I finally got a smart phone. My old dumb phone was about to die and rather than spend money on a new dumb phone, I decided to spend money on a new smart phone.
My first decision was which kind to get: iPhone, Android, or Windows? I went for Android, because I use Google for so many things.
The next decision was which actual phone to get. I asked about the HTC One, but they only had the two newest models and they were too expensive. So I was going to settle for a Samsung. But then, the super helpful store employee from Afghanistan (did YOU buy your smart phone from a guy from Afghanistan?) leveled with me. He was basically like, look, if you don't care about brand that much, you can get a lot more phone for your dirham if you buy an off-brand. And that is how I came home with a lovely phone from the Chinese brand ZTE, with more camera, memory, and other cool stuff than the equivalent Samsung, for much, much less money.
(The first thing I did when I got home was Google ZTE, though, to make sure it wasn't a total piece of junk. Turns out it's legit...enough. The only weird things I've noticed is that "frog" was misspelled under the ringtones as "forg," and you can draw Chinese characters on the keyboard to input them into text messages. Which is actually kind of cool.)
Finally, I had to decide whether to keep using the phone on a pre-pay basis, or spring for a data plan. Data plans are not that expensive here - Jeremy had one when we first moved here for 100dhs/month - around $27.50/month. But pre-pay is just so much cheaper that I couldn't convince myself to get a data plan. So I use WiFi to do whatever at home or other places where I can connect securely, and turn off data so it doesn't use up my credit anywhere else.
And now I'm a happy lady and I feel so fancy with a smart phone. Especially since you can't help but feel fancy when the selfie beautify function is turned on. Mmmm, plastic-y.
My first decision was which kind to get: iPhone, Android, or Windows? I went for Android, because I use Google for so many things.
The next decision was which actual phone to get. I asked about the HTC One, but they only had the two newest models and they were too expensive. So I was going to settle for a Samsung. But then, the super helpful store employee from Afghanistan (did YOU buy your smart phone from a guy from Afghanistan?) leveled with me. He was basically like, look, if you don't care about brand that much, you can get a lot more phone for your dirham if you buy an off-brand. And that is how I came home with a lovely phone from the Chinese brand ZTE, with more camera, memory, and other cool stuff than the equivalent Samsung, for much, much less money.
(The first thing I did when I got home was Google ZTE, though, to make sure it wasn't a total piece of junk. Turns out it's legit...enough. The only weird things I've noticed is that "frog" was misspelled under the ringtones as "forg," and you can draw Chinese characters on the keyboard to input them into text messages. Which is actually kind of cool.)
Finally, I had to decide whether to keep using the phone on a pre-pay basis, or spring for a data plan. Data plans are not that expensive here - Jeremy had one when we first moved here for 100dhs/month - around $27.50/month. But pre-pay is just so much cheaper that I couldn't convince myself to get a data plan. So I use WiFi to do whatever at home or other places where I can connect securely, and turn off data so it doesn't use up my credit anywhere else.
And now I'm a happy lady and I feel so fancy with a smart phone. Especially since you can't help but feel fancy when the selfie beautify function is turned on. Mmmm, plastic-y.
