A few days ago, while reading Slate<\/i>, an thought popped in my head.<\/p>\n
Why don’t I get a smartphone?<\/p>\n
It was this article, on the MetroPCS Samsung Craft<\/a>, which the writer for Slate<\/i> called “the worst cell phone on Earth,” that made me think about it.<\/p>\n Maybe I should<\/i> get a mobile phone<\/a>.<\/p>\n I had a cell phone for several years. When I was a manager for EB Games, it was virtually a necessity. But then I left EB, and I left Raleigh, and I didn’t need<\/i> a mobile anymore.<\/p>\n Naturally, I just assumed, invariably skint writer that I am, that a mobile phone would be out of my budget with plans and contracts. But then I realized that my car payment is done next month and I have tax refund money coming, giving me a little room to maneuver.<\/p>\n Reading the Slate<\/i> article suggested something I hadn’t ever considered.<\/p>\n There are<\/i> prepaid smartphone options that don’t require contacts.<\/p>\n I spent Saturday doing research; it was a mind-numbingly dreary day, I felt unwell, and there’s really nothing better to do at a time like that than to research mobile phones.<\/p>\n Here’s what I’m currently thinking, though I’ve not made any decision or spent any money, so I haven’t committed to anything yet.<\/p>\n I like Virgin Mobile<\/a>‘s plans — twenty-five dollars a month for unlimited data and five hours of voice time, or forty dollars for the unlimited data and twenty hours of voice time. That’s a really nice price; five years ago, my voice\/data plan with AT&T Wireless typically ran close to eighty dollars a month.<\/p>\n They offer two Android phones that have a feature set I find compelling — the LG Optimus V<\/a> and the Samsung Intercept<\/a>. The Optimus has a slightly slower processor, but it also runs Android 2.2 versus 2.1 on the Intercept. Both have similar camera functionality, both take the same MicroSD memory cards. The Intercept has a slide-out keyboard. The Optimus is a little cheaper. I’ve looked at reviews for both phones, and the Optimus seems to score out better as a phone and it seems, in spite of the slower processor, to run slightly faster.<\/p>\n I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. I do<\/i> like the idea of having something handy I can take digital photos with (no, I don’t have a digital camera), and these could double as portable mp3 players (no, I’ve never joined the iPod crowd), and a mobile would be a handy all-in-one device. That is a point of consideration. These phones have all the features I want, and, when it comes down to it, I really do<\/i> need a mobile phone, especially in the event of a train wreck during the morning commute or an asteroid strike on the office building.<\/p>\n It’s weird, the thought of having<\/i> a mobile phone has made me happy. In the back of my mind, I’m saying, “It’s just a thing<\/i>. Why should a thing<\/i> make me feel happy?” This thought, actually, has bothered me since Saturday, when I discovered that there are versions of NetHack<\/a>, Angband<\/a>, and Opera<\/a> for the Android operating system. (But no FreeCiv yet.)<\/p>\n I went for a walk on my lunch break and, left along with my thoughts on a cold and blustery day, I came around to this idea — a mobile phone represents a part of my life that feel like I gave up four years ago, when it didn’t make sense<\/i> to have a cell phone anymore. A smartphone wouldn’t be just a thing<\/i> but a symbol of independence, and perhaps it’s that unconscious thought about what a mobile represents that made me happy.<\/p>\n Or, it could just be that, by doing research on Saturday, I was learning things I didn’t know, and that’s always good for happiness. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n No, there I go, trying to downplay my epiphany.<\/p>\n At the very least, I’m entertaining the idea of buying a smartphone. I’ve done nothing hasty as yet; we’ll see what the weekend brings.<\/p>\n Maybe, come Farpoint, I’ll have a gadget to play with. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few days ago, while reading Slate, an thought popped in my head. Why don’t I get a smartphone? It was this article, on the MetroPCS Samsung Craft, which the writer for Slate called “the worst cell phone on Earth,” that made me think about it. Maybe I should get a mobile phone. I hadContinue reading “On Smartphone Musings”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[786],"class_list":["post-5619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-smartphone","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}