Now Entering the 21st Century: I’m Getting a Smartphone

I’ve decided I need to join the 21st Century. I ordered a smartphone yesterday. It should arrive in the next day or two.

 

Then I can start figuring out how to use it. But the one I chose doesn’t have a huge learning curve, so I should do okay.

 

I chose a Motorola E5 Play smartphone because it was only $80 at Consumer Cellular and the chatroom pro at CC says it will work with a Square credit card processing app and accessory, so I ordered those, too.

 

I figure the phone and the Square will come in handy whenever I do holiday bazaars, comic cons, Star Trek conventions and other large public events where I’ll be offering books for sale.

 

Most people don’t carry cash on them these days: I know I don’t.

 

So, if I want to be able to accommodate all book buyers, I have to meet them where they are and give them a way to buy without handing over cash. (It’s safer this way, too…)

 

I’ll be using the smartphone and the credit card processing app during my Forks WA comic con adventure over Father’s Day weekend in June. I will have enough experience with it before then that I’ll know what I’m doing when I get there. I’ll buy one of my books using the Square and see how that whole process works.

 

It goes without saying that I’m a little nervous about owning a smartphone. I’m sure it will be no time at all before I’ll wonder what I ever did without it–as so many are–but at first it’s going to be a stress-inducer, just as using a PC was the  first time I gave that a shot in the mid 80’s. Now I don’t know what I’d do without one, as a writer!

I remember worrying I’d destroy the PC or be unable to find whatever I produced on it.

 

I feel similarly about the smartphone, but it’s essentially just a handheld computer with a phone attached, so I ought to get the hang of it as a familiarize myself with its buttons, options, and capabilities…

 

It’s going to be an adventure-I know that much for sure!