Smart Phone on the Fritz - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Smart Phone on the Fritz

 

Ran across this interesting article entitled “A Trip Back in Time to New York City” about someone whose cell phone went on the fritz while traveling. The writer was literally lost without his smart phone in the Big Apple. It is amazing how dependent we’ve all become to the smart phone and what they can do, replacing literally dozens of separate devices we used to have as depicted in the photo below:

The phone has sure come a long way from it’s original invention by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Contrary to popular belief, I do not have any memories of those days to share! On the other hand, if by chance you like Lady Gaga, here's an interesting video song about the history of the phone.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s, we had a party line phone on the family farm. A party line meant several neighboring farms all shared the same line, so if a neighbor was listening in, they could eavesdrop on your conversation. My sisters loved doing just that to stay on top of all the latest neighborhood gossip. They would also rush to see who could pick up the phone first when it rang. Then there was the local operator who would be called on to place a long distance call (basically any call out of town whether a few miles away or half way around the world). She was probably the most well known person in town next to the parish priest.

My first cell phone was purchased in about 1992, a Motorola flip phone if I recall. It soon gave way to dozens of other brands over the years, many of which are pictured below. My first smartphone was a Palm Treo that I had until the first iPhone came out in 2007.

I’ve been with Apple ever since, having also transitioned from PC’s and tablets to Mac’s and iPads. It got really annoying dealing with all the bugs in other devices; however, those experiences were helpful at solving many of my friend’s tech problems. Had the smart phone been around back when when I was single, dating might have gone more like this Dilbert cartoon:

No surprise, I was up at 3:00am on the morning of October 27th, the first day to order the new Apple iPhone X on-line. I was able to sell my old iPhone on eBay the same day. The X arrived a few days later and it is everything advertised and more. My favorite features are the full screen, crystal-clear display, face recognition, enhanced battery life, greater speed and better camera. About the only feature I’m disappointed about is Siri; she doesn’t do what I ask!

Did you notice how smartphones and tablets are also being used extensively in sports these days. In fact, the Boston Red Sox even got caught this fall relaying signs using the Apple Watch during a game against the Yankees. Who knows what else is going on with these latest technologies to get a competitive edge in sports and business (and dating!)?

Here’s a brief video about the evolution of the smartphone that boldly makes the prediction that cell phones will be implanted on our body by 2024! Maybe that’s how they’ll keep track of me as I adventure around in my autonomous vehicle as envisioned back in the 60’s shown below! But while playing dominoes, no way!