I was a late adopter for a cell phone. I got my first only a year ago or so. I cheap LG without many features, cost about $20, and in all fairness, I only got it so that I could get in touch with my daughter while I was out in Phoenix.
I upgraded to an iPhone with some trepidation. Gal I was dating waited in line for hers, and she loved it with a glee that was frightening to behold. Aps galore, a camera, movies on demand.
It seemed all a bit too much.
When I was realized I was bound for Mesa Verde this summer, and the 3G was coming out, said iPhone gal poked and prodded me to taking her phone, and upgrading her to a spiffy new one. I put the iPhone in my pocket, and pretty much didn't use it all that much, except to call my little girl. Didn't really use the aps all that much, and I didn't really get into the text habit.
A summer on the mountain changed that.
Mesa Verde is pretty a damned isolated place. Internet connection, even through the company was spotty, at best. Even the machines that Aramark provided in our little basecamp only had occasional internet connection. If you were in camp and had a computer, WiFi signal was an on again, off again, and mostly off again, sort of premise. Being thoroughly addicted to teh Interwebz, this was not exactly ideal. Save, that pesky iPhone DID allow me to connect. And I grew to love that heavy little rectangle since it not only let me call my little girl, and text her, and get my news fix too.
The relationship with the gal who got me hooked on the phone went south, but that phone kept me hooked. As time went on, it was pretty much my conduit to the world--despite losing signal when we went up to 5000' or so. Made good friends, started texting more, and before I knew it, the iPhone was a constant companion. Google maps. YouTube. Texts beyond all reason. Skype on the dang thing. Thesaurus. Dictionary. Books upon books. Scientific calculator. More and more science and math aps than you could shake a stick at. Even got my feet wet with the goofy games. Before I knew it, my phone was absolutely one of those things I put into my pocket, even before I found my keys.
So, when my phone finally decided to stop charging, it left me with an unsettling feeling. A disquiet that I really had no idea would ever descend. Without a phone, without this phone, I am now all bereft. For someone who, up until this year, didn't even own a cell phone, now I find myself all kinds of antsy. No contact numbers to browse through. No quick finds for addresses. No Google Maps to prop up in the cup holder to find odd places. No quick note to friends on stuff that made me giggle. No fast camera to take a pic of goofiness on the road.
Yes, I am addicted. Never saw it coming, until I went to sign into Skype today, and saw that nasty red line on the battery life, and the phone defiantly refusing to charge.
Tomorrow I'm heading to the AT&T store, and see what wonders they'll put before me. 3G? 3GS? Maybe something entirely different? All I know is that somewhere between January and now, I got hooked on a goody that I never knew you couldn't do without.
Dammit.
You need an Android and TMobile - everything else just wishes it was as cool as a G1 or G2, I am hugely addicted to free apps.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I know a lot of people who do not have a live in tech or know much about how to use their phones or "hack" anything - iPhones are ok for them, the new Window's phones are ok. I also like Blackberry for functionality and limited user knowledge.
It is important to know that I think my phone should be a little computer and when I yell and have a hissy fit it should really listen to me. :)
I settled on the very moderately priced 3GS and damned if I ain't happy with it.
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