mckitterick: (typewriter monkey)
mckitterick ([personal profile] mckitterick) wrote2011-05-13 01:19 pm
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The Katana lives!

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

[identity profile] chernobylred.livejournal.com 2011-05-13 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] saffronhare.livejournal.com 2011-05-13 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] carmy-w.livejournal.com 2011-05-13 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
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....

[identity profile] bogwitch64.livejournal.com 2011-05-13 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
You can't get rid of that thing. You just can't! It's earned it's place in your heart.

[identity profile] etcet.livejournal.com 2011-05-13 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] busychild424.livejournal.com 2011-05-16 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Glad you got it back!