An Android killed Ned Ludd.

In my last blog I pondered my descent into luddism. Technology was losing its shine and I couldn't see the point in a lot of the new stuff which seemed to me to serve no useful purpose. Over the past few days I have found a flickering ember of geekdom still smoulders inside.

As I mentioned, it was getting time for a new phone. My old one had just started to do strange things like drop into headset mode when there was no headset attached and drop out of headset mode when one was attached. Plus, the wife was also hinting about wanting to deal with the devil and get an iPhone. And a GPS for the car.

Now, the issue I had was neither of us are big mobile phone users, and phones such as the iPhone are only available on the larger planes, which I couldn't justify financially. While fending off the no-so-subtle hints from the other side of the matrimonial divide and trying to figure out the best way to replace the phones without paying money for plans I wouldn't need, Optus decided to drop the Samsung Galaxy S down to free on the $29 plan. This was ideal. I could justify the plan, I was able to convince the managing director that this was a better proposition than being locked into Apple-world; at least on a purely financial level; and it was a good phone. The deal was done and two new Samsung Galaxy S Android phones joined the household.

Having lived with it for around a week now, I must say that the inner geek has emerged. I have played with various settings and features and visited the app market and downloaded a few free ones. Yes, 99% or more of the apps are pretty pointless, but geez there are some nice little freebies in there. Even some of the outrageously expensive $3 apps look like they are useful and actually well done.

I have accessed my media centre and scheduled a recording standing in a park and I have even tried the GPS and found it actually quite good. Sure, it has the female voice telling me where and when to turn, but it is tolerable. I often prefer a different route to the one suggested, but unlike my usual human co-pilot, if I ignore the turn and plot my own course, the lady in the GPS just recalculates the journey and starts recommending alternatives. No arguments, no complaints, just compliance. I'm now thinking of marrying the GPS.

I have found that the blank screen stares at me mournfully, begging me to wave my hand magically across the glass to bring it to life. Technology has again put small, but definite hooks in me.

It even has achieved some degree of WAF when I was able to talk her through setting up a wireless access point while she was in Melbourne. For someone who is not overly technical, to set this up without major arguments, marriage counselling and threats of physical harm to the person who suggested we get the phone, is testament to how good they have designed it.

So, while I haven't gone all out and suddenly decided Facebook is interesting, or some other such radical departure from sanity, it has been nice to discover that a decent gadget can still arouse some degree of interest and excitement. Perhaps I have not descended all the way to luddism after all, perhaps my interest in technology has just become tempered and considered these days.

It's nice to be back on side with technology, even if it is in a less emotional way.