Today I learnt that spanking new phones with all the bells and whistles were not made for tech dinosaurs like my parents. It works out for my dad because he’s contented with just a simple phone that has call and text functions. However, for tech dinosaurs like my mum who wants the latest technology, it’s a whole different story.

Last May, my phone plan was up for re-contracting so I got her the Samsung Galaxy Spica — an Android phone. I think I was more excited than she was and in my mind I was thinking of all the wonderful things the phone could do. But, I failed to consider one thing. Yes, the phone can do “wonders,” but I never considered the needs of a tech dinosaur. The first problem came up when I called home a few months later and asked her about the phone. She said she was still using her old phone because she didn’t really know how to use the new one. *smack to forehead*

Well, now that I’m home for good, we decided to explore the new phone together. She told me that her contacts from her SIM card could be ported over, but not all the numbers were transferred. Say she saved two numbers under one name. Only the first number got ported over. To make things worse, I discovered that the contacts weren’t transferred straight away — as in put in SIM card, on the phone, and there, all your contacts are there. No, with this phone, you needed to click an option to import the contacts. Fine. The problem came when you did this step more than once. It created copies of the same number under each contact. When I wanted to delete all contacts to save the hassle of having to edit each contact one by one to remove the duplicated numbers, it didn’t have that option! So what now? Do I have to edit each contact for 200+ contacts?

Now, we wouldn’t have this problem if we just stuck to doing things the phone was made for in the first place. The phone is designed not to have that delete all function because you’re supposed to sync your contacts with your gmail contacts. Hey, it’s an Android phone. So duplicates will be removed easily via gmail. But hello, the needs of tech dinosaurs like my parents are different. They do not trust having sensitive information like telephone numbers stored on the computer, let alone the internet.

So now, I have to scour the internet for information on how to delete all contacts without having to hard reset the damn phone. Next, I’ll have to look for an app that allows contacts to be saved into the SIM card because the phone doesn’t have that option. It was made to store all contacts online remember?

Next time you want to get a phone for a tech dinosaur, remember that his/her needs are different from yours.