Smart Phone…Smart Challenged User

I never jump right in the pool. I prefer to ease a toe in, then a leg, inching my body in until finally submersed. Until recently, that's how I handled new technology--I stayed on the edge of the tech pool, watching as my friends tested out the waters first--waiting to jump in.

My cell phone upgrade stemmed from a running date with my friends as we trained for a half marathon. As I sauntered to the end of the block where they were waiting, my friend asked, "What's all that you're wearing?" 

I told her each gadget strapped to me, trying to withhold a smile of satisfaction. I had:

1) GPS tracker, charged and strapped to my wrist to log distance, pace and runner stats
2) iPod Touch, strapped to my bicep, in case we split up and I needed some tunes
3) cell phone in my yellow fanny pack, strapped around my middle, in case my teen needed to reach me when I was out on my run.
4) water bottle in its carrier that slung over my palm.

"Oh," she said. Then she flicked on her Smart Phone, opening an app called "Run Log". This would track our miles. With an expert swipe of her finger, she turned on "Pandora" for a streaming playlist, and finally, she checked her email, updated her pre-run status on Facebook and sent a text. I think the last two were just overkill. I got the point. It was time to Smarten up my world.

Eight hours later, my husband and I spent our entire date night at the store, walking out triumphant with our two new Driods. Now...to figure out what to put on them.

Turns out, you have to have a certain level of Smarts to use the Smart phone.

Fast forward two weeks when I finally had enough. I’d watched all the Droid Dummy videos (designed for the Smart Phone Challenged User), and still couldn’t figure out the most basic use of the phone. I couldn’t dial a phone number.

Oh, sure. Laugh it up. But for the first week I didn’t notice, placing calls only from my ported over contact list. Then, I had to call for pizza...and couldn’t find the damn key pad. I called my husband, and made him call for pizza, citing bad cell reception and kept my tech-struggle to myself.

It was Droid vs.  Dylan. Machine vs. Mom. No smart phone was going to outsmart me! For a week, I watched every Droid for Dummies video they had (they sweetly call them ‘Guided Tours’), but nowhere did it mention how to get the dialer thingy to appear on your screen.

Finally, admitting defeat, I handed my Driod to my 7^th grader. Within three minutes, she’d added a dialer app thingy (I swore I looked there!), showed me how to download the cool flashlight app I wanted, and named and tagged all the pictures in my phone.

Well.

Now, I'm happy to say I'm in the technology pool. Maybe still hanging on to the edge, but swimming. So....throw me a buoy here, and let me know what apps are a MUST have on a Smart phone? Obviously, I need all the help I can get!

Let me know what apps are your favs, and together we can put some Smart into our Happily Ever After!

Dylan