Smartphones...Part 2

Thanks to all of you who weighed in on my post from June 30^th on whether I should upgrade to a Smartphone or keep my flip phone.  I was happily surprised to find that I was not the last adult on the planet still using a flip phone.  What it boiled down to, as many of you commented on, was need vs. want.  So what did I decide?

My son and I went to the Verizon Wireless store to check out the latest and greatest last week.  I knew he would find a select a new phone since he was just replacing the one he had, which had taken a college beating over the last two years.  I had no intention of purchasing one that day.  However, not only did I get caught up in the ‘coolness’ of what these phones could actually do, I also found myself in a bonding situation with my son.  We could both get the same phone and he could teach me.  Before long, the VISA was out, contracts were signed, and contacts were transferred over.  We bought two DROID RAZRs.

Let me add that my son lives in the world of texting.  If I call, he won't necessarily call back anytime in the present century, but if I text, I hear from him instantaneously.  This makes no sense to me, but communication is important and if having a Smartphone will make communications easier, that in itself is a reason to upgrade.  It's like they say, "If you can't beat them, upgrade to a Smartphone."

I let my phone sit in the box for a day, then charged it.  I had a mini lesson on the basics from my son.  He helped me set it up the way I wanted.  Alas, it wasn’t long before he was off on a trip with his brother to South America, so I was left on my own to unscramble the rest.  I took advantage of the free class that Verizon offered in their store.  I wasn’t a bit surprised to find that once again, I found myself the youngest one in the room.  (The other time I was the youngest was at rehab after my knee replacement.)

In the back of the store, ten people all over the age of 50, were fumbling with their new devices.  I felt a little ahead of the group at first, but then found that some had been exploring their phones more than I had.  After almost two hours, I left with more knowledge than I entered with, which is always a good measure of success.  The coolest thing I discovered was the speak feature.  I can say, “Call Home Depot in Danbury” and it will dial Home Depot for me!  No charge for looking up the number either.  Gone are those 411 charges, not that I used to incur them, but it is still nice to know that they are gone.

I entered my appointments on the phone’s calendar and have already found it useful when I was out and needed to schedule something additional.  I didn’t have to wait until I got home to check my paper calendar.  I can check email messages when I am out of the house, eliminating the desire to immediately log on to my laptop when I get home.  I have also had need to use the maps feature to check out the situation when the traffic came to a halt on the highway the other day.  Although I have used this feature while with my husband on his cell, I could now do this without him being present. I also like the weather on my home screen, so anytime I turn on the phone, I know the current temperature.  Okay, so maybe this last example is frivolous, but so is having a Smartphone in many regards.

The contact list was a bit overwhelming.  The names from my Gmail, Facebook, and cell phone all merged into one gigantic contact list!  Just because I am friends with someone on Facebook does not mean I need to have their contact information stored on my phone.  I did find a way to hide contacts though, reducing the list a little bit. 

To conserve battery power, I set the screen to go into sleep mode after 1 minute.  I do find it somewhat annoying to have to hold down the power button to wake it up, then re-enter my password to get back to business.   Maybe I should eliminate the password…

I look forward to downloading and setting up music, as well as exploring more features of the phone. But I definitely don’t need this phone…I just like having it. 

My new toy