Mobile Mania

Some people should not be allowed to get gadgets.

No really, I mean that.

While it is often said that men are more mathematically minded and can therefore grasp technical stuff better than women on average…and let’s face it, the male to female ratio in most IT departments usually falls in favour of the fellas; but when it comes to certain types of technology, often it’s the boys who do not play well together.

Take my Beloved; while not technically a technophobe, he’s more of a technofool.

See, I’ve had the same handset for almost the entire 2 years of our mobile phone contract. Sure it’s a little outdated now, and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles or the full Qwerty keyboard tidily tucked under a flip top lid, but at least it stills works.

In that same 2 years, my Beloved, on the other hand, has managed to kill at least three phones to my one.

We have had death by chocolate (yes take it from me, it is never a good idea to keep chocolate bars in the same pocket as your phone, especially on really hot days); another one fell off the back of a truck (and I’m not talking about a bargain here…); and perhaps my personal favourite- not waving, drowning (always remember to remove phone from the dirty laundry before it goes into the washing machine.) You have no idea what it was like having him remember it after the front loader had started -and the door auto lock kicked in- then simply having to watch it go round and round, clunking and thunking for the full cycle.

We’ve also known males who have tossed the thing clean out the car window while shooing flies as they drove, another lost one in the lake as he tried to snap a picture of a fish (talk about the one that got away!); with bonus points to the mate who was merrily throwing sticks in the creek for the dog to fetch whilst chatting on the ‘phone at the same time, and somehow forgot which hand was holding what… (I’m sure you can figure out what happened next- see Spot run indeed)!

But let me tell you, if the Australian cricket team had seen my Beloved in action the day the phone slipped out of his top pocket while he answered the call of nature, he’d be selected for sure!

With all these mobile moments fresh in my mind, I bit the bullet and forked out for one of those almost indestructible numbers- the Samsung B2700.

I’d heard about these rugged buggers that were the choice of tradies and truckies, I was just a little afraid of the price of them- it seemed an awful lot of money to risk on something so small, especially in the hands of my Beloved.

But now I’m wishing we’d bought one years ago- probably would’ve saved ourselves a lot in the long run.

It says on the box that it is “Robust, Durable, Stylish”; it’s dust and water resistant, with special Anti-shock cover that meets US Military Standards. And the guy at the shop promised me his mate hasn’t been able to kill one yet.

Hey, if it’s good enough for the US Military (not to mention the tech shop’s salesman’s mate), it should be good enough for my Beloved. We can live in hope anyway.

So we buy it and bring it home.

After 4 hours waiting for the battery to charge, and what seemed like another hour for me to programme the thing, my Beloved put down the Guitar Hero® and picked up his new handset to admire his specially customised theme and sound settings. I even Bluetoothed a few of our favourite photos and ringtones across from my phone to his, just so it’d feel familiar.

So you can imagine my reaction when he pressed the wrong button in answer to a request on the screen of his new device, and in one fell swoop restored the factory settings and undid all my hard work. Just like that.

Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

Now if only they could design a foolproof fella to go with it...

Jx
©2009