sometimes i hate technology - mobile phones

I have had my current mobile phone now for five years and one day. And now, I am being forced to get a new one.

Why?

Because, it has great trouble functioning on a daily basis.

Some days the battery runs down in a few hours, other days it can operate for well over twenty-four.

It now always has trouble going online when I try to look something up on the interweb. It can be very painful emotionally and psychologically. Sometimes, it will not connect at all. You think it drives me crazy, you should see the wife when I am going through this turmoil. She does not want to be anywhere near me.

My Google Navigator app will lock up randomly and freeze the phone. Usually when I need it most for directions.

For the last three days, my ancient Google My Tracks app has been giving me grief. Yesterday and the day before I had to shutdown and restart the phone to get it to start tracking. Even though I could check the weather and my email. Today, I had to restart it twice and it still would not start tracking until after about five minutes of running and did not track my hike properly.

Twitter works perfectly fine for notifications, but often will not load the page I want to go to if I see something interesting and then the notification is lost.

The camera is pretty good though. Other than the zoom not being very zoomy.

I hate getting a new phone. I still have phone numbers on my last two phones I never transferred as it is a huge pain in the arse to do so. I obviously do not need those numbers on a daily basis, but I want to keep them all the same.

But why do I need to get a new phone? Because that vast majority of people seek the latest and greatest and the manufacturers of mobile phones oblige. Honestly, I think in some ways technology is moving too fast in certain areas. For health and safety? Sure, keep advancing. But phones really. Soon we will be installing tech in our heads. We practically do now with bluetooth ear device thingies.

I also truly believe, even though I do not have a shred of proof, that a lot of technology, especially mobile phones and their associated apps, have a built in end of life. Not getting outmoded and out-of-date, but built-in failure. Why does an app that works great one day, not function the next. Why does my phone have trouble going online for some features and not others? Why do apps that work perfectly fine, disappear from app stores? Why does my router at home randomly kick devices off and force a reboot of the device?

To have the latest and greatest. Sure. But it is so much more. So we keep spending money. Look how long it took for mobiles to have common charging systems. Except Apple, those knobs have to have their own proprietary plug. At least they only have two types (that I know of). Why were they all so different? So, if your charger crapped out, you would have to buy a new one from the original manufacturer as you could not plug your Sony phone into your LG charger. Or, just buy a new phone, as many people would.

I am not averse to technology, but I think people desire it too much. Why do you think e-waste recovery exists now? Because there is so much being tossed and there are fewer and fewer places to dump it. It is quite profitable now.

I have actually been looking for a new mobile for a while now, but I really do not know much about them. I ask friends who are in the know, and other than Apple fans, I do not get much of an answer on what I should get. Or they point me to a phone that is several hundred dollars. Dude, I am a cheapskate. I want my phone for free or at least very cheap. That is under a hundred clams.

By the by. I am not a big fan of Apple. I actually find it counter-intuitive in operation.

Costco is always doing special offers. They involve a two year contract. That does not bother me so much. However, the deals that go with my provider, Bell Mobility, really suck. Well, in my opinion, Bell and all the services they provide, pretty much suck.

The last time, five years ago, I "upgraded" my phone, Bell really hosed me. I had true unlimited internet on my phone. However, I could not download any apps to the phone I had at the time and their proprietary browser was absolute garbage. It did not format webpages properly. Suddenly, one day, when I went to login to my Gmail account, I could not enter my password. I could enter my email address, but the password box was cut off and I could not scroll to it.

So, time for a new "smartphone". Well, the sales agent was a real treat. She set me up and offered me replacement insurance for about fifty bucks for a phone, that at the time, would cost more than $250 to replace. I said I would think about it as they had to get my phone shipped in from the warehouse.

After a week, I called them and asked if there was an update on the status of when my phone would arrive. Oh, it came in the next day. Really? Yes. Why did not anyone call me? Let me check, your sales agent said they called and left a message. I should have realised at this point that I would get boned, because it was a lie.

Go to pick up the phone. 

Hey, you know what? I will take that replacement insurance. 

Okay, that will be $150 to start and $80 annually, with a $100 charge for the actual replacement phone. 

Pardon? What happened to fifty samolians, all in? Why would I spend that much on "insurance" when I can get another phone for that or less. 

I never said $50. So, you do not want the "insurance"? 

Ah, nope.

A month later, I get my first bill and it is over five times the amount I was paying before. Bear in mind, I did not change any services. I just signed on to a three year contract to get a cheap phone. This "sales agent" changed my entire plan to not anything I wanted and cancelled my unlimited internet. 

I got it all fixed up except the internet. As Bell removed unlimited internet at that time, once it is removed from a plan, it cannot be reinstated. I think that is a load of horse dung, but I have tried several times to get that reversed, but to no effect.

So, why am I with Bell you ask. Well, the other two major providers available to me are not much better. 

Telus, for the longest time, had really crappy rural service. I started with them when they were ClearNet and the service was really poor outside cities for a very long time. Apparently, it is much better now. However, I left them because they would always pay lip service to improving rural service, but did not. They will have to do a lot to win me back.

Rogers, the other big boy, jerked me around with my cable tv service more than once and I refuse to give them my money as they were really aggressive with me for mistakes they made. They can bite my ass!

What about the smaller and/or up-and-coming providers. Well, they are often subsidiaries of the big boys, or their service is too spotty for what I need, or they seem really fly-by-night. And honestly, I am not a fan of companies with really stupid or "catchy" names. It is like they are trying to hide something with their joviality.

I was holding off to replace my mobile for the longest time as US providers were supposed to enter the Canadian market, but the Canadian players whined to federal regulators that they would be at a disadvantage. Tough nuts, I say, but the feds relented and disallowed them from entering our market. Too bad, I am sure mobile phone services would have greatly improved and cost to the consumer would have decreased.

All I want is a mobile phone that works where there is mobile service so as to be able to make and receive calls, text, search the interweb without much frustration, check my email, run a GPS and be able to track my hikes, have a decent camera. I also want it to run on Android as I am used to that. And a few small apps: weather, notepad, sketchpad. Also, not to come preloaded with a bunch of crap that cannot be uninstalled. Oh yeah, and not to pay a freaking bundle to get it. These devices do not cost that much to develop, greedy bastards.

Am I asking for too much? Maybe I am, but I do not think so.