Entry into the Era of Smart Phones is Fraught with Peril and Complexity

For days and days, she anticipated the phone, it was coming any day now. UPS would bring it to door, like Santa bringing a Christmas present. She was giddy with excitement, she wanted to be able to get on the web and easily send text messages and photos.

She was using a little flip phone…it’s funny how just four or five years ago, everyone used them. Now they are the province of the elderly, or of those who fear committing to an expensive contract for a smart phone. Still, it’s funny that since so many people now have the more expensive models, those with perfectly good phones like an old Motorola flip make jokes about them.

But the joke was over. She had ordered a new phone, finding a plan for only $45 a month that provided unlimited text, Internet, email and 1200 minutes. A much better deal than I’ve got with my iPhone 4G on AT&T. It was an affordable way to enter the smart phone era.

The day came. The LG smart phone arrived. She had arrived. It was time to unlock its secrets. But it was a learning challenge. Nobody makes a phone that’s easy to understand like Apple. Again and again even though Android is the up and comer, the devices confound and perplex. The keyboard suddenly locked up. It won’t allow her to type. The buttons are small, and it keeps jumping to a screen about ‘quicktyping.’ So far it’s not intuitive, it’s just frustrating.

Is this the magic of Steve Jobs? That no one I’ve ever met had this much trouble figuring out their iPhone? I hope she gets it all straightened out, because it’s a great price and I bet the phone will be fun to use. It’s just that…it’s so complicated, it must have been designed by people who don’t care if it’s easy or frustrating.