The perils of upgrading a phone

old telephone exchange

This awesome vintage photograph was sourced from the State Library of Victoria’s digital image library.

I had been battling on with my iPhone 4s for a while. I remember when it was all shiny and new. One of the few 4s in captivity in Brisbane at the time. Ah, the perks of being in IT and friendly with our Telco rep. But gradually, over time, it faded and gradually crumbled. I mean that literally. This is how my phone looked in its last days:

Old Mobile Phone

Aside for the obvious back-slide in looks, my phone also had a form of digital derangement.

This is what was happening:

  • I couldn’t actually comment on any of my social media channels directly. I had to write my comment in notes and then copy and paste it into Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Seriously, if I commented on your post via my phone, I really wanted to.
  • In order to take a photo, I needed to delete about 20 photos first, clear the safari cache, turn it off and on again and then just maybe I would be able to take a snap. Needless to say, I missed a few candid moments.
  • I deleted pretty much every single app on my phone and all my music. It still didn’t work properly.
  • If I used the Facebook mobile site, it would turf me out after about five minutes. Actually, they should probably think about creating that as a feature.
  • It didn’t work terribly well as a phone – could never hear the ringtone and the sound was always a bit scratchy. But that was the case from the shinier days. Very good phone at everything apart from being an actual phone.

So, after getting rather annoyed and the way Apple forces updates I voted with my wallet and bought a Samsung Galaxy 4. I read a load of reviews on www.techdaily.ca before buying it though! The new phone looks pretty but man, is she nosy:

  • In a rush to set everything up, I never really read the fine print and ended up with Google Now. On the last day of our family holiday in Cairns my phone kindly reminded me that I better leave my location (which it knew) in order to catch my flight (which it also knew all about). It let me know the itinerary, what the weather was like back home and the things I might like to do when I got there. It also helpfully let me know where we had parked the car at the airport. That my father’s birthday was that weekend and shouldn’t I get back to mum about those birthday plans. Also I had a bill due shortly. Apparently it gathers all this information from your email account and presents it back to you. My phone officially knows more about my life than I do.
  • My iPhone mates now cannot contact me via iMessage. Didn’t actually realise that was going to be such an issue.
  • I didn’t import my contacts from my iPhone. I now have to answer lovely chatty messages from my gorgeous friends with a terribly rude sounding “Um, have new phone. Don’t know who this number belongs to. Sorry. But yes, that coffee sounds lovely, whomever this is.”
  • I decided to install the WordPress app. I decided to see what happens when you click on quick picture. It pretty much does what it says on the box. A grainy photo of my sleeping baby suddenly made itself into a blog post and promoted itself all over the Mummy and the Minx’s Facebook page. Shan’t be hitting that button again.
  • I asked my sister, who owns the same phone, what that funny eye thing at the top right hand corner meant. Oh, it’s tracking your eye movement so that it can automatically scroll when you are reading. What the what now? I felt like the phone was stealing tiny parts of my soul (and selling them to Google). And you know what? It just might be.

First world problems of the first order here. Maybe I need to track down one of those indestructible old Nokias. They did a splendid job of just being a phone. And had no idea where I parked.

What has your experience of upgrading your phone been like? How long do you leave it before you bite the bullet and get a new one?

11 thoughts on “The perils of upgrading a phone

  1. Rachael - The Bowerbird Girl says:

    So funny – I’ve only had my smartphone (my very first!) for not quite 12 months. The final straw for the transition from my $49 Nokia (that i had for about 5 years) was a trip to visit a friend and i spent 3 hours in the back of a car taking the battery out putting it back in. turn on. no joy. repeat. For. Three. Hours. Of course, her phone number was in the phone, I didn’t remember her address (just her suburb). Eventually I had to get one of my other friends (that had never met her) to Facebook her on my behalf (and they’re still giving me shit about it a year later). It is very interesting isn’t it why we hang on to things that no longer serve us well.

  2. Have A Laugh On Me says:

    So you’ve crossed to the other side – FUNNY! My hubby swears by his Samsung. I don’t use mine much except phone calls, texts, bit of blog reading, FB – I’m happy with mine for now. I have a Lifeproof case so mine won’t die for a LONG time, I hope x

  3. dashoftonic says:

    I’m a very slow adopter to new technology…well, any technology really but I do have a smartphone. I switched from an Iphone to a Samsung Galaxy 18 months ago and I’m not unhappy about the change. It’s not that I didn’t like the iphone but sometimes I feel as if Apples rules our world!

    I’m still not up on all the features of the Samsung but I do love the big screen!

    The big thing I don’t like is that you can’t video call from Samsung to Iphone..and hubby still has the iphone and isn’t changing any time soon.

    • Robyna says:

      Yeah, I can’t say that I am in love with the Samsung (particularly the camera) and I may turn back (after five years or so!)

  4. Cat from thatbettiething says:

    Ooh Robyna, I don’t think I could cope with that Google Now whatsymajigger. Besides, I have employed my 6 year old daughter as my personal assistant. Haven’t missed a birthday party yet.
    My old iPhone looked (and behaved) a lot like yours. It was actually my husband who put his foot down and said it was time to get me a new phone. I was convinced to get one of those whopper wizzzinger iPhone 6plus, because it is nearly the size of an iPad mini which apparently would make blogging on my iPhone easier. Only, it’s so big that I now can’t reach the letter a with my thumb, which means that I have to hold the phone in one hand and type with the other. Which means the days of blogging with one hand while changing a nappy, cooking dinner or downing a g and t with the other is gone. The frequency of my blog posts has declined remarkably as a result.
    Nor can you hold the phone in the crook of your next and unpack the shopping because it’s too damn big and it either falls out, or your mouth is too far from the speaker and the other end can’t hear you. It is also far too big for pockets. Which means it falls out regularly – thankfully we bought a safety shock proof case…. Oh the dramas….

  5. Isabel says:

    Hehe! Who thought a post about upgrading a phone could me so funny? You have a real gift with words. I love that your phone was stressing you out at the end of your Cairns holiday…WTF? Get a life phone…you’re a PHONE, not a strict personal assistant or manager! I’ve had my iPhone for about 2 years and it’s already starting to get bugs…does apple do that on purpose, to make us pay more money? I really resent that! x

    • Robyna says:

      I am completely sure that they do that on purpose! I also think they make you miss calls on purpose so that you have to ring back and the phone companies make more money 🙂 Conspiracy much?

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