Grandpa Oakland Gets a "Smart" Phone

I am a bit of a Luddite. In school, I never liked using a graphing calculator, preferring a less powerful, simpler scientific calculator (like a TX-30 - is it sad that I know the names of calculators off the top of my head?). Until recently, I owned and used a flip phone. Now, due to outside pressure, I have finally given in and upgraded to a smart phone. I also now own a tablet computer. These are both things that I never envisioned myself owning.

I have always believed that cell phones should be used for making phone calls. When texting first became popular, I was reluctant to join in. It seemed like a step backwards in technology. Surely it took more data to transmit a voice in real time than it did to send a small amount of text, and yet the phone companies were charging you out the ass for this privilege. It didn't make sense to me why anyone would do it. Not only was it unreasonably expensive - $0.10 a message! Can you imagine how expensive phone calls would be if they were $0.10 a sentence? - but it also took 20 minutes to have a conversation that could have taken 30 seconds if done with a call. I could get into a whole thing about what I think texting says about where our society is heading, but for now I'll just move on.

My problem with smart phones has always been that the "phone" part of it is no longer the primary function. They really should take the word "phone" out of its name. Smart phones aren't for making phone calls. Smart phones are small computers with cameras attached to them. They are for checking email. They are for taking pictures. They are for playing games. They are for looking things up online. They are for finding directions. You know why you don't see any more of those "Can you hear me now?" commercials? Because nobody gives a shit! The cell phone company commercials of today boast of their 3G or 4G or whatever-G coverage. Computing speed and camera resolution continues to increase on phones, but voice and call quality remains low.

So now that I finally have a smart phone, what do I think?

One of my biggest concerns about getting a smart phone was the size of the phone. To me, they always looked awkward to hold to your face for making a call. There was a time when cell phones were getting smaller. Now it seems they only get bigger. Part of the reason that I liked having a flip phone was that it was small and fit comfortably into my pocket. Fortunately, that hasn't really been an issue with my new smart phone. It fits in my pocket more comfortably than I would have thought, and although I still find it a bit wider than I would like to comfortably hold it while making phone calls, I'm getting used to it.

My biggest issue so far with my new phone has been battery life. My old phone could go a week without charging it, maybe more. The new smart phone always seems to need to be charged. I'm lucky if I can get two days out of it. Now, I don't know if this is typical, or if it's just the phone I have, but it's rather annoying.

Overall, I'm getting used to having a smart phone. It isn't as terrible as I thought it would be. I'm never going to be someone who constantly browses the internet on his phone, but I do like having the option to do it. I guess living in the future is not so bad. As long as I can keep my vinyl.