When I was at home in lovely central CT, we went to
the AT&T store to renew our contracts and pick up new phones. Of course, my mom also ended up amusing
the salesperson to death with our curmudgeon routine.
“We don’t want smart phones, we want cheap flip
phones. Where are the free phones? What no free phones?! Only 99 cent
phones?! The flip phones all cost
extra money and the plans only have a $5 difference?! Why are you basically making everyone choose smart phones,
is it to force people to pay for expensive data plans? I want my prune juice now! I hate
tapioca pudding! Why don’t these
damn kids GET OFF OF MY LAWN?!”
The nice salesman took it all in stride (even
telling us TMobile would be cheaper) but he bust out laughing when “Dani California” (by Red Hot Chili Peppers, natch) came on and my mom asked “Is this
rap?” Poor guy just burst out
laughing while I attempted to explain the difference between RHCP and Jay Z (I
did take care to mention that they have shared a producer in the legendary RickRubin). Besides that, the young man (he was in his 20s, I am allowed to refer
to him as a young man, no?) was extremely patient as we bitched, moaned and
ultimately chose phones.
It doesn’t help I was anxious about losing my
precious Nokia flip phone. This
phone and I have been through a lot in two years namely lots of snickering and
stares of disbelief from friends/family who sip on haterade, run of the mill
haters and those who hold the much reviled PhD (playa haters degree).
Their powerful hating made no difference in my
feelings. I loved my little red
Nokia. I could call and text on it
and access the internet in a pinch. I dropped it at least a dozen times. Each time
it broke into three or four neat pieces that I put back together with no change
in the way the phone worked. In
the end, my baby was nicked, scraped and held together with cheap super glue
and packing tape:
So, I knew it was time to get a new phone. Nonetheless, I was hoping that I
could, at least, continue with Nokia and get a Lumia. However, the Lumia was substantially more
than 99 cents so I wound up with…. an iPhone. Sigh. It is only an iPhone 4 so I
take comfort in the fact I do not have the current model.
I am mainly concerned with having my eyes gorilla
glued to the damn thing the way many peoples’ eyes seem to be. So, I am taking precautions. So far, I have downloaded two
additional apps: Find my Phone and Google Maps. I don’t have any music on
it. I refuse to download any
games. I have used Facetime, which is lovely for friends living abroad with
whom I’d normally Skype.
It still doesn’t feel right though, its like an
arranged marriage. Texting is still really awkward because of my fingernails. I
did choose to protect my investment – I now have a cover a la Marshalls (which features a blue
Union Jack…it was $8 and I’m not picky) and a screen protector (included with
the cover).
I may grow to love this electronic temptress; I may,
like everyone insists, become one of those people obsessed with checking my
email and playing games and downloading apps left and right… but I still dearly
miss my homely little Nokia.
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