Apprehensive About Upgrading Your Phone?
Really, it all started with a change of address. I'd been meaning to upgrade my venerable mobile for ages but, what with one thing and another, I just hadn't got around to it.
Hence, it was only when informing my mobile provider about my new address that I was – finally – prompted to make enquiries about replacing my battle-weary Samsung Galaxy III. By this stage, I think it had adopted some of the traits of its owner: battery no longer quite what it used to be and the camera images were becoming dull!
So, almost before I knew it, I had become the proud, if slightly nervous, owner of a brand new Huawei P9 boasting five cameras (don't ask!) and an Osprey 2 4GEE WIFI with built-in charger. Now, that may sound perfectly simple to those in the know, but as someone who can remember the very first mobiles with car-sized batteries and, later, the infamous Vodaphone brick, I must admit I'm both impatient with – and rather daunted by – the brave new world of communications technology.
It is, of course, exciting to receive a new phone. But, in my experience, the downside to upgrading is the whole business of setting up emails, transferring images and preserving contact lists. Almost inevitably, as soon as the Huawei boxes arrived on the doorstep, so too the grey mist descended and memories of hours talking to customer helplines came flooding back, along with a palpable sense of dread. I can distinctly remember the overwhelming desire to take a hammer to a previous phone that simply wouldn't cooperate with me!
However, if all this strikes a chord with you, don't be put off. Help is at hand in the form of a friendly local company called Fingertips, which I'd used before when setting up a computer. That experience had been both educational and, dare I say it, even enjoyable.
Fingertips is a technology support business with an expert team that specialises in all sectors of 21 st century computer and digital technology, such as phones, TVs, sound systems, wireless routing – they can even digitise your photographic collection.
As I explained my latest predicament to Catherine Lister, Fingertips owner, I could almost see her smiling down the phone. Having patiently assisted me with my computer, she remembered only too well what I'm like when confronted by new technology. She duly booked in one of her team to visit me at home.
At the appointed time, Juan arrived and, with huge relief, I presented him with my old and new phones and all the assorted accessories. After a few questions about what I needed, he began by demonstrating how to use my gmail account to download an app onto my old phone that would store my existing data.
This app is called CM backup and it despatched my contacts, phone history and apps to a cloud-based store. It could also have saved my picture library, but since I already had Dropbox that wasn't necessary. Although the CM app is free, at one point I was asked to enter my credit card details. This is well worth noting. Since my phone was an android, I was able to skip this stage, but Juan pointed out that with iphones this is often not the case.
Preliminaries done, it was time to bring my shiny new Huawei to life by inserting the sim card. Unlike my old phone, there was no need to remove the back of the phone; it was simply a case of opening the pop-out sim slot using the tiny pin key provided.
I must confess, I had actually tried to do this earlier with no success and then, for fear of breaking something, had hastily put the card back in the box. Smiling, Juan explained that I needed to press the key more firmly. It worked – and out came the delicate card tray.
“OK,” said Juan. “Now you have to pop in the Nano sim.” “Nano sim?” I replied, puzzled. Juan then explained that what starts as a sim card, breaks down to a smaller card called a Micro sim, which in turn breaks down still further to a Nano sim. It was like the smallest Russian doll you'll ever encounter.
New sim in, we then went straight to my google playstore, downloaded the CM backup app onto my new phone and accessed the information we'd previously saved from my old phone. Hey presto – everything appeared safe and sound. Juan actually caught me smiling at my new phone. And, by the time, we had set up and tested three email accounts and selected ring tones, I was beaming like a Cheshire cat.
And what about the Osprey2 4GEE WIFI that I mentioned earlier? My mobile provider had sent me this posh-looking yellow box as a loyalty gift. “These are great,” confirmed Juan. “All you have to do is charge it up, pop in the additional sim and you're away.” This clever ‘toy' allows you to plug in your mobile wherever you are and you'll automatically have 4GEE WIFI – and what's more you can re-charge your phone on the go.
A few weeks on, and I'm still getting fully acquainted with my new phone. But, I'm really enjoying using it and, most importantly, I'm no longer scared of its state-of-the-art features. Thank you Fingertips!
Advertorial
July 13, 2016
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