A word doesn’t exist in the English language that accurately describes the contempt I feel for my iPhone. I’ll have to make one up: flerm!
My reasons:
- The iPhone requires its user to buy into a narrow world the corporation created, like a cult. When I needed my battery replaced, Apple refused because they said there was evidence of water damage inside. Days after I took the phone to a third-party provider and bought a new battery (at double Apple’s price), Apple changed its policy to “no questions asked” about water damage, etc. Flerm!
- When it’s not teasing consumers with its upcoming innovations, Apple is bragging about how much money it’s making.
- Despite what they’re called, only a tiny fraction of worker bees in the Apple Store are actual geniuses.
However, having had a few iPhones over the years, I find them easy to use. I wasn’t looking forward to making the switch. After consulting the Twitterverse and a few trusted geeks and nerds, I decided to go with an Android but I couldn’t settle on one. That’s where Travis came in.
FM96 listeners will know Travis. He was the evening guy there for several years before he got caught up on one of the annual Corus personnel purges. Travis now works at the cellular kiosk in the Clarke Rd. Walmart and he found a good fit for my needs. The Huawei P20 Lite phone, for free, (meaning its cost is built into the plan over time) and a Fido plan that includes unlimited talk/text and 3 gigs of data, for about half of what I paid with Bell. A $150 Walmart gift card bonus was a nice surprise. (I have the same phone number etc. by the way)
I had never even heard of Huawie (pronounced wah-way) until a few months ago. It owns about 10% of the market share and at times this year, was shipping more phones than Apple. And the learning curve I was dreading? Simple as could be. Sometimes you have to swipe in a different direction than on the iPhone and you wake the phone with a side button, not a home button at the bottom. It’s no big deal. There’s a Pro version of the P20 that apparently has the best camera on the market. The only drawback is trying to find accessories. The marketplace hasn’t caught up to it yet. But that’s what Amazon is for. Hello Huawei and farewell flerm!