New phone

[shaper]

Yesterday I bought two iphones for myself and wife. We both had the old style flip phones. I feel like the town idiot. If someone calls I don't know how to pick it up. Tried to send a text to my grand daughter in college, all I got out was Hi and it diapered. Within seconds I got a reply from her. I think I sent it back to her. During breakfast I heard it ring, I must have hung it up. This afternoon I plan to go see my 13 year old grand daughter for lessons.

[Rick Hodges]

hahaha...welcome to the club of hi tech phones capable of so much it is scary....I'm a dumb operator/user.

[Artful]

Check youtube for lessons on cellular phones of your model, you can learn a lot.
Oh, and be prepared for the person to be young and accented'.

[RayinNH]

I don't even have the flip phone yet :smile:.

[fryboy]

one thing i picked up on early was to term them "stupid smart fones" :P

[2wheelDuke]

You hardly have a choice in new phones these days. My dad just got a new Samsun Galaxy S5. My mom's had an iPhone for a couple years now. Hopefully you get the hang of it quickly. It's almost like learning a new language to interact with these modern phones.

You interact with these phones now with "gestures" on the screen just as much as you are "pressing" the pictures of the buttons it gives you. I don't have an iPhone, but I believe you "swipe" your finger left to right across the screen over a bar to answer it when it's ringing. "Tapping" something with your finger is fairly natural now that we've been clicking mouse buttons with a cursor for years now. There's also the "double tap" like a double mouse click. If you touch your finger down and keep holding it, that's kinda like a right mouse click. Then there's the "pinch" gesture to zoom out on a picture, or the reverse of that to zoom in.

I've seen that the newest iPhones have some sort of interface where the pressure touch the screen with makes a difference. I haven't got to play with one of those yet.

That's another thing with these new phones. They don't ship with regular instructions. The companies seem to intend for you to just mess around with them and get the hang of it.

[shaper]

the phones we got are the Samsung S5. The so called instructions are a waste of my time and good paper.

[bedbugbilly]

My wife has a generic "smart phone" and likes it. Me? I still have my "dumb phone" and will continue to use it as long as I can. The sure sign that I'm getting old is when I "wish" for the good old days when they didn't exist and people actually had to "talk to each other". Heck . . . I'd even go back to the "party line" . . .. oops! Putting an age on myself! LOL

Good luck with your new phones - you'll get 'em figured out. If worse comes to worse, grab some neighborhood 10 year old to help you. :-)

[JSnover]

I hate buying a new phone because the learning curve always seems fairly steep. I bought a Brigadier (Kyocera/Verizon) two weeks ago because my Casio G'zone was no longer supported and I can't stand it. The instructions are worthless. Help menus and video tutorials aren't much better. It comes pre-loaded with a few dozen apps I'll never use and can't delete, all they do is eat up space and drain my battery.

[762 shooter]

Samsung S5 here also.

Think of it as a mini laptop you can get Cast Boolits on in the Doctors waiting room.

I use just like a computer.

762

[jcwit]

I stick to the TracFone, no camera, I think it can text, not sure, could care less. But it does work just fine as a phone, IIRC that's what I bought it for.

[dragon813gt]

My 16 month old son knows how to open the folder and start his game on my iPhone. Having trouble w/ technology really is a sign of age. I'm not saying there is anything bad about this. But young people take to it intuitively.

I have a personal iPhone that's jailbroken and a new iPhone 6 for work. I hate the way the stock one works. It's counter intuitive to my personal one. Can't wait for a jail break to come out for ios 9.

[Love Life]

I still use the flip phone. My plan sho' do be cheap=more money for fun stuff.

[Boaz]

I'v got what you might call a senior citizen classic . I only talk on it , everyone that knows me knows better than to think I'll read a text message . I talk around 35 min a month on it .

[dagger dog]

The wife and I renewed our Nokia 3500 series phones with Android OS smartphones, the batteries for the old Nokias were going away and cost more than the new phones. I really like the personalized options such as voice recognition that works, high speed internet options, barcode scanning, a great camera and a lot more.

Don't be afraid to jump in and start tapping the icons and speaking to Google !

[shaper]

Just got home from a 3 hour lesson of my phone... from my 13 year old grand daughter. She was elated to get to teach the old man how to use a phone. My head is still spinning. But I can send and receive a phone call and a text, I think.

[bangerjim]

You will love your iPhone once you learn all about it........from those decades younger than you!!!!!!!! Amazing how kids know so much.

I am on my 3rd gen of iPhone.......love it.....will never have anything else. I am NOT an Apple-World person. But they make great phones and pads! 3rd gen iPad also.

banger

[shooter93]

My previous phone was an antique compared to the phones today but it worked every time and was by far more clear than any other phone I have had since. When it died I bought a flip phone. I use a cell phone so little that when I did go to use it 3 months after buying it I had to walk into a convenience store and ask the clerk.....how do I turn this on....lol....I couldn't remember how to even do that. There is no on button....you use the end button.....now that makes sense right??????

[Goatwhiskers]

FWIW, it was mentioned that the "book" was worthless, that's if they even give you one. You're supposed to go online and look up the phone you have, you'll find a file that tells you everything you want to know, and more than geezers like me can understand. GW

[montana_charlie]

Everything I take outside on a regular basis gets dirty, wet, scratched, dented, or covered in cow poop.

My smart phone is smart because it remembers the phone numbers of the guy who delivers fuel, the one who brings fertilizer, the vet, and my nearest neighbor.
My smart phone is smart enough to not let me take it outside ... because the cord is only eight feet long.

[HATCH]

tapatalk - get the app and use it for Cast Boolits

What your really going to like is FACETIME. Ask your granddaughter about that.

Also every place you go and spend time at, if it has wireless (wifi) there then you need to get it setup on your iphone.
Iphones can be data hogs.

[dragon813gt]

tapatalk - get the app and use it for Cast Boolits.

I agree but the learning curve might be steep. It makes forum viewing a lot easier. Especially for people w/ poor eyesight. But if you have trouble sending a text message it might be tough to get the program setup. It is worth the time and effort to do so.

FaceTime is a huge data hog so just be aware of this. I don't know if all carriers allow it on your data plan. It's great for seeing family members when they are far away. It's a lot better experience on an iPad compared to an iPhone.