Detox Day 4 - Revelations

I have a small confession to make... I don't miss my smartphone. At all. Not even a little bit. I wish I could say I do, but I don't. This isn't to say that I don't LIKE smartphones. I do. Some will even tell you that I lust for smartphones. That would be true. But in my everyday life, I do not miss it one bit.


Know what's cool about about a feature phone? When I pick it up to use it, the battery is nearly always full. I don't have to charge it at night, but if I do, I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. All day. Not until 6pm day, the whole day until bed time. Who can say that about a smartphone? Any smartphone? What frustrated me most about my experiences with different smartphones is that with all my hacking and playing on them, they always seemed to crap out right when the kids' doctor was supposed to call, or some other important communication was coming. Using a feature phone has reminded me that the purpose of the phone is to make phone calls and text. Everything else is superfluous.


This next revelation is going to send @nkbme calling 911. Using a Blackberry isn't as bad as I used to think. Now, let me caveat that with a huge exclusion. A Blackberry isn't so bad to use if all you want to use it for is email, texting, IM. Any other tasks make me want to cry. SLOOOOOOOOOOW. And wow, ugly apps. But hey, I need email on the go, and work is supplying the Blackberry, so it enabled me to give up a smartphone (I know what you're saying, a Blackberry IS a smartphone, I would beg to differ).


Check this out - my smartphone history for the last 2 years:


1. iPhone 3G
2. iPhone 3GS
3. Motorola Droid
4. HTC Droid Eris
5. HTC Touch Pro 2
6. iPhone 3GS
7. Palm Pre Plus
8. Motorola Droid
9. HTC Droid Eris
10. HTC Incredible
11. Droid X
12. Palm Pre Plus
13. Droid X
14. Samsung Fascinate
15. Palm Pixi Plus
16. Casio Exilim (feature phone)
17. iPhone 4
18. Thunderbolt
19. Samsung Fascinate
20. Palm Pre Plus
21. Samsung Rogue (feature phone)


I think I can say with certainty, smartphones are a disease for me. I keep wanting to change, not just to get a better phone, but for a different experience. Sometimes I think for my Twitter buddies, it's like watching a car crash. You don't want to stare, but the destruction is mesmerizing.


Implications of a Non-Smartphone Life


No Google on the Go. How many of us realize the importance of being able to ask a question at any time and get an answer? I didn't. Until I didn't have a smartphone. Now I ask a question and I have to call a friend for an answer or, actually wait until I get home to a computer.


No smartphone means I never know what the weather is going to be. And when a storm is coming, I can't check out the radar and see how long it's going to last. #firstworldproblems


No smartphone means the phone on my camera is barely passable. This means that I have to carry a DSLR around with me. Guess what? My pictures and video are AWESOME. I forgot how much better a real camera is for taking pictures. Convenience aside, I'm enjoying improved picture quality.

No smartphone means no Google Voice. Not exactly, but certainly no convenient Google Voice. It also means that in the coming months, there'll be no Google Wallet. This actually physically pains me.

No smartphone means no mobile Twitter. This is the most painful of all the things I've given up. For me, accessing Twitter on a smartphone is the most natural way of using it. The phone's +/- 4in screen is perfect for the Twitter medium, makes it feel very personal and intimate. In order to use Twitter now, I'm limited to the brief moments I get on my computer - outside of work. This has led me to having to conquer my OCD tendencies of reading EVERY SINGLE TWEET in my timeline. Seriously. I get a little tick reading from most recent to older. And at the bottom of Tweetdeck's 200 limit, I sometimes shed a tear, but less Twitter in my life is much better than NO Twitter in my life.


So I guess this is the "other side" of the Twitter detox, I'll see you all back there. Just not as often...