Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Now I’m smart
We bought new phones yesterday, and Jake and I upgraded to smart phones — Androids. Mine’s an EVO HTC. And as with any new technology, I have no idea what I’m doing.
I owned a Blackberry for a short time three or four years ago. The internet access was useful to me once. Once. Jake and I were hanging out in downtown Seattle and we decided to find a haberdasher. Turned out we were only a few blocks from Byrnie Utz Hats, a wonderful place by the way, definitely worth a visit if you’re in Seattle. I can’t remember that Blackberry being useful on any other occasion. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t worth the extra money and I changed back to an ordinary cell phone. The precipitant cause of the change? I suspect it was the usual ATD*.
Smart phones weren’t all that smart back then. (Knowing me, though, I doubt that I exhausted its capabilities.) I don’t recall there being a whole lot of apps. And I don’t recall my Blackberry having camera or video capabilities. Smart phones have come a long way since then, but I’ve done fine with my dumb phone and thought I could live without. But then tragedy struck — T-mobile got bought out by AT&T, whom we despise because they donate to teahadists and other radical righties, and who routinely used to pull slimy maneuvers on us when we had them as our carrier. You know — fees would unexpectedly (and mistakenly) show up and then we’d have to spend forever on the phone getting them to undo what they had done. Creeps.
I’m not sure if Sprint will be any better, but at least it’s not AT&T.
And now I need to figure out how this sucker works. Thus far, I’ve determined how to change my wallpaper. I know there should be a way to sample mp3s to create custom ringtones, and I know that Karen and I should be able to do video chat with our two phones, and I know there are supposed to be thousands of apps out there, but I haven’t found any of this stuff yet. The app market directly accessible on the smart phone links only to a few dozen apps. WTF?
Maybe I should read the manual, or look for tutorials on the web. I’m a manual/tutorial kinda guy.
D.
*Accidental toilet droppage.
Making progress. Now I know how to search the market for apps, and I’ve downloaded Pandora, Nook, My Fitness Pal (a calorie counter), and I’ve updated QIK, a video chat thingie, so now Karen and I can video chat, and we both look horrible on this camera. But hey, video chat! It’s like the phones of the future, if this were 1968! What I’ve always wanted.
I’ve also downloaded RingDroid, the thing that lets me sample mp3s to make custom ringtones. Too bad I haven’t figured out yet how to put all my mp3s on my phone.
I’ve also downloaded RingDroid, the thing that lets me sample mp3s to make custom ringtones. Too bad I haven’t figured out yet how to put all my mp3s on my phone.
yeah bestmishu, I’m in the same boat. I have ringdroid but no mp3s yet.