We Don't Need No Stinkin' Smartphone!

Smartphone

I probably just demolished my geek cred by outing myself as a non-smartphone owner. To be honest with the peanut gallery, I just haven’t been able to justify the cost to myself for a while since we’re talking at least $200 for the phone itself then an additional $60+ a month for the more expensive plans. I guess the spectre of my father (a man so cheap he makes Scrooge look like Donald Trump) is still hovering over my shoulder like some cantankerous guardian angel grousing “Shop at Walmart. Buy generic products. Live cheap.” His mantra may still be something that I live by.

That said, I love the smartphone idea. My brother and his wife (both gadget lovers who would probably have Matrix-like network jacks installed in their skulls if that was an option currently) have had their smartphones for the better part of two years and I’ve had the opportunity to play with their smartphones quite a bit. I’ll grant that the built-in GPS is a pretty nifty little feature and being able to surf the Net instead of being restricted to playing Tetris on my current dumbphone if I’ve gotta wait for something is a very attractive idea. Not to mention, there has been 500 times when I wanted to check my email or find out if Fry’s Electronics is open yet – while out and about in the big scary world with that bright thing in the sky that makes my lovely geek pallor turn red if I’m out in it for too long. Plus the variety of apps you can get and the tasks that they can perform is absolutely ridiculous.

Well, it seems that I may be jumping ship from T-Mobile and swimming for Verizon Smartphone Island after finding out that T-Mobile (my current carrier) is soon to be swallowed by AT&T. Such is life. Of course, my brother is happy to turn another soul to the dark side of the Force since apparently his wife wants to get a new phone anyway and they’re planning on moving to Verizon from T-Mobile as well. Guess all that’s left to do is find out how much I’m likely to pay per month with Verizon – hopefully, it doesn’t involve lighting candles and drawing a circle in my own blood while reciting the Verizon terms of service backwards.

More on this to come, possibly – dear (any?) readers.

Featured Image: Zoom
Source by Justin H Krutz