Friday, October 3, 2014

Holy Crap - into October already!

I have so much to blog about! Where to start...

All the new TV shows, and new seasons of old favourites.  How things are going on the craft front.  The strange things the dogs do.  Other little life things happening....

Well, I think I'll start with "How I got dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century again".

I consider myself a "walking anachronism".  I mean, I love doing things the "old fashioned way".  I sometimes think I would have done well if I'd lived at the turn of last century.  Honestly, I do appreciate some modern conveniences, like medicines and washing machines.  But I am equally at home with baking my own bread, growing my own food, and sewing my own clothes.  I also must confess to enjoying things like my laptop.  And I do love my kitchen gadgets, which run on electricity.  But, for some things, I tend to resist change.

For example, my cell phone.  I originally got one for safety type reasons.  At the time, I was doing a lot of highway travel.  So having the phone in case of emergency seemed like a good idea at the time.  I opted for a pre-pay plan, rather than getting a bill every month.  The way this plan works, you buy a "top up" card when you need one; good for X number of minutes or Y number of days.  If you use it up, you buy another, and "top-up" the account.  If you don't use it all up by the Y number of days, you can still top-up and the leftovers get carried over -- so, let's say you go with the $15 or 30 days.  You have $5 left on day 30, so you add another $15.  Now you have $20 in the account, to use in 30 days.... So, if you don't use the cell phone much, you can actually accumulate quite a balance.  Only thing that may not make everyone happy - this covers phone/voice and text only service.  Of course, I recently found out that texting is free.  Despite being shown a couple times how to text, I really only got the hang of doing so this past spring and summer. Anyway, to continue:

I got the service originally - a long time ago!  The first phone I had was pretty basic - looked like #3 on this page: http://littlemissmay.com/index.php/2007/09/  (Found via google image search - I have no affiliation with or knowledge of that particular blog or blogger) When the battery started acting up, not holding a charge for long, I figured, instead of buying a new battery, I'd upgrade the phone.  Now, since I couldn't surf the net with the service anyway, I didn't need a phone that did.  The second phone I got did have some web surfing capabilities, but I never used them.  So, I'm not sure what they were like.  I got that phone in July of 2007.  7 years ago.  The battery still holds a charge very well.  Extremely well.  I love that little phone.  It just happens to be pink.  :)

BUT - the service provider notified me that come October 1st, that style of phone would no longer be supported.  I could still use it, but they wouldn't guarantee that I would get good reception, or that I wouldn't lose calls, or that I could connect with anyone I wanted to.... I don't totally understand all the lingo but essentially, the phone ran on radio waves, and they were replacing all the radio towers with "sim" cards/towers/service or some such.  So, this would take time, which is why I still might get some service, but not quality service as they removed towers over the next few months or so.  They were recommending people upgrade.

So, reminiscent of the time I went from a Windows 95 computer to a Windows XP computer, I have made the jump from what I believe is called a "Flip Phone" to an Android phone.

Kicking and screaming at first.  Because there was nothing wrong with my pretty pink phone.  And it was PINK!!  And the battery holds a charge like new.  And why do I need a fancy schmancy phone that does internet things, when the type of service I get just covers voice and texting?  So, I reluctantly found myself getting this silly new phone.

That I've decided I have fallen in love with.

First, for the phoning -- I didn't have any complaints with the pink phone.  It worked fine.  But, I can tell a difference in the new one - much clearer.  Not that the old wasn't clear, but you knew you were talking on a phone.  Now it feels like I'm in the same room with the other person.

Second, for the texting -- if you wanted a letter "c" on the pink phone, you needed to press the 2 button three times.... Now, I have a "keyboard".  It is on screen, but still, it is a keyboard.  A qwerty keyboard, so I know exactly where the letters are.  I'm still only using one finger, but the speed at which I can type in a message is way faster than trying to hit a button the right number of times for a letter, before it jumped to the next space...

Third, I found out, rather quickly, that even though the prepaid cellular service I use doesn't include web browsing, the phone can tie in to my home wifi, and I can surf using the phone all I want.  As long as I'm at home, or in my yard.

I figure, even though I resisted getting it, (and it isn't pink) and there is still nothing wrong with the old phone and its battery, I might as well learn to use it anyway, and enjoy the new "toy".  I mean, I have to have it, so why not use it?  I've already learned some advantages -- when DH (dear husband) and I are outside hanging out when he gets home from work, playing with the dogs and unwinding, sometimes we talk about things that need to be googled (or otherwise looked up on the computer/internet).  Before, that meant either me going inside to look it up on the computer, or trying to remember to do so later after we came in, or since we got the wifi, it meant dragging the laptop outside to look stuff up. Not that it is that hard to take the laptop out, but it can be cumbersome at times.  Now, though, I just slip that little phone in my pocket, and not only can I look stuff up, but I was playing with different things, and there is a voice activated google search!! So, instead of typing, I can just speak into the phone, and it searches!  :)

So, yeah, I got dragged kicking and screaming into this fancy new phone, but now that I have it, I'm having fun learning all the little games I can play with it!  (I've only had it for 3 weeks!)

Here are a couple of pictures of the old and the new phone:


2 comments:

  1. LOL, that flip phone looks an awful lot like the one I had! I still have a phone that is not considered a smart phone, it is tiny, and I like it. Like you I will probably keep it until I get told it is no longer supported, does not hold a charge (I only need to charge it once a week, if that!) or until DH convinces me I need a so called smart phone.... I never even text...

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  2. I hear you sister. I hate texting, and it is the only way my kids will talk to me. Just for you to consider, if you go some where that has free WiFi, like McDonald's, you can also use that for your phone as well. I do it all the time, although I have a data plan, I use the WiFi as much as possible to cut down on data useage. I am phobic about going over and having to pay huge fee for added data service.

    I too enjoy my electronic and electrical gadgets and gizmos, but like doing things for myself once in a while.

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