Post date: May 19, 2019 9:33:30 PM

5 Things I Don't Miss about My IPhone

After debating for the past year, we finally took the plunge around Christmas – we upgraded our smartphones, and no, we didn’t get another iPhone.

We've had two iPhones, one Galaxy, and now we are using the OnePlus 6T, and loving them. Why did we switch?

My old iPhone (which I now use as a mini tablet at times) and my new phone, a OnePlus6T

Here’s why – with 5 Things I don’t Miss about a new iPhone

1. I don’t miss my battery running down. We even took advantage of Apple’s program to replace batteries in our old iPhones last year (I had a 6 and Mike had the 6S). I still carried a cable and a charger almost everywhere I went, or kept one in the car and charged on the go.

2. I don’t miss shopping for the latest and greatest charger and cables. I have probably half a dozen portable chargers, several cables, and several cute little bags to carry them around.

3. I don’t miss using many of the built-in Apple Apps that I use on the iPad but not on my phone. I started to scroll through my apps, screen by screen, and realized that I was using more Google and Amazon apps than Apple apps.

4. I don’t miss the home button. I was sort of freaked out by the idea of getting one of the new iPhones without a home button. I thought I might just get the iPhone 8 for that reason.

5. I don’t miss the guilt that comes with buying a thousand-dollar phone. Sure most of the time we just add the cost onto the monthly bill, but that ties us up for a two year commitment: meanwhile, they keep coming out with new iPhone models every 6 months, it seems. So you are constantly lusting after a pricey new phone that may not be dramatically better than what you have, while complaining about the high price of your monthly cell phone plan.

OH -- Bonus. We found a great 55 plus plan in switching cell phone companies, so we're saving a chunk of money every month. It pays to shop around, folks.

What Took me SO LONG to make up my mind?

5 problems with choosing an iPhone

1. Too many choices! Every time I thought I knew what I wanted, there was another model. Should I get the iPhone 8? How about the X or the XS or the XR?

2. Too expensive! Maybe I could justify it when I was working, but as a retired person, it felt foolish to spend that much money on a new iPhone when the older model did all that I thought I needed it to do.

3. Fear of being tethered to a battery charger—if you’ve ever gone out for the day and forgot the cable and battery, and come home with 8% of battery, you can relate.

4. Fear of losing that silly home button.

5. Epiphany – how many of these apps do I actually use? Why am I paying $1,000 for a new iPhone again?

However, life has gotten complicated, with a mix of Kindles, iPads, and even my ancient iPhone which makes a great emergency e-reader or grandchild entertainer as needed. So, okay, I can handle having a mix of Android and Apple products. But how did we end up with a phone that I had never heard of until a week before buying one? Mike did some research and kept coming across the One Plus 6T, so we had to go check it out -- and ended up buying two of them.

5 things I LOVE about the OnePlus6T

1. It has a BIG screen – with a gorgeous, sharp display and a very responsive keyboard.

2. The Apps are in alphabetical order. Wow! Easy to find. There's even a Google search bar.

3. The phone is Amazon and Google Friendly – I use lots of their apps already. Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Keep, Google Maps, Amazon Kindle, etc.

4. Did I mention the excellent battery life? It's almost noon and I'm at 94% and feel a little giddy!

5. The phone features are very user friendly. You can add family and friends to the speed dial; then, the phone learns who you call frequently, and adds those folks to your speed dial list as well.

I'm always going to be a hybrid person, with a mix of Apple and Android devices. I may even buy another iPhone, but I won't spend $1,000 on it.

First published on Blogging Basics, January 26, 2019