Finally Pulled the Trigger on a New Phone

While it’s no secret that I enjoy using the latest technology, my mobile phone was still living in the Stone Age. The funny thing is, even if I am supposedly the most technologically advanced person in the house, I had the oldest phone. Heck, even our helpers had more advanced phones that I did.

The list reasons why it took so long for me to upgrade is slightly long. Firstly, I wasn’t happy with the early smartphone hardware because it was so slow and the keyboard was horrible. It was so bad that a phone I had bought my mother had everyone at home wanting to use it as a paper weight.

Secondly, I wasn’t happy with the initial versions of the software that controlled phones from a desktop computer. They seemed clunky and limited.

Thirdly, the pictures churned out by these phones were less than stellar. While I didn’t expect them to be anything close to a dSLR, it annoyed me that their tiny cameras couldn’t focus in anything other than really bright sunlight. More often than not, the resulting pictures were either dark, blurred, or had funny colors.

Finally Upgraded

Late last year, I finally upgraded my mother’s phone to a Lenovo S820. Compared to her old one, this one came with a larger 720 x 1280 pixel, 4.7-inch screen that is made of Gorilla Glass. Coupled with a more accurate keypad, it hasn’t made anyone at home want to rip their hair out in frustration. It also came with the latest operating system and a 12 megapixel camera, which means she has the most advanced model in our household today.

As I mentioned before, I am the only holdout when it came to upgrading. My wife and helpers had already upgraded to Smart Phones; although theirs came with more modest specifications.

After playing around with my wife and Mother’s phones, I finally decided to pull the trigger on a new phone. From the few months I have spent with them, I feel that they have finally gotten to the level, and price points, I find attractive.

Instead of getting the same model as my Mom’s, I decided to get the one my wife had. Also coming with a 4.7-inch screen, the Lenovo S650 sports a more modest 540 x 960 pixels and isn’t made of Gorilla Glass. The rear camera is also smaller at 8 megapixels, but is good enough for taking clear pictures. At PhP 8,900, it comes with a four-core CPU and the latest Android Operating System.

I was actually planning on waiting a few more months for prices to drop before pulling the trigger. But as the New Year arrived, I made a few plans to interview people for upcoming articles. Instead of buying a digital recorder, which only does one thing, it would better to tape our conversations on a phone that does more than take calls and send text messages.

While my old phone could certainly handle voice recordings without any problems, I wasn’t thrilled at having to use its tiny keypad to enter accompanying appointments and notes. In addition to this, the pictures weren’t exactly something I would post along my online essays, even in a pinch.

Early Bumps

Having tested out my wife and Mother’s phones meant that I already knew what to expect. In the case of my Mom’s phone, I spent quite a number of hours upgrading its operating system only to lose the theme she was comfortable with. The update also wiped out all her contacts and recent text messages, which I had to tediously rebuild and transfer from her old Smart Phone.

[Oops!]

Not wanting to make another booboo like that, I decided to limit all my experiments to my phone before upgrading anyone else’s. Fortunately, with my phone to work on, I finally found a way to back up the contact list so it can be restored when updates erase them. Another bit of good news is that I have been able to download some free games and applications that my Mom will enjoy.

However, I still haven’t found a way to restore her preferred theme because it is nowhere to be found. Hopefully, a little more time with the phone will provide a solution to this.

The best thing about this new phone, and my not erasing her data on a regular basis, is that she is very happy with it. The big screen and sharper images are a very big step up from the last phone. The keypad, camera, and it having a thin body has also scored points with her. So despite it having the latest Android Operating System, which she is unfamiliar with, I see her using it a lot more than her old phone.

Initial Impressions

Three days into my using this phone, I made the right choice to wait. The best thing about the delay was that Smart Phone CPUs have picked up enough horsepower so operating systems aren’t sluggish anymore. Running with four cores means that switching screens and running applications is now smooth.

While its photographs is still nowhere near that of a dSLR, the 8 megapixel camera does a much better job than my old phone. And while the electronic keypad is just a tad bit slower than my old mechanical keypad, it is still much faster than the initial ones.

 

Through the installation of AirDroid, I can now control my phone from the comfort of my desktop computer keyboard. With full-sized keys, it is much easier to add and edit clients in my contact list and typing text messages is a breeze.

Updating my weekly schedule and adding notes is also a better experience. Another benefit is the ability to install software like dictionaries. Best of all, I am now able to surf the internet whenever I have access to free Wi-Fi.

[This’ll be great while waiting at the airport!]

Ah yes, things certainly have gotten better, after taking a step back, in the mobile phone world. Who knows, through my experimentation, I just might be able to connect a keyboard to this phone so I can type articles on it instead of having to lug around my laptop.

[Yup, the future does look good…]