It's Day Four after my old phone suddenly died on me. (Yes - an incident dramatic enough to start a new "calendar"...) If you read my previous post you already know that I spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday searching online for a replacement, but finally managed to pre-order one at a store in my town where I wold be able to pay for it when I went to pick it up.
So on Monday, around 11 am, I set out on this errand. It had rained earlier in the morning but the rain had stopped by the time I had to go out. I have about 15 min walk to the station, from where I took a bus "across town" (another 15 min or so). I had received instructions to go round the back of the huge store to pick up my parcel. Never having gone through this procedure before I felt a bit lost, but I found my way there all right, and there was no queue and no problems. Then I went back to the main entrance and into the store to ask if they also had some shell/cover to to fit the new phone. They did, and a good sturdy one too. (Just looked it up online and find it described in English as a "smart full body protective shell stand holder cover"...
I was able to catch the next bus back (buses 30 min apart on that line), and then walked back from the station again, so the whole errand didn't take me more than around 1½ hour.
So far, so good. Meanwhile, however, I'd also found out (already on Sunday) that my old SIM card was the wrong size for the new phone. I was able to order a new card with the same number to be sent to me, but I still haven't got that. As we only get mail delivered every other weekday now, and it didn't arrive today, my next chance is Friday... Can only keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best! (I.e. that they really do send it directly to my postbox, and not to be picked up... Because they usually inform about that by text messages these days; and as my phone is not working, no such messages would reach me...)
Left: My new phone - Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
Right: My old phone - Sony Xperia Z3 (from 2014)
While I can't complete the set-up of the new phone without the SIM card, I did nevertheless start the process already on Monday afternoon. Got the phone charged, connected it to my WiFi, and got started on trying to get acquainted with how to download apps etc. Phew... I continued with this all day yesterday, and almost felt my own brain having a melt-down in the process. Everything seemed to be in a different place than on my old phone, and as soon as I had managed to find where they'd hidden things, or figure out how to do this or that... it all seemed to slip right back out of my memory again, so that with the next app I had to start from scratch once again...
I've struggled on, though, and by now I think I've managed to recreate most of the apps from my old phone, and get them sorted in an order with which I feel vaguely familiar...
The all-important Mobile Bank-ID one can't be recreated until I also have the SIM card, though. (I could go on quite a bit more about that but I'll skip that for now.)
As can be seen from the photo above, the new phone is somewhat bigger than my old one - and also a bit heavier - so feels a bit clumsier to me, but I suppose I'll get used to that. You can also see that it has no less than four camera lenses on the back (+ flash +one front camera). I've not yet had time to explore the camera functions much - I just snapped a few shots of some new plants I bought yesterday:
A Saintpaulia (African Violet), for my living room window, and a small yellow kalanchoe for my ceramic Easter rooster (which I had since before).
And a bigger yellow kalanchoe for my kitchen window.
After having installed my Audible app on the phone yesterday, I also found myself impressed with the sound from this new phone. I've not yet tried it with music, but I'm sure it will get along very well with my audio books...
I'll hold off more "reviews" until we get a bit better acquainted!
The Kalanchoe and African Violet are beautiful! Kalanchoe are supposed to be fairly long lived, but mine never made it very far. I love your little chicken planter. Seems like you are doing real well with the phone! When we get new ones, the person at the phone company transfers all our info from the old one with the new one, using a cord.
ReplyDeleteGinny, well that was not an option on this case. Old phone dead, new phone of different kind, no phone company involved in the purchase. Plus, in spite of all the headache, I also feeI I need to learn where to find things and how to do things on the new phone. At least my photos taken with the old one were backed up in the Google photo app, so still available. (I've used a separate camera more than my phone for photos so far, though.)
DeleteI applaud you for going through all this and buying and setting up a new phone. My phone is 5 years old so one day I will have to face up to getting a newer one. The new phone cameras are supposed to be very nice; your photos of your violet show a luscious color and the yellow kalanchoes too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terra. Once I have got the phone sorted I think it's probably time I look into getting a new laptop as well, before that dies on me too... A million more things harder to replace on that!!!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds quite a daunting process for me. I took the easy option when I bought a new 'phone and went along to the Telecom shop where a helpful young man did it all for me!
ReplyDeleteWell JC I suppose there are other ways to go about it, but since I wanted to compare phone models and prices etc myself, and avoid being forced into a subscription, I started at the other end...
DeleteI know quite a few who do the let the phone people do it, but I like to do what you are doing and learn all the new things. you are right, every phone is different, even if the same brand. each has its on thing to hide stuff in a lot of different places. I don't do banking or even know what a bank ID is, on my phone. i don't use anything for that but the desktop. all ordering is done from the desktop but coudl be done on chromebook if needed. hope that sim card gets there soon
ReplyDeleteSandra, the thing with our so called Bank ID is that it's an extra security step needed for all kinds of important procedures here now, it includes extra security codes sent back and forth via one's cellphone as confirmation. Doesn't matter if I do things from my computer or tablet, I still can't access some sites or complete most online orders or purchases without the added steps of confirming by Bank ID app on the phone. For which I need rhe SIM card installed...
Deleteoops totally forgot to comment on the most imporant feature of any phone I own, the camera. excellent photos, they look real enough to touch or smell
ReplyDeleteTo me, that sounds like a really difficult procedure to go through.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.melodyjacob.com/
Well, it is, but on the whole I find it better to install step by step the apps I want and skip the stuff I'm not likely to use anyway.
DeleteI admire your perseverance Monica, I know I couldn't even attempt to sort things out successfully, as you are doing. My computer guru sorted mine out for me, and explained various features I'd be using, but it's still mainly used as a camera!
ReplyDeleteWe use the same banking procedures as you do in Sweden, and a mobile phone is essential - even if I'm using the computer, security codes are still sent to my mobile. I wonder how people without mobiles manage - there must be some provision for them.
Those are lovely photos of the African violet and the Kalanchoe, it's a very good camera. Love your Easter chicken.
Carol, I suppose most people who don't have a mobile phone probably also don't use computers much - even if these days it's getting increasingly hard to manage without both!
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