For long, I have stuck to dated gadgetry--be it cell phones, laptops or music players or any other white good for that matter. It's much of a personality trait--I always choose comfort over style; including clothing and accessories.
Once I got comfortable with a gadget, I stuck to it, obsolescence notwithstanding.
The other reason was practicality. My children (I have two of them) are rather young. The younger one is 16 months old. And the mobile phones I have purchased in the recent past have doubled up as teethers and toys.
But sticking to old technology often made me feel older. I used to see youngsters (probably half my age) move around with smartphones.
Over time, even that didn't matter. I developed some kind of a pride in telling people (mostly PR persons) that I don't carry a smartphone and that I can only check their e-mail once I am home. I took pride in being a dinosaur.
All that changed when I acquired a tablet PC some days back. There were several reasons why I went for it.
- Misplacing the phone: I never knew where my phone was when it rang. Is it in my purse? Is it under the sofa? The result--people complained that I never pick up my mobile. A tablet is so much bigger and easier to find.
- My dislike for smartphones: I hate work phones and smartphones. It's like being leashed all the time to work. A tablet is nothing like that. You can read books, magazines and newspapers on it, watch movies, TV, videos... Not that other phones don't allow you to do that. But a tablet's screen is so much bigger. One doesn't need to strain one's eye to read or watch a movie.
- My kids find it boring: A tablet's pouch makes it look like a boring diary. So far, it's hasn't caught their fancy.
- Most people won't use it like a phone: Perhaps it's trendy (not sure though; it's quite bulky when used as a phone), but the average guy/gal on the road would not want that as a phone. So I can still claim to be different.
Well, to be honest, the tablet has solved many problems in one go. It's a large phone that I can't misplace. It's trendy (so I need not feel antiquated any more). And, it's ideal for work-from-home moms like me who find little time to catch up on reading.
In fact, of late, I have spotted some women journalists with tablet PCs. Like me, they too were using it like a phone.
My tablet is not just my phone, but also my newspaper, computer, magazine, book library, movie player, watch, calculator... The list really can go on and on. For now, it seems like I am addicted to this gadget. To me, it's convergence at its best. When one is close to hitting 40, this is certainly not a tablet you mind getting used to.