Episode VI: Return of the mobile fun
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Nothing lasts forever. My adventure called "Using Palm Treo as a main
phone in 2019" lasted three weeks, the second part "Doing the same
with BlackBerry Classic" ended exactly after three months when the
Classic suddenly died one day. As I was preparing to go to vacation I
didn't have the time to investigate what happened and simply put both
SIM cards back to my Xiaomi. But I'm far from calling it a defeat.
Why, you may ask? Continue reading...
If you look around yourself, you'll see people looking on the screens
of their smartphones all the time. The phone constantly notifies them
on something so they still have to check what's up and when there is
no new notification, they create some new online content, so others
will receive notification and the circle goes on and on. They're
everywhere: on streets, in the public transport, in restaurants,
looking like zombies, braindead, not taking any care of what happens
around them.
And at one point I was one of them and it started to worry me. BB
Classic cured me. I had just two working online apps on it: e-mail and
WhatsApp. Nothing else could notify me about new content, because
there simply wasn't anything else. I did all the other stuff through
web browser, because there were simply no native apps for BB10
and most Android apps do not work anymore in the BB10-Android
compatibility layer as it's too old. I started to look around myself
again, read real proper books in the metro (subway, underground - you
understand), solve Sudoku or crosswords, etc. I loved it!
Then, when I had to go back to Xiaomi, I took this approach there with
me: the only two apps that have permission to notify me of anything
are again WhatsApp (because my wife is there sending me messages how
their day with our little autie is progressing) and e-mail. In fact no
other app even has the permission to make a data request when in
background. After at least five years being slave of the smartphone, I
declare myself being free again and my phone isn't my master, it's
again just a tool to be used when I want to use it.
That brings back the fun I had when using my Palm or BB in the days
they were new, fresh and supported devices. I'm happy that they could
teach me this lesson even in 2019.
