New Tech

I am not normally an early adopter of new technology. I’ve been burned several times by getting something new and shiny that turned out to be a lemon under the veneer. Chief among these was my 1982 Nissan Sentra. The idle on that car was never right. It would stall when the engine was cold, usually in the middle of one of the diciest neighborhoods in Dallas, on my way to work. Since then I’ve been leery of buying before the bandwagon leaves the parking lot.

However, my four-year-old cell phone was on its last electrons this year. The battery would lose power quickly while I was browsing the New York Times on my bus commute. I wasn’t sure that the new operating system would work on the phone. Julian suggested I consider an iPhone 8 Plus. I decided to take the plunge, since I didn’t want to wait until the old phone died to get a replacement. We actually ordered the phone online the first day it was available. So far, so good. It’s much bigger than the old phone, which means I had to invest in a new case and protective sleeve. Until the sleeve arrives from Australia, the phone is protected by an old sock. This keeps the screen from being scratched and keeps Neli from scrambling my apps. The camera is pretty spiffy, with a number of built-in effects. With luck, this phone will last me another four years.