The Katana lives!

[mckitterick]

So I managed to drop my Katana phone through the wood decking of the patio at Henry's last night. Nobody could quite reach it through the narrow slots where it lay half-buried in the molten goo, so I zipped back there this morning armed with a flexible-extendible-clampy-snake-thingy:

Success! I got this device from Working Assets Long Distance (the liberal-leaning phone company now known as CREDO Mobile (which seems to be having a switch deal right now) when it was hot stuff, back in 2006, I think it was. Since then, it has gone through the washer and dryer; sat overnight at the bottom of a frozen puddle; taken several dives into lakes, fountains, and so forth; crashed with me on a motorcycle; and been dropped countless times onto the floor. I've dropped it while scootering and driven over it at least once with a car. How would you feel after such abuse? Check it out:


Yes, I posed the camera on my heavy bag. Seems appropriate for an old fighter who keeps on doing its thing battle after battle. No, the photo isn't blurry; the phone really is that scratched up.

Despite all this, the thing still works great... except for how it occasionally doesn't ring, and the anticipatory-typing thing only works with words you've already entered, and... okay, it's ancient and kinda crappy, and now it bears new battle-scars and smells of old, wet, beer-ey cigarette ashes. I must admit that I've been thinking of joining the Smart Phone Generation. Heck, I bet there are kids out there who've never even seen a flip-phone.

But after all it's been through, I can't bear to toss it aside! And the butt-dialing... as much fun as that can be (I'm looking at you, Matt J, who accidentally serenaded me last week), I don't look forward to an exposed screen on a device that I carry everywhere. I mean, look at this thing! Would a smart phone survive all that?

Yesterday, I was ready to ditch the thing. Now it's earned a reprieve. Perhaps I'll be like those crusty old reporters who refuse to give up their Royal Portable typewriters, obstinately carrying around my trusty blue Katana deep into the 21st century.

Chris

Comments

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

You really must love the hell out of that phone. I don't think I'd pick up something that fell on the floor of the back deck at Henry's, much less through the floor.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

It has a special place in my heart, and only grows more dear the more suffering it endures.

[stuology.livejournal.com]

Let alone pick it up and then press it against your face.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

You people are so conservative.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

You know, I have a Katana I don't use anymore on account of upgrading to teh SMRT phone. I adored mine, too.

If you don't mind having one that's sparkly pink, I'd be happy to pass it on to you.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Charming! I couldn't possibly give up mine... until it gives up on life, itself. Then I guess I'll make the leap into this decade. Thanks for the offer, though!

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

Do you get your service through CREDO as well? I'm on their mailing list, and am sort of contemplating switching....
But we use our cell lines for our internet....

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yup, I do! They use the all-digital nationwide Sprint network, so it's like any ohter carrier... only they do good in the world! If you sign up and give them my name (David McKitterick, on account of that's my legal first name), I get a discount, too!

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

You can't get rid of that thing. You just can't! It's earned it's place in your heart.

[justaqt.livejournal.com]

I second this.

All in Favor?

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

Aye!

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Aye-yi-yi.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I only, within the last month, left my eight year old Nokia 2495 for something marginally newer (a samsung gravity t). the nokia still works flawlessly, but i was in the store to break my "family" plan into a pair of single-person ones, and it was a $10 piece after MIR.

there are two very handy features it has that my old one didn't: camera (picture taking & viewing), and a full, if small, slide-out qwerty keyboard.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

The thing about smart phones that I covet is the interwebs in the palm of one's hand. Unfortunately, the data plans are full of monetary pain.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

T-Mob's is bad but not hideous. I think the unlimited one is 70-some dollars a month (which is still stupidly expensive, since it's twice what I pay for broadband at my house, which services as many computers as I want to attach to it).

Wireless data plans are larcenously priced, but they're the only game in town... of course, I didn't even activate that feature on mine, opting instead for merely voice and text, since that's all I use my phone for at present.

[busychild424.livejournal.com]

Glad you got it back!