Many of you know that I don’t have a smart phone. In fact, some of you have even asked why. It is hard to understand why a blogger would limit themselves by not having one. I have missed out on some great pictures and having the ability to post on facebook wall at a moment’s notice would be a nice feature. (If you haven’t seen it, stop by. I post links to other blogs and fun pictures on it.)
You’d almost think I’m anti-technology. That’s furthest from the truth. I like cool old things, but I love gizmos just as much.
I even had an I-pod. Once. I really enjoyed it. I’d scan around for free wifi to download podcasts or web surf. I added a bunch of apps. All in all, I spent over $50 on shows, games, and other things for that pod. I took that thing everywhere.
Then I accidentally killed it.
I was working by the pool and “BLOOP” down it went. I was kinda luck as it landed in the ledge section of the pool, but it still was in enough water to bring the dreaded “White screen of death.”
I nursed it for two weeks and somehow got it to work. Kinda. It had become more susceptible to the high humidity and rain of summer Florida, but I could still listen to podcasts and watch “Tremors”.
And then one day it crashed onto the road. “Crack!” I was trying to slip it into my shirt pocket, but the pocket wasn’t open enough.
So much for that.
Picking up the dead metal carcass, I decided to go a little cheaper in replacing it.
I bought a Sansa Fuze.
No wifi, but I still got my podcasts and could download movies and shows. I had that for about six months until it died… in the pool.
Ok. Not the pool itself, but the filter tank. It was my job to clean that thing out every week. The filters used fossils called Diatomatious Earth. It feels like soft sand, but is microscopically sharp. The large cut version is sold as earth friendly insecticide at garden centers. The stuff cuts the legs of insects as they walk through it. A slurry of this stuff oozed its way into that Sansa and Fuzed itself into the electronics.
Dead.
I now have some MP3 player called a Trio. It cost me $30. I haven’t killed it so far, but I don’t do the pool anymore. It is slowly dying though. The screen gets these weird “snow” line through it when I have it connected to the computer and half the time the computer can read the player through the USB cable. But it still works.
I think I’m on my third phone too. In fact, it has to be. I remember changing carriers. The phones do seem to last longer. The one I have now was bought roughly after the first time I tried to kill the I Pod. It’s a cheap $15 phone that I don’t worry about. If it goes, I just get another.
And that’s the crux. I have no qualms about dropping $15 on a new phone if something happens, but $100 to $300 for a smart phone that might not last the year? That’s hard to swallow.
I know that there are protective cases for the things, like the otter case, but that’s another $100! Plus I just know how I would be if I had that thing on my smart phone, “What I forgot the hammer to stake this tree up? Here, use my phone. No, it’s ok. The case is shock proof.” Or “Let’s play air hockey. We’ll use my phone as the puck. It’s alright. It’s got that otter cover on it.”
How could I possibly inflict such horror to an innocent little smart phone. It’s better if they didn’t know.
And that’s why I have a dumb phone.
