NEWS: I Just Got my First Smart Phone!

Samsung Galaxy smartphone Yippie! I finally own a smart phone! A Samsung Galaxy Core II.

The phone is marvelous! And I feel like I’ve suddenly been blasted into the modern world.

I know, I know, it is about dag time for me to be using a smart phone! (Especially considering I’ve been a professional travel blogger, earning my living online, since 2012.)

So please don’t laugh too hard at me…

Ah-hem, at least I’ve been using mobile phones since 2004. At least I’m up to date with texting and calling to/from my own personal phone.

Truth be told, I only started using one of those when I became a PADI Dive Instructor in Thailand, and only because it was required of me. The dive shop needed to be able to contact every staff member quickly and easily in order to organize each day’s dive trips. Fair enough.

I didn’t actually like the idea of being contact-able 24/7, so I reluctantly I went out and bought my first personal phone – a small Nokia with a great range of phone cover options. I owned various shades of pink and purple phone covers for years. To my surprise, instead of feeling like I was ‘on call 24/7’ I discovered having a personal phone very handy.

But one year that phone suddenly died. I dashed out to a phone store and bought a basic Samsung phone. I’ve been a fan of Samsung ever since. Especially since the Galaxy phones and notebooks came out.

I’ve been enviously eye-ing up those Galaxies for years now. I’ve checked them out at several stores in Malaysia, wishing I had enough money to buy one. But at $600-$800 US, I just sighed and stuck with my simple Samsung mobile, which at least allowed me inexpensive domestic & international calling and texting from most countries I’ve been traveling in.

LashWorldTour teaching diving in THailand

Lash teaching diving in THailand

Although happy enough with a basic mobile phone, just texting and calling, the pull of a sophisticated smart phone has been tugging on me more and more. I’ve been watching people all around me scrolling their smart phones, snapping photos then uploading them immediately onto social media sites, finding directions with Google maps on the fly, keeping updated with FB and Twitter happenings, sending and receiving photos to/from friends, checking the current weather, browsing the internet and doing heaps of other tasks on their gorgeous, handy little (or not so little) internet-connected phones.

So I finally broke down and bought one. A Samsung Galaxy at that! My dream phone. And now I can do all those things, too! Yippie!

Even better, Galaxy Core II only cost me $110 US! As far as I can tell, it’s practically the same as the infinitely more expensive, top of the line S5 and S6 Galaxies. My gorgeous Core II looks the same. Functions the same. Seems the same. Nobody would ever know it’s a lower-end Galaxy without checking it in detail.

(Yes, I’m sure the S5 & S6 have faster processors, better pixelated screens, Gorilla glass for break proofing, better movie & video visuals and other upscale features.) But my lovely Core II does everything I need just fine and dandy. :)

I’ve only had my Galaxy about 10 day, so I’ve only done the most essential tasks thus far. Each time I do something for the first time, it’s a real rush.

My first selfie!

To start with, I took my first ever phone selfie – right in the store where I bought it, snapped with my step-dad, just a few minutes after I got the phone up and running. Weee, Fun!

Next, I added my first few contacts to my phone book. I soon added photos to some of those contacts, thanks to my helpful sister-in-law who showed me how to simply click on the contact photo icon, snap a portrait right then and there, then attach the photo to the contact. Wow, that was all new to me!

Then I made my first few calls, just to say, “Hi, I have a smart phone!.”

I typed my first text message via a built-in keypad. And learned how to replace an incorrect letter several words back in the message, by simply tapping on the place where I wanted to correct, rather than backspacing and erasing all the text back to that point. Thanks to the customer service woman at Tracfone.

I’ve downloaded and set up some apps, mostly ones for free texting and calling, such as WhatsApp, Line and Skype.

I dug around in my phone and discovered several basic (but very useful) built-in apps like the alarm clock, timer, scheduling calendar, Google maps, cameras (front and back) and folders for books, photos, music and documents.

attempted Selfie at Dali Museum

I’ve started taking photos and selfies, though none of them are any good. Thus far, I’ve achieved poor lighting, coloration and angles.

Man, are good selfies tough to take! Straight on shots are easy enough, but trying to incorporate background scenery is crazy! The phone has to be tilted, angled and turned each in the opposite direction I’m expecting. Eek, that will be a big learning curve for sure.

I’m sure I’ll continue learning new tasks and tricks for some time to come. No doubt I’ll keep feeling like I’m being blasted into the modern world over and over again as I slowly get the hang of all these interesting, useful, fun and amazing tasks I can suddenly do. Finally… Just like most other people living a modern life in 2015.

I’m glad to be here. Let the fun commence. :)

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QUESTIONS:

Anyone else here have a Samsung Galaxy?

If so, which version? How do you like it?

If not, which smartphone do you have and how do you like it?

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I started Advanced Photography Course at Matador U

My 1st Article Published on Matador Network

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