Finally joined the 21st Century...

[Nanohedron]

...and got me a smart phone. It's been a learning curve, I can tell you; for one, I learned that I don't have to shovel coal into it any more, but I'm still habituated some to the old ways yet; for example, using the QWERTY layout for texting is like I've never even seen one before, because I'm so used to the old phone number/letter layout of yore. But I'll adjust. I am happy to report that I'm seldom on it (still not on Facebook or Twitter, nor do I plan to be), although I do like the calendar and will use the Google app occasionally during discussions. Last evening we found out that Cream of Wheat® was invented in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for example. Good times.

[benhall.1]

Android or iPhone?

[Nanohedron]

Android, Samsung Galaxy S3. It was a deal I couldn't refuse.

[benhall.1]

Android, Samsung Galaxy S3. It was a deal I couldn't refuse.

Same as my phone. And Deb's. I've been a Blackberry man up til recently when I got the S3. Deb has taken to it far more readily than me and has all sorts of useful, free apps on hers.

The one app you just have to get is Tunepal. Something stupid like about $8, and it's totally brilliant. It does far more than you'd think it does. I use it every single day, and not just for recognising snippets of tunes I have playing in my head.

Oh, and get one of the sky at night apps, that let you know where the stars, constellations, planets etc are wherever they are in the sky. Awesome they are.

Oh, and a weather app.

So much good, free stuff ...

[Nanohedron]

Yeah. Like, apparently there's now an app that detects ghosts for you. Dunno if it's free, but either way I wouldn't bother; it's my opinion that if they're not letting you know they're there, why not do the decent thing and allow them their privacy?

Tunepal's definitely a good one for the trad musician, though. A couple of friends have it, and we've used it many's the time. I know I'm impressed.

[benhall.1]

Yeah. Like, apparently there's now an app that detects ghosts for you.

That's the spirit!

Tunepal's definitely a good one for the trad musician, though. A couple of friends have it, and we've used it many's the time. I know I'm impressed.

Bet you're not using all the features. It's awesome! The more you try on it, the more you find out it can do. Try the filters. Also, try searching for a tune by name, or even by keyword. Wanna just look in O'Neill's? No problem. Search by tune type? Sure thing! Oh, and the midi's better than most PC-based searches. Gives a pretty good idea of the tune, to be fair. If you find a tune by playing into your phone, try tapping the resulting tune - it flips to give you the ABCs - how cool is that? Plus you can link straight into the source - so, for instance, you can tap straight through to the session.org tune database and see all the settings and all the comments. I think there's loads more that it can do as well ...

[mutepointe]

...will use the Google app occasionally during discussions.

[Nanohedron]

Not at all, and your focus tells me you didn't really grasp the whole story; you'll notice in the OP that I wrote "...we found out...". To clarify if not repeat: it's for when there's a disagreement on what the facts are, or when we want to know something in general for the edification of everyone present. Happens all the time, and it's immediately social, something new we can add to the face-to-face dynamic. Rather than mere surmisal, we now have facts immediately available at our fingertips in the course of a discussion. My crowd tend to spend our conversational energies on things other than celebrities, and that's just the way we like it. If the casual observer thinks we're too eggheaded or boring, they can always move on. Otherwise they'd better get on board, because if they don't they'll get eaten alive.

In fact, it's part of the reason I got this new phone; everyone else was pulling search engine weight, and I wasn't. Started to feel like bad manners on my part. We don't share a table as isolates focused on our phones gaming and Twittering away, as one sees these days; we still exercise our social skills, verbally and in the 3D. If that makes us quaint, then it makes us quaint, I suppose. We see it differently. If my phone requires my attention, I apologise to the others - as is still fitting, I think, because good manners are never out of fashion - and I get it done with as quickly as possible.

[burnsbyrne]

I just got my very first mobile phone yesterday. It's an LG something-or-other running android. The phone was left here by our granddaughter who returned home to Italy two weeks ago. I have never placed a cellphone call and I wrote my first text message this morning. I am finding that these devices and their user's manuals assume a good deal of prior knowledge on the part of the user. And wow do they use up the juice fast. I have turned off everything except the phone and text functions. I took it off the charger this morning and it looks like I'll need to charge it again when I get home this afternoon! Well, it makes my wife happy that she can get ahold of me at the odd times when I am not near a land line so that's good enough reason to have it.

[Nanohedron]

And wow do they use up the juice fast. I have turned off everything except the phone and text functions.

If yours is anything like mine, once you have performed a function the app remains active, and that will drain power. So, after making a call, texting, whatever, I make a point of shutting down the app if I'm not going to reuse it right away. I'm not sure how to tell you how to do this with your phone, though. It makes a difference; this is the third day since I last charged it, and I'm only down to somewhat over half battery life left. Others who use their phones relentlessly all day - either electively or because their jobs require it - usually have to recharge every day. In that case it goes with the territory. So too with leaving your apps to run unused; at first I would lose enough battery life that I had to recharge each day and couldn't figure out why until a friend told me about this.

And I agree that they're not intuitive to use without prior major exposure to tech such as the kids have. But I'm learning. Savvy friends are a great help.

[Nanohedron]

...will use the Google app occasionally during discussions.

Okay, here's a real, actual illustration of what I was talking about: A friend from South India was just a couple of evenings ago wondering why Americans don't say "prepone" as the opposite of "postpone". After a sufficient time of blank incomprehension, I allowed that while it was a grammatically possible and meaningful form, it was, for whatever reason, completely unknown to Americans as an accepted usage and would (despite the rock-solid logic of it) be called prescriptively "wrong" by the average US speaker; of course our practice is to use the vaguer "reschedule". He forcefully maintained that Indians use it regularly, so on a hunch I Googled on my smart phone and found out as I suspected that "prepone" is a purely Indian English coinage, dating from only as recently as the 1970s. And thus, by a pocket-sized electronic reference library, were our questions answered at a touch. I'm starting to like this technology.

IMO this little moment of smartphone use absolutely contributed to good socialisation.

[ytliek]

Well, what about peperone? That has a little more bite to it socializingly.

[Nanohedron]

To each their own, of course. As I said earlier, I run with a bit of a tough crowd. For us, pizza's just something you eat, and talking about that doesn't last long. We have the world's problems to solve.

[I.D.10-t]

Talking about being kicking and screaming into the present. this week I now get a "301 Moved permanently" when I type in chiffboard.mati.ca. Guess I'll have to start typing in http://forums.chiffandfipple.com.

[Nanohedron]

Talking about being kicking and screaming into the present. this week I now get a "301 Moved permanently" when I type in chiffboard.mati.ca. Guess I'll have to start typing in http://forums.chiffandfipple.com.

Dang. I think I'm slow to change, but this young feller outdoes me every time.