Can you hear/see/read me now?

It was time. This week, Merle and I entered the 21st century with the purchase of our first smart phones. We both now have a Galaxy S5.

He lost his old phone. If not for that, it would have been a bit longer before we jumped into this more technological world.  We are never on the cutting edge, we prefer to wait and be sure that any technology will really be worth the investment.

After all, we’ve only had cell phones for five years. And I loved the keyboard on the second phone I had.

It’s now been a week, and I think I have most of the important things figured out.

I can answer a call. The first call came before I’d read the manual. It was a bit tricky. I had no idea where to push the button, and didn’t know I had to slide it across the screen.

I can send a text message. It is more complicated than my old phone. the contacts list is less user-friendly. I do give it points for being easier to read.

I can even send a voice activated text. I remember when the thought of voice identification was just a crazy fantasy. No one really imagined that it could work. And now it is in my little phone. Very cool.

I have my blue-tooth installed in my car, and I can make hands-free calls while I am driving. I will admit that Merle set that up, but I did figure out how to get it to work.

I have been taking photos with it. In fact, that is one of the reasons I bought this phone, rather than an IPhone. My camera broke (granddaughter 3 dropped it) so with the much higher pixel count on this phone, I am hoping that the phone can replace my point and shoot camera.

There were a few apps preloaded on the phone, but I have been adding a few more. So far, I have not paid for any app, they are all free ones. I love the radar weather. With all of the rain we’ve had lately, it is nice to see where the storms are and to have some idea of how much time until they hit.

I have downloaded some books and have been doing some reading on it. The screen is very large, and with my reading glasses, I can read very easily. Again, I had been considering a tablet, but I am thinking the phone may be big enough that I don’t have to do that.

I have downloaded a few free games. I am worried that I am getting addicted to “Tap the Frog”. It is one of the most mindless games that you can imagine (the name says it all), but I am just competitive enough to keep trying to get to the next level.

There are a few downsides, though.

I have tried to use it for the blog, but that is just not going to work. The one thing that I have to say I don’t like at all is the keyboard. It is a touch screen, and it frustrates me to no end. The keys are small for my fingers. I am constantly hitting the wrong ones, or two at a time. The auto correct is horrible. If I don’t think to check before I send out a message, the words are totally crazy. It does not like many of the words I use, apparently. I’m just not in line with the most common words used in certain linguistic combinations. Oh, well.

One of the major things I still need to do is to download photos from the phone on to the laptop. That is something I will be trying yet this weekend.

The battery doesn’t stay charged for long.

It doesn’t fit into a pocket well. And it is even a bit big for my purse. That makes me worry about dropping it.

Merle is having a bit more trouble. I have heard him several times, screaming at the phone in frustration. He has sworn a blue streak when it doesn’t do what he expects. He is of the generation that if you push harder on a button, it works better. When he uses a computer keyboard,those keys go down with a bang, like a typewriter used to require. That doesn’t really work well with the touch screen keyboard.

However, slowly but surely we are getting up and running, and feeling quite happy about it. I have been telling others that the phone makes me feel old and stupid when I can’t figure out how to do something with it, and I feel very smart when I finally figure it out. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how I did it when I try to show Merle how it is done.

Hopefully, taking on this new-fangled stuff is helping to keep us more nimble-minded. I’ll be ready to take on the next fancy new tech item. But not too soon.

Now if only my kids weren’t snickering so much about mom and dad and their smartphone challenges.

They forget that I saw them naked all those years. And I only giggled a little.

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