John Is Back On The List

A week ago I went in for an upgrade to a new phone. I talked to the salesman and told him what I wanted and what I didn't feel I needed. Most importantly, it had to be easy enough for a technology challenged lady like me to operate.

"John" showed me the new Droid. Granted I had seen it on tv and was intrigued. I love gadgets and toys, even though I can't usually figure them out, so I let the young man continue.

I must interject here that I found my mind wandering as I couldn't help but size him up, so to speak. He was young. He was nicely dressed. His hair was shiny clean and neatly cut. He was well spoken and intelligent. He had a job. "Yes, yes he seems like he has possible son-in-law potential....I must have Chelsea come in and check out new phone accessories and personally ask for John."

Ok, back to my phone -

"John" sold me on the droid and I went home. Within 24hrs, I scratched John off the list of possible suitors for my daughter, because he was obviously evil. There's no other way to describe someone who would sell this contraption to me. I could see him sitting at home laughing like the wicked witch, knowing he sold me something I couldn't figure out. I missed 3 phone calls before I figured out how to answer it!

There were many other issues I had with my "Dread" (my new nickname for it - I found it fitting). As a matter of fact, about the only thing I did like was the adorable pink case I had for it. Every morning I would look at it and give it a snarl. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I loaded up my Dread and headed back to the store.

John was there and I walked right up to him and said "A week ago you sold me this Dread - yes, that's right, I call it a Dread. Well, I don't like it and I want it out of my house forever".

John was so sweet and apologetic and assured me he could help me with any problems I was having. I was using my cane that day and he even brought over a chair for me to sit on while we talked (aaww his mama must be so proud. Wait! Stay strong! Remember, he was the one who sold you the Dread. Don't be fooled by his niceness).

John went through my entire list of complaints and addressed them all with ease. However there was one hurdle that I still felt couldn't be overcome.

The Droid has a touchpad, which I am just not smart enough to use. I have tried for hours to use it, but to no avail. Not a big issue though because it also comes with a keyboard. The touchpad can be used either upright, or by turning the phone sideways. The keyboard however is only available to use when the phone is sideways. With me so far?

I have short fat stubs that are my thumbs. They are short enough that to reach the center part of the keyboard I must stretch to reach. That constant exaggerated movement caused a fibro-flare of pain in my thumbs, the pads under my thumbs, my wrist, and it extended a few inches up my arm...on both hands. I knew there was nothing physically wrong with my thumbs, but they felt broken, or at least...badly sprained, and this was a daily occurance.

With my blackberry I was able to pretty much hold my thumbs quiet while typing, since the keypad was much more compact. I never even thought about this issue before getting the Dread.

John excused himself and headed to their backroom. After several minutes he came back out and said "I believe I have found a solution to your problem. Apps are being updated and added every day. There is a new selection of apps coming down within a week, and you will be informed of updates available which are needed for those new apps. One of those is a speak to type app. You will be able to speak to add items to your calendar, to send emails & texts, to type notes, whatever you want to type. That would eliminate your problem with the touchscreen and the keyboard."

I could have given John a hug, but knowing that would have been inappropriate, I instead mentally added him back to the list of potential suitors...I actually moved him to the top of the list.

The app has partially come through, but isn't fully functionable yet. It will type letters and numbers, but doesn't recognize symbols or other commands (eg: if I say backslash, instead of giving me / it will type the word backslash). But that's ok. To type an occasional command is much better than typing everything, so I am a happy camper and am making peace with my new phone. I no longer snarl at it, and I even stopped calling it my "Dread". Progress!

Now there was only one thing left to do... I spoke into my phone and said:

"Remember to call Chelsea. She needs to go get a new accessory for her phone."