Forty before Forty Item #30: Back in the land of the smartphone

Late last year I lost my smartphone. It literally disappeared from the face of the earth. We looked everywhere, but couldn't find it anywhere. The best theory we could come up with is that I threw it into the recycling bin one day when I was cleaning out the van. It was dark, my hands were full, I must have been holding the phone in one hand., and I guess I let go of everything in one fell swoop, and didn't realize that the phone had gone along with all the papers and pieces of cardboard and plastic. It's probably rotting in the local landfill right now, and will probably stay there for the next 99 years.

With almost nine months still left to go before I was eligible for a phone upgrade, I could either pay $500 for a new phone or survive on my old text-based phone. I chose the latter, for several reasons:

* Because $500 is a lot of money for us;
* Because I wanted to show the kids that even adults have to bear responsibility for their carelessness;
* Because I wanted to teach myself a lesson and sear into my brain how painful it is to live without a smartphone in this day and age.

Yes, it was painful. I love my old Samsung reclaim phone -- it's small, lightweight, and eco-friendly (it's made from corn!) -- but it's not a smartphone. It doesn't have a touchscreen. It doesn't run apps. All I can do on it is call, text, send email. I can use Twitter and Facebook, but very painfully. In theory, I could browse a webpage, but it takes so long to load and it's to cumbersome to use arrows to toggle through all the links on the page, it's not worth it.

I suffered through 9 months with it. Even when Alfie finally relented and got his own smartphone -- and promptly declared he didn't know how he had gone on for so long without it. Even through BlogHer, where owning an iPhone 4 or Android 3D device is practically required equipment for any self-respecting blogger.

Finally, my patience has been rewarded. I'm now the proud owner of an HTC phone. I decided to wean myself off a slider keyboard and purchased a model with a touchscreen keyboard. It's not the latest and greatest phone, but as far as I'm concerned, it is. It's wonderful to be back!

And just in case, I've invested in some heavy-duty phone armor as well as phone insurance.