I feel like device manufacturers have moved entirely away from practicality and utilitarianism. Everyone loves a shiny new device, but I’m so tired of devices that feel like they aren’t designed to be USED.
A few months ago, we splurged on an entirely frivolous device: we bought a tablet. We don’t actually NEED a tablet, because the work we do is on laptops and phones. But as a chronically ill person, it would be nice to rest in bed and be able to watch things on a screen larger than my phone. (I could watch on a laptop, but that wasted valuable hotspot data.)
So we bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A, because it was on the more affordable side, and we got a fairly decent deal to add it to our cell plan. We use it every night. We’ve stopped watching TV and I’ve stopped wasting valuable energy trying to figure out how to download things to a device that can be watched in bed. Honestly, I kind of wish we’d done this sooner, but it’s such a frivolous thing. And we aren’t very good at buying frivolous things.
This tablet is pretty good, but has limited on-board storage. We held off buying a micro SD card because money and frivolities, but this weekend we finally bought two 128 GB cards so we can download our favorites for enjoying when our signal sucks or the network is bogged down with other streaming RVers.
Of course we got a cozy little case for it, because we are klutzy and they never make these devices sturdy on their own. The case is slim, like the tablet itself, and it’s a pain to remove. This time, when I removed the case I (with my fairly limited strength) managed to physically bend the tablet and crack the back. Miraculously, the screen is still intact. (Thanks, liquid glass coating.) The display does look a little discolored around the edges.
Arrgh.
This is why we can’t have nice things.