I had a Blackberry for about five years, through T-Mobile. In the beginning, I loved it. It was a real workhouse, able to accommodate just about anything I asked of it. Except. Whenever I tried to download an app, the download didn’t work. And the apps were nowhere near as extensive or interesting as the apps that Apple offers.
Last year, I got disgusted with T-Mobile. I had called to remove Megan from the account because she’d gotten an iPhone through AT&T. No problem, the tech said, it’s cancelled. But oh, by the way, he said, since your plan has now changed, since it’s just you on the account, we’re extending your contract by two years and charging you the $200 cancellation fee. I told the young man that T-Mobile was making a big mistake by doing this to a customer who had been with them for fifteen years. “You can count on this,” I said. “As soon as I can afford it, I will be breaking my contract with you.”
He sort of laughed.
Fast forward to October 7, 2012. I headed out that morning to the Apple store to do my research on iPhones. I spent a couple of hours in the store, playing with the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, and decided I was going to switch. But when I finally talked to a tech, he informed me the store was sold out of both phones. “See that line over there?” He pointed across the room. “All those people are waiting to pick up iPhones that they ordered online last night.”
OK. I went home and started calling every AT&T store within ten miles. The story was always the same. We’re sold out. We don’t know when we’re getting another shipment. Then I found an AT&T store tucked away in a shopping area less than a mile from our house. I called, yes, they were open, and they had iPhones in stock. So at 3:30 that afternoon, I headed over there and before I’d gone even half a block, my car sounded like the engine was coughing up marbles. Steam billowed from under the hood.
The car had stalled out during Tropical Storm Isaac, which dumped 14 inches of rain on us in about 24 hours. Our neighborhood looked like this (that island out there is our mailbox):
At any rate, the engine was shot and we got the car towed to our local garage. Once I learned that insurance would pay for a new engine, I finally got to that little AT&T store just as they were closing. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” the young man said. “Can you come back tomorrow?”
“Just a quick question,” I said, and asked about iPhones 4S, which were then selling for less than a $100. I explained that my daughter already had an iPhone with AT&T and asked what kind of plan they offered for two lines. The upshot was that they were sold out of the iPhone4S but had one iPhone5 left and was I interested?
One iPhone5? Really? When the Apple store and every other AT&T store in the area were sold out? Synchro? Law of attraction? Interested? “Absolutely.”
“Come on in,” he said, and for the next hour he and another clerk got me set up.
Politically, I’m no fan of AT&T. They donate zillions to the Republicans. But the competition around here is pathetic. And because we already have our Internet landlines, one cellphone, and TV service with them, the addition of my iPhone5 will save us more than $100 a month. In addition, these two clerks went the extra mile, showing me the ins and outs, advising me to do this and that to save even more $. I was impressed. I realized that any company, any corporation, is only as good as its employees and these two guys were stellar.
And hey, I loved the synchro. They’re closed, they have only one iPhone5 left – and were apparently the only store in our corner of Palm Beach County that did – I’d been pursuing this all day. At six PM I walked out with my new iPhone5.
I confess that I love gadgets, I enjoy figuring out how things work, and the iPhone5 may be the coolest thing yet. It’s lightning fast, lightweight and sleek, the apps download, email is flawless. The camera is as good as Rob’s high-end Canon, and I can actually get a signal in the house, which means, eventually, good-bye landline, another savings. I found the onscreen keyboard a bit tight, but then I discovered Siri, the strange female helper who translates your voice commands into text messages and emails and finds you a good restaurant or a gas station regardless of where you are.
Books I have downloaded onto my iPad can be pushed onto any other Apple device, including my new phone. When I got stumped on some facet of the phone, a young woman at the dog park talked me through it. And that’s the thing. If you get stuck on how to do something with this phone, ask anyone under 30 how to solve it. One woman’s husband called her in a panic from an airport about something he couldn’t figure out on his new iPhone5. Karin’s reply? “Warren, find someone under thirty and ask them.” He did and the problem was solved.
One of my issues with Macs is that there’s no good astrology software for the operating system. The only half decent software is clunky and doesn’t do a fraction of what my old Winstar program can do. So the other night I was searching for an astrology app and found Astro Gold, which I downloaded for $30. This little app does nearly everything my expensive windows astrology program ($300) does. And now I’ve got it on my iPhone and my iPad.
Our daughter, 23, is still bugging me to trade my 5 for her 4. Ha. In your dreams.
My phone’s name? Synchronicity.
