Last week I got a huge package in the mail - containing a new scooter. That's a different story, but picture how big that box would be.
Here's the conversation Evette and Heidi had when Evette saw the box:
E - what is it?
H - I don't know, it's for daddy, though!
E - I know! What if it is full of lots of phones because him loves phones and always have lotsa phones!
She wasn't that far off... In the last 7 weeks I've had 4 phones.
This post will be meaningless to the majority of you but, since this is our family's journal, that doesn't mean I shouldn't write it - this is important to me! So, you can read on to see how right my 4 year old was, or you can stop here and be just as well off.
But before I dive into explaining why I've had 4 phones in the last 7 weeks, let's take this chance to do a full review of my love for phones. This is a journal, after all, and since I have a phone with me 99% of my waking life, it's only fitting, right?
2001 - I got my first cell phone shortly after moving to Portland, Oregon. I was shopping at Costco with my mom, saw the phone kiosk, and somehow suggested it'd be cool for me to get a phone. For some reason my mom agreed with virtually no discussion and I walked out with a phone. I presume either she and my dad had already discussed this option or I misremember the entire event.
I still have this tank of a phone, it's one of my girls' favorite toys
I recall that it took me a while to get used to carrying a phone - as in not freaking out when it vibrated. I carried it in the pocket by my knee in my "cool" carpenter pants and one day in gym (we didn't change into PE clothes that day) the phone vibrated and I literally jumped in shock. I also remember playing a lot of Snake and Space Invaders on this phone.
~2002/2003 - I got a new phone for some reason. I recall one night on the way to a wrestling match, the guys in front of me were bragging about being in a "cool clock club" or something like that. I asked what they were talking about and they flashed their new phones, apparently with a pretty clock on the lock screen or something. They were pretty impressed that I had the same phone but don't recall attending any cool club meetings as a result.
This picture doesn't have the cool clock, but note that it was a full color screen, which was pretty revolutionary. It also could play complex sound files, unlike the Nokia which only could issue "bleep" noises
~2002-2004 - I remember virtually nothing about this phone. I don't even remember if it came before or after the preceding phone, or why I switched phones so quickly. I just remember having this and the preceding one in Portland. Perhaps I got this one in Texas but had it when I visited Portland later...
~2005 - I found this phone in a drawer at my Dad's office and asked if I could have it. I remember him being reluctant but me ending up with it anyways... It was a Windows flip phone - the Windows part, at least as far as I was concerned, meant that I could transfer MP3s to it, which I hoped would help me impress girls since we could have spontaneous dances wherever - because my phone was essentially a teeny boombox. To everyone today, that's doesn't sound that special, but back in 2005 that was a novelty. iPods, which were the most common music device of the day, didn't have native speakers.
I'm pretty sure this isn't my phone, but mine looked something like this. I still recall it's delicious open/shut feel... It had a couple clicks in between that I'm can practically feel now, 10 years later.
2006-2008 - On my mission I was privileged to use land-line phones, which, if you think about it, is a terrible idea for nomadic 19-21 year olds who are already running late to every appointment. We did finally get cell phone in my last couple months on the mission, thank goodness. We had a shiny silver flip phone.
Pretty sure I never had a rotary, but this helps drive the point home
June 2008 - In a bout of enthusiasm for me to come home from my mission, my Dad purchased the original iPhone for me. It was a revelatory, delightful, and wonderful device. He refused to pay the data package for it though, so the phone was jailbroken and I couldn't use the internet off of wifi networks. Except for one month when something went wrong and I did, and he got a very nasty note and bill from AT&T for cheating. He payed after that, bless his soul.
Back then virtually no one had smart phones - at least not at BYU. In the real world, Blackberry was still supreme, and on campus the iPhone was nothing short of a unicorn. Strangers asked me about it constantly. I remember telling one classmate that if I had to choose between the iPhone or my laptop, I'd take the iPhone (recognizing that campus was covered in free-to-use desktops).
That said, I couldn't stand iTunes, and back in 2008 it was iTunes or bust for the iPhone - everything from system updates to music management to app downloads happened via the iTunes program on my computer with the iPhone plugged in... And that program was terrible and against everything I believed in. As much as I loved the freedom of the internet that the iPhone represented, I hated it's walled garden ethos. Which led me to leave iOS for Android...
2009 - HTC Hero on Sprint. It was a terrible phone but I loved it. It was slow and bulky and crashed all the time. But I could customize it and use it how I wanted to. This became a consistent theme for my next several phones (and really all Androids of this era) - I consciously chose a poor physical design for the freedom of Android's user experience.
Check out that track ball!
2010 - HTC EVO 4G on Sprint. Much better phone and fast enough for real customizations. Plus, it was the first phone on the market with 4G internet, so that was cool.
Check out that built-in kick-stand!
2011 - Samsung Galaxy S II. I don't really have any specific memories of this phone... Pretty sure I didn't have it for very long.
2011/2012 - Samsung Galaxy Nexus. As a long-time Android fan, finally being able to get a Nexus device was like approaching nirvana. At least in theory... I don't remember too much about using the phone itself. The curved screen was cool - it felt great.
2013 - LG Nexus 5. I was excited to replace my aging Galaxy Nexus with the new Nexus 5... But the hardware felt hard, jarring, and uninspired - especially when compared to Motorola's slick Moto X I'd seen in stores... So I returned it after a week.
2013 - Moto X. Easily the most beloved phone in this history. Motorola nailed the balance of form and function with a beautiful, comfortable phone. I had both black and blue-backed versions of this phone.
2014 - Moto X (2014). At first I was nervous about the significantly larger display but I quickly fell in love with this phone... Especially its beautiful real walnut wood back.
---And now the timeline accelerates a bit, to the 4 phones in 7 weeks scenario---
September 19, 2015 - Samsung Galaxy S Note 5. While I'd sworn by the Moto X brand for two years, the 2015 version was huge and only sold off contract... So I decided to use my upgrade slot on the Note 5 to try out the "phablet" form-factor. If Note worked for me, I could sell it and buy the new Moto X. But it didn't work for me. I found myself keeping the phone out of my pockets as much as I could and avoiding using it with one hand - a common scenario as I check my phone while walking around the office carrying my laptop in the other hand. I returned the phone after a week and completely wrote off any phones approaching 6" in screen size.
The pen was cool... The girls certainly loved it. But I never used it except for mindless doodlings.
September 28, 2015 - iPhone 6S. As you can see, it'd been off of the iOS world for years, but I knew it had grown up in my absence so I decided to give it a try. The phone itself is beautiful and thankfully iTunes was no longer a barrier to use, but iOS's complete lack of useful notifications drove me wild, so I signed off and went back to my walnut Moto X (2014), which I hadn't gotten around to selling yet.
For people who care (who has even read this far anyways?), here was my take on the iPhone, as a long-time Android user, as reported to my cousin Timm:
- The set up process took forever. Like 2 hours to get me going on my core apps. Permission pop ups everywhere and no app speaks to another so I logged into my work and personal gMail accounts at least a million times each (my work uses OneLogin, via my gmail account). It took forever
- I find it fascinating that iOS is literally behind the scenes - like iOS's job is to never actually be there and just enable quick access to your apps. Contrary to Android which I feel tries to be involved in everything
- Jury's still out on my opinion on this
- I knew iOS had fewer setting options than Android, but I thought a lot of ground had been gained with iOS 7 or 8.... Maybe that's the case but it's appalling how little control I have over this phone
- But maybe it'll be nice to not worry about optimizing?
- I miss being able to handle notifications in-line
- Organizing apps is a nightmare
- It's beautiful, but once it's in the case (which I put it in the moment I got it) I'm not touching the alluring aluminum anymore... But no option on this - I didn't put a case on my Moto X out of respect for its beautiful body but was constantly worried one of my kids would kill it
And an update I sent a couple days later:
- It's much better than I'd thought. It somehow feels faster and smoother, despite my persistent skepticism - and not quite as limited as I'd thought, but more on that soon
- My thought of iOS simply being a platform for apps still holds true. It does this very well, possibly somehow better than Android (see previous comment)
- I can't stand not having a back button - and the 3D Touch to do a back isn't fully baked yet (it only goes back to previous app, not previous action)
October 6, 2015 - Moto X (2014). As described above, I switched back to my beloved walnut Moto X. But then that night the screen was hit by a flying ball at Scouts and destroyed. Whoops.
October 6, 2015 - iPhone 6S, again. Well, at least I had the iPhone as a back-up. I promptly ordered the newly announced Nexus 5X.
Here's another update on my experience with the iPhone, reported to Timm on October 24th:
- I still maintain that it's more consistent on speed than any Android I've owned. My Moto X, for example, was always snappy when it was fresh off a reboot but always bogged down over a few days.
- I've learned how to deal with not having a back button, the lack of one is now only a minor annoyance
- I've learned how to use the notification pane. I'm longing for Androids's ability to react to notifications without entering apps, but I no longer hate iOS's implementation. It works if you only need a log of why on earth your phone was buzzing.
- Force touch is silly. Maybe it'll be useful when more apps support it but as it is, almost none of my go-to apps do
- Live photos are cute but also silly
- Small thing, but i love the lightning cable. Glad the Nexus 5X has USB-C.
- I hate that apps don't speak to one another. I literally have to copy info from one app to another to do basic things. Why can't we just get along?
- I loathe iOS's constant pop-ups. Always asking for permissions, passwords, etc. It's like it never trusts me or feels confident in its own capabilities. << Are you really Sean (even though you just authenticated with his fingerprint)??? [App store asks me for my full password every time, even though it says it only needs my password after reboot and is happy with my fingerprint thereafter] Wait, this app is doing something you asked it to - is that OK? Wait, this app REALLY wants to push notifications, will you enable them now, please? >> [FB, Messenger, I'm staring at you. NO and stop asking]. I don't know how this doesn't drive iOS fans bonkers. Also, I don't understand why iOS thinks my PIN is more secure than my finger. Seriously, in what world does that make sense [just watch, Android may have the same preference with the Nexus Imprint or whatever it is, I'll tell you next week]
October 26, 2015 - Nexus 5X. I was actually really wishing I could get the sexier, more powerful Nexus 6P, but that was huge, so I went for the "mid-market" 5X instead. Oh well.
But wait... It was slow and crashed a lot. And then one morning when I rebooted it, it didn't actually every boot back up - getting stuck on the boot sequence. After calling tech support, they processed a replacement phone... which, since it was on back-order wouldn't arrive for ~2 weeks. Yay for getting faulty phones.
November 3, 2015 - iPhone 6S, again. Seriously, since when is an iPhone a back-up device? *Sigh...* If only the iPhone ran Android... I've grown accustomed to iOS and feel fine using it, even if I think it's dumb.
November 11, 2015 - Nexus 5X, but not a broken one (fingers crossed). It's working swell so far!
With so many phones coming/going from my house, it's no wonder that Evette thought a huge box in the mail was simply full of phones for Dad. I hope I don't have any more phones coming in the mail for 6+ months.
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