Oh boy.
Well, I finally got a new phone yesterday, after much quibbling and nitpicking that ultimately led to me getting a new model in some rather convoluted version of "free," but at any rate, I didn't pay a dime, so I'll take it. I didn't really want a new phone, since my old one still works perfectly fine and has served well for nearly five years. Unfortunately, the micro-USB charge port has become lose on the old soldier, and it has become a real pain in the ass to get some juice into the darned thing.
I will say that I'm an Android whore through and through. I've got nothing personally against people who like Apple products, and think Apple makes some very nice technology. Fact is, Android suits my needs better, and I do like that I have a selection of manufacturers rather than homogenized limits. Now, I was an HTC fan, but just like picking a favorite sports star, eventually that changes because they go and do something completely bat-shit stupid and ruin their own reputation. With this new phone purchase, I went with LG's G3.
And I cannot stop complaining like an old man.
The screen is too big. The casing feels thin and flimsy. The volume button is in the most awkward place possible. The size of the phone makes it hard to grip comfortably and constantly risks slipping out of my hands. Etc. You get the idea. According to my maladapted brain, my old phone was the most perfect phone ever made, which is just an absolutely ludicrous notion.
But this is something that started happening to me before I looked at all the new phones out today; when I look at "modern" technology, I almost immediately start to tear it down as having a lot of "unnecessary" frills and "lacking in manufacturing pride." Our technology seems to be inundated with bells and whistles that some of us have been convinced we actually need which only allows manufacturers and retails to bump that price just a little higher, when really, we will use those things only sparingly. Conversely, I see technology using cheap electronic components or questionable housing materials to make a final product that looks sleek and flashy, but has almost no resistance to the risks of daily use. I speak of everything from smartwatches to automobiles, and posit that the Pride in Quality in the US seems to have gone down down down since I've been around. Why?
I don't know, but what I do know is it makes me sound like I'm sitting on an Adirondack chair on my porch yelling at kids to get off my lawn. It's almost as if I'm starting to see what all those grandpas and grandmas were bitching about when they begin or end a statement with "kids these days," statements to which I used to wave off as the mutterings of a grumpy sod. I am now left wondering if the combination of time and experience forces one to realize that yeah, when it comes to corporate versus consumer, we, the consumer, are on the shit end of the stick, and it's only getting shoved up our collective asses further.
Well, at least I can still find good coffee, right?
