My new phone/satnav
Discussion
Let's start by admitting that while I am not a technophobe, I am one of the older generation for whom this whole speed of development and high technology is more and more difficult to grasp. I still remember PBX switchboards and the girl sitting putting plugs in and pulling them out.
Lets get the stupid part of the story out of the way first and explain that living in France, the equivalent of BT here is still state owned and a bloody nightmare. I went to see what they could offer me in the way of a new contract and was informed that existing clients pay full wack for a new phone unless they change their number and then they get it cheap. SFR (Virgin) offered me the new Nokia N95 8GB for £25 and a much better contract while still keeping the same tel. no. No contest then since FT wanted £400 for the same.
Anyway, the more I get into this phone the more amazed and enthralled I've become. I've got the bluetooth up and running with my computer, transferred my address book, synchronised windows, and basically more or less got it up and running with no snags. But while it seemed like a new toy at a cheap price, I doubted if I could actually get the best out of it. I've found I can download my music library from Windows Media and synchronise it with that, and now I've started to explore the Google Earth and Satnav facilities. Perhaps this is all part of your lives, but to me it is a sheer marvel to open the satnav, click on a name and the machine just works out the route. I'll buy the car kit in a week or so and really after that the tom Tom is rather redundant.
What to me is truly amazing is the size of the thing for what it can do. Yes, it isn't tiny but it isn't big either, especially for someone who had a car phone in the 1980's when they first came out. Emails, office, Google Earth, satnav, MP3, all packed into this tiny little box. Most of you reading this will understnd me for what I am, an old duffer, but I hope that the older ones amongst you take heart from this; we are not too old to cope and if you take a bit of time, these latest marvels can make life so damned easy for us.
Lets get the stupid part of the story out of the way first and explain that living in France, the equivalent of BT here is still state owned and a bloody nightmare. I went to see what they could offer me in the way of a new contract and was informed that existing clients pay full wack for a new phone unless they change their number and then they get it cheap. SFR (Virgin) offered me the new Nokia N95 8GB for £25 and a much better contract while still keeping the same tel. no. No contest then since FT wanted £400 for the same.
Anyway, the more I get into this phone the more amazed and enthralled I've become. I've got the bluetooth up and running with my computer, transferred my address book, synchronised windows, and basically more or less got it up and running with no snags. But while it seemed like a new toy at a cheap price, I doubted if I could actually get the best out of it. I've found I can download my music library from Windows Media and synchronise it with that, and now I've started to explore the Google Earth and Satnav facilities. Perhaps this is all part of your lives, but to me it is a sheer marvel to open the satnav, click on a name and the machine just works out the route. I'll buy the car kit in a week or so and really after that the tom Tom is rather redundant.
What to me is truly amazing is the size of the thing for what it can do. Yes, it isn't tiny but it isn't big either, especially for someone who had a car phone in the 1980's when they first came out. Emails, office, Google Earth, satnav, MP3, all packed into this tiny little box. Most of you reading this will understnd me for what I am, an old duffer, but I hope that the older ones amongst you take heart from this; we are not too old to cope and if you take a bit of time, these latest marvels can make life so damned easy for us.
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