by “What happened was…” by James Ormiston (@MacJim)
If you’ve been following my journey from smartphones to dumb phones, you will have read that all wasn’t smooth in that process: here’s the final instalment to the story.
For those that haven’t read the previous two parts to this report, I will just say I had been wanting to move away from smartphones to something much simpler, quieter, and less demanding, but finding a mobile phone that would suit my needs was difficult; but not totally impossible. I ended up buying a Punkt MP02 mobile phone, a simple and small basic phone that had the ability to be used as a mobile router for my iPad and MacBook via tethering but I ended up returning it.
Why? It was due to the fact that I couldn’t get onto the web etc via the tethering feature of this mobile phone. Although I linked my iPad to the MP02, I just couldn’t get online…
As I write this final part, I’m awaiting a refund from the supplier as it was returned to Germany from whence it came.
Meanwhile, I had to decide what to do, sticking with my iPhone 7 Plus was one option but it was getting a bit tired and worn. The other option was to stay with smartphones, and trade in the 7 Plus for a new iPhone. I still think Apple has finally shot itself in the foot due to amount of money they now want for their products pricing many out of their ecosphere but, at the time of writing, they have the iPhone Xr on offer, and it’s an offer I couldn’t resist.
There’s one problem of note that many should look out for and that is how to trade in your old devices. If you; like I did, looked on the Apple recycling website to check on the value of your iPhone for trade in, it will give you a price that is different than the one offered in an Apple Store (while this deal is currently offered) and it’s a significant difference. Online, the value was £160 but in the Apple Store, the offer was £260! Quite a difference, but this does dependent on the model, storage and condition of the iPhone you would be trading in, so buyer beware. What Apple has done is reduce the price, or more accurately increased the trade in offered by £100 and, if like me, you had the right model of iPhone you could buy the Xr for £499.
Now, I consider that to be the right price for this iPhone rather than the £749 that it normally sells for, so, with the return of the Punkt phone and the refund of my xmas and birthday money spent on it, it means I’m getting a brand new iPhone Xr for just over £200 and that, can’t be ignored. So what of my plan to get away from the noise of the smartphone and it’s constant announcements from emails, text messages, websites, etc. It really was nice not having that easy access during the time I owned the MP02, and It’s amazing how much I enjoyed that experience even for a short time. It just means I need to re-educate myself not to automatically look at the iPhone the instant that bell/buzzer/ding comes in beckoning me to instantly look and await a more convenient time that suits me, to see, ingest and reply to those people wanting an instant response from me, so, now starts my experience with the new Product Red iPhone Xr with its Face ID, swipe up, swipe down, full screen wonders…
Until the next time.
Leave a Reply