The Katana lives!
So I managed to drop my Katana phone through the wood decking of the patio at Henry's last night. Nobody could quite reach it through the narrow slots where it lay half-buried in the molten goo, so I zipped back there this morning armed with a flexible-extendible-clampy-snake-thingy:
Success! I got this device from Working Assets Long Distance (the liberal-leaning phone company now known as CREDO Mobile (which seems to be having a switch deal right now) when it was hot stuff, back in 2006, I think it was. Since then, it has gone through the washer and dryer; sat overnight at the bottom of a frozen puddle; taken several dives into lakes, fountains, and so forth; crashed with me on a motorcycle; and been dropped countless times onto the floor. I've dropped it while scootering and driven over it at least once with a car. How would you feel after such abuse? Check it out:
Yes, I posed the camera on my heavy bag. Seems appropriate for an old fighter who keeps on doing its thing battle after battle. No, the photo isn't blurry; the phone really is that scratched up.
Despite all this, the thing still works great... except for how it occasionally doesn't ring, and the anticipatory-typing thing only works with words you've already entered, and... okay, it's ancient and kinda crappy, and now it bears new battle-scars and smells of old, wet, beer-ey cigarette ashes. I must admit that I've been thinking of joining the Smart Phone Generation. Heck, I bet there are kids out there who've never even seen a flip-phone.
But after all it's been through, I can't bear to toss it aside! And the butt-dialing... as much fun as that can be (I'm looking at you, Matt J, who accidentally serenaded me last week), I don't look forward to an exposed screen on a device that I carry everywhere. I mean, look at this thing! Would a smart phone survive all that?
Yesterday, I was ready to ditch the thing. Now it's earned a reprieve. Perhaps I'll be like those crusty old reporters who refuse to give up their Royal Portable typewriters, obstinately carrying around my trusty blue Katana deep into the 21st century.
Chris