I took the grandchildren to the Botanics yesterday and was keen to try out the photographic potential of my new smart phone. Or, as I think of it, "smart" phone. I may be blaming the phone for my own lack of smartness but I think the dumbness could be said to be evenly matched. It was a very sunny day and so of course I couldn't at all see on the screen what I was trying to photograph - but that applied to my previous phone also. The difference is that my previous phone had buttons, and so I could at least see and feel the bits I needed to press in order to take a photo. Whereas by the time I'd got the new phone out, woken it up from its deep and dreamless sleep, angled it away from the sun, squinted at the bits I was trying to tickle into life and pointed it at the intended subjects of the photo, they had trotted off. Well, Grandson had. Unfortunately my finger got in the picture instead.
I have six days left of the fourteen at the end of which I can take the phone back and have it replaced by a non-smart one. I don't think it's going to be a long-term companion. I hardly ever use a mobile phone for speaking into. I do text and take photos; and in my experience so far, it's much less user-friendly for these tasks, though I've no doubt these are sacrifices worth making if one feels the need to use the internet while not at home. But I don't. I can see it would be very useful for lots of people; but personally, I'm at home a lot, being retired. And when I'm not I very often have the company of Mr L, whose smart phone is always at hand.
Having said that, we had a lovely time at the Botanics and Daughter 2 is about to come home for a week, so I shouldn't grumble, especially when the news is full of the Malaysian plane disaster, the Korean shipwreck, the terrible, terrible situation in Syria and the problems in Ukraine. How lucky we are to be living here.
They are saying that the young people of today will develop finger and hand problems in later life due to incessant rapid texting and such like. At least that will not apply to you!
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess that's the end of our texting -- and we never even got to try it out LOL? What about Facetime-ing with DD2? Surely that would give your new phone a leg up over the old one?
ReplyDeleteI love my phone and can't imagine how we existed without them -- especially now that my sister and I are texting constantly while helping our parents. But I can see how not seeing the screen in sunlight would be a problem. That's not a problem for me -- a) it's rarely bright and sunny here and b) I don't manage to be outside much anymore. {Sigh.} Must work on that.
And yes, I've always thought how lucky you are to live where you do -- in spite of the news!
I'm still smarter than my phone, which I think is a satisfactory state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, I like your comment, Lucille!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your birthday wishes Isabelle. You will be pleased to know that today was a vast improvement on Tuesday!!
No no, I do text. Which is why I want a phone that will allow me to text efficiently.
ReplyDeleteThe walk in the gardens looks fun and very active for one young man!
ReplyDeleteI`m almost getting to grips with the camera pone now, but at first kept covering the tiny lens with my thumb...sigh.
I would really really like to have a smart phone, but on our budget it has always been a 'want-not-a-need'. People keep sending me photos from their smart phones which I can barely see on my 'dumb' phone screen. Small annoyances. But sounds like your decision to get the best of both worlds in partnership with Mister Life is a good balance.
ReplyDeleteThere is a learning curve with new technology, and I feel your pain, and I grumble when I have to struggle with something that is not intuitive, but I am determined not to be left behind when it comes to technology. My mom is in her late 70s and I feel like there is so much she doesn't understand about society now, simply because she never ever uses the internet, not at all. You are way ahead of her in that regard, but watching my mom get more and more antiquated and unable to fully participate drives me to keep up. For now, anyway. There may very well be some new gadget in the future where I will end up saying "No thanks."
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that smartphones aren't going away, so if you decide two years from now you want one, they will still be around for you to try!