I realized I was a digital dinosaur when I was travelling in Central America.
Not only I was that thirty-something chick with a husband and a kid back home, but I was using a paper version of my Lonely Planet and I didn’t have a cell phone.
There isn’t much to do in Central America after dark. Large cities aren’t particularly safe after everything shuts up and in small towns, family-owned businesses close early. Besides, if you’ve been exploring all day, you tend to be tired at night. I know I was. So, after dinner, I usually stayed at the hostel and used my computer.
Normally, Feng and I travel with a small Acer Inspire One we bought before going to Australia in 2010. But it is extremely slow and I can’t do much with it but check my emails. I was expecting to complete a few assignments on the road, so this time, I took my work laptop—a 17” Toshiba Satellite. I traded the corporate-looking laptop bag which basically screamed “I have a laptop, rob me!” for a pillow case and fit the laptop into my daypack.
I love my laptop. It’s a fast machine customized to my needs with all the software I use on a daily basis, such as Word, Lightroom, Acrobat and Firefox (in case you were wondering, yes, I have legit copies—business expense!)
From San José, to Granada, from Omotepe to Montezuma, I worked on adapting articles for my client. Every place I stayed in had a good Wi-Fi connection. Sometime, the signal was strong enough that I could work in the dorms or in my room. Sometime, I typed from a hammock in the common room.
The first night in San José, I took a look around me as my laptop was connecting to the Wi-Fi network. All the backpackers were online but I was the only one with a bulky laptop—they had sleek tablets or fancy smartphones.
It hadn’t even occurred to me to take my BlackBerry with me. But I started considering changing phone once home.
I have… or rather, I had a BlackBerry. It had been a no-brainer choice to me. I have never been an Apple gal and there weren’t that many options on the market two years ago. Besides, Ottawa tends to be loyal to BlackBerry—we all know someone who works for Research in Motion and it is the default device for all government employees. At my first office job on Parliament Hill in 2009, I was given a BlackBerry Curve. The plan was paid for by my employer—a perk I had found amazing until I realized it meant I was on call 24/7. I kept the BlackBerry for as long as I kept the job and when I moved to Canada Post a year later, I was once again given a BlackBerry.
I was used to this device and I loved the physical keyboard. So when I decided to take the freelance road, I reluctantly hand the corporate BlackBerry over and hurried to the nearest store to get my own plan and smartphone.
Being able to check my emails on-the-go was amazing, especially as a freelancer and then a freelancer/new mom.
But the world has changed. New smartphones and new operating systems started to become more and more popular and BlackBerry’s market share plunged. At first, I faced minor annoyances, like missing on third-party apps, mostly designed for iPhone and Android. I was tired of running the bloated and useless desktop manager system. My BlackBerry didn’t seem so smart either. “Can you Google the address?” Feng asked me a few times while driving. “Technically, I can,” I’d say. “But by the time the browser loads we will be there.”
Eventually, I turned my BlackBerry into:
- An expensive device able to take pictures and share them via Twitter (this was one app that worked well)
- An email notification tool (I couldn’t even manage my Yahoo mailbox properly because I had no access to my folders)
- A toy for Mark (BlackBerry are sturdy devices, I’ll give you that)
Well, I am fed up with BlackBerry.
It took me several visits in several stores before finding someone helpful. Telecommunications are expensive in Canada and this is one area where comparing prices and plans is notoriously difficult.
Eventually, I got lucky. The guy who helped me spent over an hour on the phone with Virgin Mobile to get me a new phone (without paying the upgrade fee) and a better plan.
I am now the owner of a brand-new Samsung Galaxy III.
Frankly, I don’t care that much about the device itself. What mattered to me was the OS.
The phone looks fancy and complicated. But oh-my-God—it can actually do stuff! I installed apps for Feedly, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I can check my bank account (okay, that’s depressing, I shouldn’t), find the bus schedule and listen to music. I can browse the web fast and search for tons of things.
I can even take selfies.
I feel more productive already.
At least if I stay away from Candy Crush, right?
Oh. My. That. Snow.
Pretty picture, though.
Yep, it’s still winter here… 🙁
You are never going to believe this: I haven’t had a cell phone since 2010. I lent my phone to my sister when she came to visit back then, she turned it off and then I needed a pincode to get my phone working again. I just couldn’t be bothered with dealing my telephone operator, always saying that I would get around to it the next week. Well, that next week turned into 2014 and I still have no phone. And I have a bulky laptop. I worked with those small laptops like the Acer one you have for a few years, but they were so slow that I went out and got a bulky laptop and now I have no problems except that it’s heavy. I won’t be buying one of those small and slow laptops again. I know that there are small laptops out there that are super fast now, but you have to spend a lot of money. I think that this is worth it as I’m planning to continue my travelling lifestyle so I’m starting to think about it. I think I’ll wait until my current laptop gives out, though.
I am really not a phone person so I can understand you. I only bought a “dumb phone” when it was no longer 25 cents to make a local call from a phone booth. And even then, I rarely used it, mostly to call Feng and get a ride 🙂
Now I love being able to check my emails on-the-go. I don’t keep regular office hours (i.e. 9-5 at my desk) so I do need to stay in touch with my clients and replying quickly. My smartphone allows me to do that, it’s pretty awesome. As for all the fancy ad-ons (i.e. apps, camera, etc.) I could easily live without.
My contract is coming to an end in a few months, and I am considering, for the first time, breaking up with Blackberry. My main concern is typing. I’ve really come to rely on Blackberry keyboard and the acuracy of its autocorrect in English and French. I love the fact that it handles Office and PDF documents so well, that it reconciles e-mails and social media feeds so well to (at least for me, it’s seamless). I use Blackberry Trafic often, and it’s an awesome, free, GPS service. But I am getting frustrated with the lack of performant apps and the slow crawl of the browser.
Do you find it easy to handle work correspondence on the touch screen? Is the browser really faster? What about battery life? Decisions, decisions…
You’re welcome to play with my phone the next time we meet 🙂
I was also a huge fan of the physical keyboard but I find the touch screen very easy to use. I set up both English an French as my main languages so the autocorrect doesn’t interfere with my typing. So far it handles it okay and I type pretty fast.
The browser is really faster. Night and day. And the device boots quickly too (my BlackBerry took forever to restart). And being able to use apps is just awesome (although I use my Starbucks card a tad too often :lol:). Honestly, so far, there is nothing I miss from the BB.
I got a Samsung Galaxy too !! Love it so far ! I resisted so far not to download Candy Crush but i am very addicted to playing Angry Birds on my husband’s phone 🙂
This i why I don’t want to download any game!
Congrats! Im an android user as well and like it so far.
Also had acer aspire. bought in 2012, thought it would useful to take notes, but had to get rid of it, as my neurosis started progressing.
Just curious… what made you pick an Android device over an iPhone or BB? I hesitate with the iPhone but I went for the best deal.
Welcome to the modern world!
I just switched from Android to iPhone and even though I love my new phone, I think that Android is a bit superior!
I’m glad to hear that since I had considered the iPhone as well!
Me too! I have just traded in my flip phone for a new (to me) iPhone 4. I love it!!!! Love being able to blog on the bus now in the mornings!
Feels good, doesn’t it? 😉