What Did We Do Without Them?

I'm looking to my left and there are my "devices" awaiting packing before I leave for work. They are several different sizes, from very small to larger purse-sized and I love each one of them. There is my Apple Nano on which I just loaded four Mendelssohn symphonies - such wonderful music. Next to this is my Motorola Droid smartphone on which I now have a free voice recorder app for when story inspiration hits me while I'm in the car (which actually happens quite frequently). On the far right is my NookColor - still a piece of equipment that I use every day even though I can and do read on my phone also. I still adore my Nook after more than two years, it just does whatever I ask of it so well. On the floor, patiently waiting, is my laptop nestled in its case. And of course, I'm sitting at my desktop computer writing this. 

My Nano is green, with my LJ User Name engraved on the back.

In 1876, on March 10th, so just slightly more than 137 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell, using a liquid transmitter, spoke the famous words "Mr Watson - Come here - I want to see you" and was heard clearly by his assistant in a nearby room on the other end of the transmitter. The first telephone - the first baby step on a very slippery slope of electronic devices.  

One of the original ads for the Princess Phone. I was in love and it
is still considered a classic phone design.

I grew up with the phone as a common part of the household. When I lived in Aspen, Colorado we had a party line (that means that we shared a phone line with a second household, each one having a specific ring tone). But our phone line in Denver was a single line - FLorida 8195 was my phone number. I remember it even today, more than fifty years after I had that number. The phone were dial phones and direct connect, i.e. we didn't go through a switchboard (although I have worked at switchboards and routing boards in my employment past). In those days I wanted a "Princess Phone", but my Dad never wanted to spring for the extra dollars. I finally had a phone receiver of my own when I was in high school, but it was still wired to the wall and just an extension phone, not a separate phone number, and still not a Princess Phone. 

This phone was so small and portable, It only made and
received  calls, but I really didn't need more than that.

Touch-tone phones came into use while I was in college and grad school. Within a short amount of time they had become the predominant style of phone, although I still had a rotary dial phone in some rooms of my house until the late 1980's. In 1996 Motorola introduced their StarTac mobile phone. It was revolutionary. It was super thin and very portable compared to mobile phones of the past. It was so revolutionary that it was included in the Academy Awards goodie bag that year and several of the stars were gushing about the phones in their interviews. I bought one of these a few years later when it was less expensive. 

I love my Droid - it's so darned versatile and thin. Yes, I am
a gadget geek!

After a few more portable phones, and switching from carrier to carrier to get a better plan and better signal strengths (from AT&T to Sprint to Verizon) I upgraded to a smartphone. I bought a Motorola Razr Droid late last summer when my prior phone died. I never thought I would really get into a smartphone, but I'm finding that I really love it. I'm still watching my activity closely so that I don't increase the amount I pay monthly past a reasonable point, but I love my electronics Whatever did we do without them? Just the ability to carry more than 300 books with me in my hand - so wonderful! Yes, I love my line-up of devices, I am a true Gadget Geek.