So I just got a new phone the other day. It was about time, as many say, since my last one had served me well, for about seven and a half years. In fact, there still is nothing wrong with it, except for its apps stop working one by one due to a lack of updates. What a shame! Still, it should provide me with a welcome excuse to shop around for a brand new one, getting to know its mind-blowing features, I can immerse myself in. Unfortunately, unlike the last couple of times, this experience is turning out to be more of a chore, without all the previous excitement about the novelty.
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Is There A Right Phone For Me?
My last phone was an ASUS Zenfone Max Plus. I had had pretty good experiences with the small notebook computers of the same company, and this phone was very much on par with them. A very good camera, an exceptionally long lasting battery, and an overall slick an smooth user experience. In fact, even now the battery can keep up a whole day of regular use before it needs to be charged. Sure, it used to be almost three when I got it.
As I consider this one to be by far the best phone I've ever had, it was clear that I would get the lastest version of the same one, or something very similar. But alas, ASUS stopped making phones a couple of years ago! So now I had to look for another decent Android phone (as I would not go near an Apple, thank you).
After comparing the specs of a bunch of phones that all seemed to be virtually the same, I finally found one that perked my interest: the Galaxy XCover 6 Pro by Samsung. Besides being a rough and robust outdoorsy phone, it was the only phone I came across that had
- a removable battery
- a slot for an external memory (micro SD card)
- a 3.5mm headphone jack
Unfortunately, this phone was officially not available in my country of Mexico, as the friendly salesperson at the Samsung store informed me. "But you can always get it online!" she added with a smile and a wink. Oh, I love this truly free-market attitude! I thanked her, and looked it up at various online stores.
From $300 to Over A Grand!
The phone's initial price was fairly reasonable, being a bit under $300. However, having it shipped to my address the surcharges would accumulate to over a thousand bucks. Shipping and handling could hardly be this much, there were probably plenty of taxes and tariffs piling up, mostly since the phone was shipped into the US from abroad, then sent to Mexico to be taxed again. No way I'd spend that much money on nothing! Fortunately I found a cheap alternative: buying it used and refurbished. Sure, I had to wait four weeks for it, but in the end it would only cost about $200. However, once the waiting time was over, I was told that the phone wouldn't come. At least I got my money back!
So I went back to the Samsung store, to buy myself the next best phone they actually had available. The one most similar to the one I wanted was the Galaxy A55. No headphone jack and a fixed battery, but at least it still had a slot for an SD card. And it cost me like $400.
All The Same, Just A Bit Different
Over the past couple of days I kept configuring my new phone to my personal tastes and needs, getting the apps I could not update on my old one, and making it work in the way I wanted it to work. It's all new, so it takes a bit of getting used to. Interestingly, I remember having a great deal of fun when I was exploring the features of a new phone, which in this case seemed more tedious than anything. Oh the joy I had when I first started using my phone as a book reader! Or when watching videos became common... This time, all of these features are there, but not much more.
Even the greatest improvement from my last phone leaves me somewhat unexcited: Getting Hive apps to actually be functional on my handheld device. I know, ASUS wasn't the best for supporting them, but on my new one I had no problem installing and running the Hive Keychain, or Ecency, or even the Actifit fitness tracker. Particularly the last one I'm not sure I will actually use, but it's nice to know it works. Though 'nice' is about as far as my excitement takes me.
Are Phones Becoming A Chore?
It's been only a relatively short time since having a cell phone was considered to be "for businessmen" and not for teenagers (back when I was a teenager, which you may argue has been quite a long time ago...) Then, when teenagers first started getting them in masses, there was a strong counter-trend of young people who would not get one, precisely because it was such a huge trend. Eventually, when smart phones provided us with seemingly endless features other than talking (or texting) with people, it became something of a universal convenience. Still, it made sense that everyone kept tweaking these features, going for bigger and better options...
Finally, I'm not exactly sure when it happened, we found ourselves on the other end of this trend: Phones (or let's call them portable mini computers) were not only everywhere, they had become essential for everyday life: navigating across the city, sending and receiving money, storing and sharing information, getting access to places (even outside of pandemic measures), ... the list keeps growing. Gone are the days of fun and excitement. Today a smart phone is an indispensable requirement of simply functioning in our modern world. So that's also where I'm going to leave this post. I also got a pair of new sneakers... so what?