Monday, April 8, 2013

Soft reset



My phone does more than I know of.  My grandson wonders why gramma needs so much phone; gramma had a flip phone last summer and learned to text less than a year ago.  The crux of the matter was the manner of the death of the flip phone.  It fell into a toilet at a wedding.  It died on the spot.  The marriage ended about a year later. 

Just like marriages, there is no guarantee that phones will withstand circumstance.  The little fellow was drownded and there is no warranty replacement for a phone plucked from the toilet. 

I have owned a mobile phone since the 1990’s, when they fit in a big purse, not in a pocket. My first phone came with the plan.  Over the years I upgraded the phone four or five times, and the upgrades all came thanks to extending the contract two more years. 

I had to pay for this replacement phone! There was no contract extension long enough to throw in a free phone.  Then, too, the price for the smart phone was almost the same as the price of a new flip phone. I took a deep breath, and went straight upgrade.

That was six months ago.  I won’t confess how many months I spent learning the smart phone’s smarts.  Let me just say I now have ten icons on the screen, and I rolled them out one at a time.  I moved Sarah, my navigator, to the dashboard about three months ago.  I like her best of all.

Now I’m OK with change, but I don’t find it wonderful.  So when the green blinking light would tell me I should download some upgrade, I didn’t.  The screen didn’t tell me how it would change my phone, only that change would happen.  That didn’t please me.

One morning I took the phone off the charger and saw an ominous warning.  Uninstalled changes were backed up a country mile because of my neglect and would I kindly do something.  I relented.  I will admit it was still downloading after my shower and after I got dressed, but it was done when I finished breakfast.

Nothing seemed different about my phone, until I fired up Sarah last Saturday for a trip to the near west side of Cleveland.  She took me the three miles to the turnpike without incident, then told me to go east and quit talking.  Hamilton told me her little green arrow was still going west, but she said nothing.

This afternoon I had my first opportunity to take Sarah back to the phone store.  She still had nothing to say for herself.

“How unusual,” said the young man at the counter.  I wonder if he believed me.  He did agree she might have choked on her upgrades.  “Download the navigation app again,” I suggested. 

“We’ll just try a soft reset.” He pressed the off and volume down switches simultaneously. The screen collapsed into its middle and then reappeared.  “Let me know if it works,” he said.

I’m happy to report, Sarah is back.  Soft reset it was.  I wonder if those buttons can be found on people.


The phone that drowned

20 comments:

  1. I lost my old phone and had to get a new one. I went with Consumer Cellular...they give an AARP discount. My cell phone bill is less than half of what is was when I was with Cellular 1. I still haven't figured out everything on my iphone.

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  2. Nothing is easy today. I have the next installment after the flip phones and I am not giving it up. I am done with it. I am very happy being outdated and ignorant. Hubby has an iPhone and it is impolite and rude instrument. However, it fits him perfectly.

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  3. Hey, I had that same old flip cellphone! Mine didn't drown, but our son-in-law felt we needed to upgrade. We've had to take ours to the store to fix it too and they did the same thing; turned it on and off. I love that you've named your cellphone. :-)

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  4. I was given a smart phone in January. Much of it is still a mystery to me. It does things I want a phone to do - makes and receives calls, but a lot of its other functions still strike me as unnecessary. Yes I know, I am a dinosaur. Not extinct yet, but probably teetering on the verge.

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  5. This is one thing that annoys me about all the newest technology, the constant upgrades that you need to download, or the ones that download themselves, so that things are different and need getting used to again. I will probably never get a smart phone. My flip and I are very happy together.

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  6. A soft reset you say...hmmm....very similar to the old "if something goes wrong with your computer turn it off and then turn it on routine". I hope our flip phone never dies. It just makes and receives calls. We did not activate voice mail or texting or any of the other features it holds. I like simple. Actually, I don't think we've turned it on in months.

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  7. I want a phone that makes phone calls....that's it.Be d@$%ed if I can find one.
    Jane x

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  8. Mine makes frog croaking noises when it wants something....but I can never find out what it wants as I have no idea how to access the menu.

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    1. Mine too. The "phone" croaks to me. Sarah, however, sounds like a schoolteacher. Scariest of all, I identify with this nonsense.

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  9. We resisted cell phones for the longest time but then we planned a month vacation driving up to Seattle for a wedding and then driving back via a different route through the Four Corners area. We thought that being in our mid-50s and isolated we might need it to call for help. Our kids were so relieved when we told them, the sweet things were worried. funny, though, most the time we were in isolated areas where we might have needed to use it, there was no cell service. took me another year before I would remember to take it with me when I left the house. now, it's one of my 5 essentials.

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  10. In January I upgraded to a new smart phone -- I'm still getting to grips with it -- but really it's not that different from the last one in 'what' it does -- just 'how' it does what it does! I think having to come to grips with new innovations is a good thing, in that it keeps those brain cells turning over... My husband, on the other hand, refuses to learn how to text! On the other hand the car and plumb in my new dishwasher!!

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  11. We have the cheapest phones possible and buy minutes for them. All we want to do is place and receive calls. We have a computer at home for the rest of the stuff. But we are rather dinosaur-ish also (hello, Elephant's Child!) :)

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  12. I have no interest in an iphone. In fact, I think my contract is up on this phone -- which is good 'cause I hate it. I'm going back to basics and get a phone that just does the amazing: makes phone calls. Texting is impossible for those of us who only have one working hand/arm. I don't care if I'm a dinosaur.

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  13. Well, despite the fact that I'm not up to date on most technology, I do *love* my iPhone... and probably use every app on it except games (don't play games). My kids all have one and talked DH and I into one about a year ago. I have to admit - between the camera (sharing pics), texting (kids and grandkids text me constantly), notes (keep all info my head won't remember at hand), Safari Internet (look up everything I need to spell or understand), and GPS (I can find anyplace!), it's all I need to take with me anywhere. I take my Driver's Licence, Check card, and iPhone - and I'm good to go.

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  14. You clearly ROCK. Siri does not speak southern so we don't talk to each other. Joe and I are learning the iPhone together. It does make email and responding to people for the blog much easier. I once drowned an emergency code pager at the hospital and really was happy-until I noticed it still worked.

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  15. I "rage" against the smart phone. I don't want it.

    My grown kids live on their phones, and belittle me. I jsut want a phone that rings.

    Susan

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  16. In six months you learned the smart phones "smarts." I do know to download the updates. Thoroughly killed a lovely computer once by not doing the updates--your reasoning was my reasoning--which the computer found unreasonable. Good luck. I'm still working on getting the smarts of my phone.

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  17. i am still learning about my so-called smart phone---and relearning texting---great post :)

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  18. Phones sure are getting complicated, aren't they? I remember the excitement when we went from dial phones to touch-tone!

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  19. I'd love a smart phone, but resist the $30 a month charge for the data. My phone has limited data for $10 and that's all I really need. I don't know what my husband will do when we can't find flip phones anymore simply because any other phones can't withstand the dirt and mud from his work that finds its way into his pocket.
    ~Laura

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