bill. It just works over Wi-Fi.

No, in fact we don't need phones at all to survive. People just see the television ads, want one, get it, and they realize it didn't make their life any better like the commercial promised. It's just another device to the list of devices we own, or shall I say it's just another vice.

No but they're good to have that's all
Also, Nokia Lumia 920's are pretty awesome in my opinion.

I'm not a very rich person

You don't have to. Thanks to the competition the prices are way down. You can always get one. But believe me you should stick to keypad phone because androids ios have messed up simple functionalists like calling talking.