"Another Smart Phone Convert"

I know, I know, this "news" is starting to actually get old, but yet another person at my job has purchased a smartphone.  He's another older guy - that is he's in his 50's - has purchased an Android phone.  More specifically, he's purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (just like mine) after he has observed me working with my phone the past few months.  What's so funny is that he gave up his old flip phone that he swore that he would never give up.  He couldn't see himself spending a few dollars more a month on a smartphone, while he had his flip phone and netbook.   He was happier than a pig in mud with his simple flip phone to make a phone call.  I told him that once he had a smart phone, he would drop his netbook like a bad habit.  Lo and behold, he now admits that I was right.  He leaves his netbook home now.  Instead he sits on his breaks and doodles on his phone.  He is absolutely marveled at all the apps, maps and information that he has access to now at the tips of his fingers and in the blink of an eye.

Well, it appears that he too has joined the Smartphone Darkside.  He stopped by and asked me to do some initial set up for him since the salesman in the store didn't do much to set him up, other than sell him the phone and upgrade his phone plan <snicker>.  The screen time out was still at 30 seconds, hardly enough time for an older man trying to learn a new trick to operate his phone.  I set that to several minutes and stopped the battery wasting "ripple" effect on his wallpaper.  I told him that wasting his battery on something like that will come back to bite him one day when he wants to make a phone call and can't because he wanted a special effect running on his cell phone.  Me and another coworker (who also has a smartphone) assured him that no matter how fast or brilliant the smartphone is - it will be as useful to him as a paperweight if the battery runs out of power while he's just driving/walking around.  He looked at us all (three of us) and said "Okay, take that off then". <we all cracked up>

I hope that what I put out here is helping you - or helps you steer a loved one to this blog and that this information here will help them.  Please do feel free to write a comment or question if you have one.

This smartphone evolution is pretty amazing. Whether you chose Android, iPhone, or Windows 7 (and yes, Blackberry is finally back in the game) I hope you do choose according to what not only works, but what also helps you in your life.

There it is...the 21st century...right out there in front of us.  Up, up and away...

UPDATE:

This post was originally written two months ago but not published.  Since it was written three other coworkers have purchased Android smartphones and one an iPhone.  Many others have already have Androids or iPhones.  Very few are holding onto their old Blackberries and the newer Blackberries have yet to be seen.  I've seen several Windows phones show up too, being used by people who I never would have even imagined would have even wanted a smartphone.  So the only debate here isn't if smartphones are here to stay.  The only debate is which one works for you?  That debate still continues as the smartphones and their user interface platforms evolve.