By Colleen Duncan
Overall, I’ve never been the most tech-savvy person.
Until two years ago, my TV was shaped like a box.
More than half my movies are VHS’s.
And it was only because of my persistent friends that I finally created a Twitter account last year.
But when the iPhone 4 first came out for Verizon during my senior year ofhigh school, I scrambled together my birthday money and headed to the local kiosk to book my first class seat on that bandwagon.
It was a major step up from my EnV 2, which had taken a tumble or five and didn’t let you use the inside screen. I was hesitant about not having buttons, and even more hesitant about spending two hundred on something so small… but I did it nonetheless, and from then on it was love at first touch.
That iphone was the cigarette to my heroin addiction, and I suddenly became the constantly connected person, a swipe away from emailing, updating, or any other ing associated with smart phones. I felt like Donald Trump, savvy and sophisticated. Just with better hair.
My iphone is constantly in my hand, or in my back pocket. I never thought I would love something more than a computer, but man was I wrong. That’s why, on a cold October day, when my little baby slipped from my hand and cascaded through the air towards solid concrete, my heart broke.
Two years strong, and in a matter of seconds, the screen was in shatters. Even though I technically was due for an upgrade, my heart wasn’t ready to separate. But I knewwhen pieces of the glass started falling out that it was time for something different.
There are Sony phones, Androids, Google, and Windows…but in my mind: once I went Mac, I’m never going back.
Which brings me to the iPhone 5. Is it worth it? Is it that much better than the iphone 4 or the 4s that I would be willing to spend an entire two weeks paycheck?
I did some research and here’s what I found.
The screen is bigger, allowing greater pixel depth, the back is aluminum rather than glass, giving it a lighter feel, and the A6 CPU beats other phones greatly.
Frankly, the improved pixel depth and slight difference in weight is probably not something I’m going to notice in a new phone, and if I’m being honest, I have no idea what an A6 CPU is. So this brings me to ask myself: why do I really want this phone?
It’s not entirely the 4g quality that is said to be lightening fast, although that does appeal to the impatience in me, and while the new panoramic camera feature is really cool, how many times would I remember to use it?
It seems to me that the real reason I want this upgrade is to be ahead of the game, to own the newest, fastest, coolest gadget around. It’s something you see all the time. Magazines are released a month in advance. Fashion week features clothing lines meant for two seasons ahead. There is a constant urgency in our society to be ahead of others. Whatever happened to living in the moment?
But maybe I’m thinking too much about this. It’s just a phone, after all. And so, when I return to the kiosk in the mall, my $200 crisp and fresh from the ATM machine, I will succumb to the bandwagon and satisfy my need for the newer, faster, cooler.
And then the iPhone 6 will come out, and I will start the process all over again.