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I’m always a step behind on the latest phone trend. By the time I got a rotary phone in my bedroom, everyone was already onto their cellphones, and by the time I made the jump to cellphones, everyone was already trading up for a flip phone. So it came as no surprise to me that when I finally got a camera phone, the iPhone had come out and BlackBerrys became more ubiquitous than see-through-white-dresses in the summertime.
But it wasn’t until this past summer living in New York City that I truly felt uncomfortable using my cell phone in public. The phone that I had once bragged about because it fit into my clutch was now making me feel as if I was using Zack Morris’s mega phone. People stared at me when I texted and expressed shock and awe that I still used only 9 keys to construct a sentence.
The look I got when I flipped my phone open the other day was the look I gave to my grandmother when she attempted to use her scanner to send an e-mail.
I can’t deny the jealousy. I admit that having the internet on your phone is insanely useful; whenever I’ve gotten lost somewhere, its a friend’s BlackBerry that got me home (not my phone’s tip calculator). And, sure, I’ve gotten frustrated when my T9 brutalized a word so badly that my text ended a friendship. I’ve eyed those keyboards and mouses and wished that my phone, too, could serve as a hand-held laptop.
But, at the same time, I wonder: who are these people always talking to? I mean, obviously when I see people in their business suits I know they are conducting world-changing business, one BBM at a time. However, I can’t fathom what the 13 teen year old girl with the bright pink BlackBerry is talking about as she swings her Hannah Montana backpack onto her shoulders.
Is she changing her orthodontist appointment because she had an urgent meeting with the Rabbi to discuss Bat Mitzvah themes?
Is she telling her friend about another friend who hooked up with that friend even though he was with that other other friend?
What is so urgent that she had to have a BlackBerry and can’t communicate through a basic text messaging phone?
I’m up for a phone upgrade next month and I’m already stressing about what to get. I know that no matter what I get, it won’t be cool enough to brag about. So, I’m thinking I’ll skip the stress, go old school and just buy the most high-tech beeper a non-paid internship salary can buy.
15 Comments
SO TRUE!
I’ll admit that I just learned how to use T9 text messaging like 3 weeks ago. It’s sad.
I got a t-mobile wing last year and was super excited. It had Microsoft word, internet, a full QWERTY keyboard, TOUCH SCREEN! (You could write on the screen with the stylus and it would chancge your writting into text), music player, and anything else you could think of, not to mention it was a slider phone with stylus and a really cool purple blue color. I used it for about 13 days before returning it for a normal 9 key Motorola Rizr. It was too big, too bulky, and always getting me into trouble at work for doing homework, research, and playing on the internet. I hated carrying it around and I hated even more talking on it. I felt rIdiculous holding a brick up to my ear. Nope I’ll stick with the regular tiny phones and my 9 keypads, I don’t NEED internet wherever I go.
oh not to mention, I couldn’t tex with the qwerty keyboard, the keys were way to small, I usually ended up using the stylus and writing out my texts, and well that just reverts us back to the pen and paper method of doing things which is so much slower and more primitive.
And I couldn’t text while I was driving.
“And I couldn’t text while I was driving.”
Brilliant! (where’s my Guinness…)
Anyway, as someone who just went from a Razr (which I abhored… its a slow piece of crap) to an iPhone, its not really about really “the web” on your phone as it is “the internet” which involves many more data services than you’d think were useful until you tried them.
The web features on most phones are pretty poor, but when you can get programs written specifically for a purpose (like Google Maps, Shazam, Pandora, or the AP Mobile News wire on the iPhone) access to all kinds of data becomes much more practical and useful while on the go.
Jay, that was a joke.
Haha I got my new flip phone over a slider cause the keys were bigger so I could text while driving…I don’t do it a lot, though, i swear!
am i lame just cus i finnally got a rizr like 2 months ago
Jeff, I’m sorry. I’ve had the rizr for a little more than a year now and I’m extremely sorry I got it. Motorola is shit! The wheel and center button fall off, the battery is crap, and it freezes all the time. I will forever stick with Nokia’s from now on. (this rizr was the first non nokia i’ve ever had, and nokias never ave me a problem)
I think it would be in your best interest to invest in a blackberry when your plan is up because they are proven to help prevent clumsiness!
i’m at a happy medium with the samsung blackjack…has all the fancy shmance but its still small and discreet, qwerty and speedy internet for porn…i mean info.
Jenni, your story is razor sharp!
p.s. The fact that you use a clutch at night shows how high fashion you really are! Don’t let those BBMr’s intimidate you!
my friend’s 10 year old sister has a blackberry.
its disgusting…when i was 10 i barely knew how to use a regular phone lol….true story.
I have a Blackberry Curve and I absolutely LOVE this phone!! I got it as a refurb so I lucked out and wasn’t forced to buy unlimited internet or anything. Many of the things on my phone that make it cool (GPS, internet, email sent straight to phone, etc) isn’t used because I don’t feel like paying the money for those services. Sure I may not need a Curve, but it’s so nice to have a QWERTY keypad!! I don’t think I can ever go back to texting on a traditional cell again!
PS:: Totally agree that kids shouldn’t have a phone this high tech. Whatever happened to that firefly phone for kids?
they dont call it a Crackberry for no reason. i have a blackberry curve and i feel so rude sometimes when im bbming at a bar or something around my friends but its like being on aim! i feel rude if i dont write back to my friends bbming me. and the email sent straight to my phone is awesome. the camera on this phone is better than most digital cameras. and in my state of drunken debauchary i have dropped my phone well over 20 times.. its a durable little mother.
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