iPhone 4s….Please Don’t Make Me Say Goodbye

Hey! Have you heard the news? Apple came out with a new iPhone last week! If you haven’t heard I will assume you just returned from a on a remote island with no internet, television, or news. Hope you enjoyed your holiday.  For everyone else, so, yeah, there’s a couple new iPhones out. Did you run out and get yours yet?

If you are an iPhone user, you know that Apple usually does a big operating system update right before the new phone comes out. True to form, Thursday saw the release of iOS 8. At 18:20 UK time I was downloading it on my 4s because I’m one of those people. Unfortunately, it was a healthy reminder of a few things:

1. Be leery about upgrading the OS on a phone that is the oldest model on the approved list.
2. I apparently need to upgrade my phone.
3. I’m addicted to my phone.

Let’s take this one point at time because the first two feed off each other leading us to the conclusion of the third point.

Just a suggestion if you own an iPhone 4s, think very carefully before you download iOS 8. Before I did the upgrade I performed the suggested steps of making sure I had plenty of memory available (bye bye photos of my favourite celebrity crush, music I rarely listen to, and apps that are no longer amusing) and backing it up on my computer. The upgrade went smoothly which is always good news in iPhone update land. However, my poor phone hasn’t been the same since.

Have you ever watched a cat try to rid itself of a hairball? It’s not a quick “cough, cough, oh look what I’ve left on your carpet.” It’s more like a slow and agonising process that, if you are lucky, gives you plenty of time to find a towel or newspaper to push under your gagging cat’s face. (If I was a really good blogger, I’d go find a funny gif of a cat chocking up a hairball, but I’m not going to Google search that!) So, if you’ve seen this phenomenon you’ll understand how my phone has been since installing the new OS.  It seems like every action or command is like another hairball and my phone is the poor cat trying to cough it out.  It’s kind of sad because this phone and I have been through a lot in the past three years. It’s been my constant companion and now I’m basically strangling it with an OS it wasn’t designed to handle.

Now, I could revert back to the former OS. Apparently, Apple is making that easy if you do it quickly. But, like I told a friend who suggested this to me, once I upgrade, I’m committed. I don’t go back.

This leads me to point #2….

Apple has a way of letting you know when your phone is on the brink of becoming a paperweight. They are kind enough to come out with at least one new model a year while not making the older models obsolete immediately. Sure, if you don’t upgrade to the newest model right away you are not nearly as cool as those people who queue up outside the Apple Store the week before New Release Day. But, let’s face it, are any of us really that cool? (Oh, how we need a Sarcasm font!)

I’ve been perfectly content with my 4s for the past three years. It’s a good phone. Trustworthy, loyal, hardworking… (Oops! I jumped ahead to point #3). Anyways, it’s been a very good phone. I barely twitched when the 5 and 5s came out. But now, Apple is letting me know that my time with this phone is coming to an end. It’s subtly turning my sweet phone into a desk ornament or a rather heavy MP3 player.  They ease us older phone users into this by continually upgrading the OS until our older phone starts doing the hairball gag. That’s the sign that our phone has become antiquated. iPhone 4 users got that nudge with the last update; now it’s the 4s user’s turn.

I’m not really complaining about this. As someone who has embraced the wonders of technology, I’m all for Apple phones moving forward, getting better, or as some people will say, catching up with Samsung. I’ve already stated that I am that person who immediately downloads the new OS (even when her tech friends admonish her for it!) I always want to know what new things my phone will be doing or how it will look. I love that stuff.  So, I have no gripe with the fact that my phone’s hardware can no longer handle the new and, hopefully, improved stuff.  I just really wish it hadn’t happened RIGHT NOW!

So point #3…this is where we get a little psychological and confessional….

I have very few dependencies. I am completely addicted to coffee and/or tea. Carbs are a necessity. I’m a little obsessive about Sherlock and listening to music. Other than that, I’m pretty vice-free with one final exception. I’m addicted to my phone. I depend on it for just about everything. It’s how I keep in contact with friends and family, it’s where I keep my schedule, it’s my dictionary, my music player, my alarm, my weather forecaster, it’s how I manage to get around London without being totally lost, and it’s the thing that keeps me amused on the Tube so I don’t inadvertently make eye contact with another person. And, as a sad indicator of my love life, it’s what sleeps next to me at night (no bedside table!).

This dependency started with my first iPhone. I know exactly how and why it started but even with that “factor” resolving itself, the dependency is still there. I have come to the point where I rely on it for everything and feel really uncomfortable when it’s not near. There was even a semi-breakdown on Oxford Street back in January when I was not having any luck finding a way to unlock the phone so I could use a SIM card from a UK phone carrier. I am forever grateful to my sister-in-law for telling me that AT&T will unlock it for free, if you ask nicely.

This is why, when the poor thing is not working at its former capacity, I become a bit concerned. As cool as the new iPhone 6 looks and oh how I would love to have a shiny new toy to obsess over, I’m not really ready to spend the money to obtain said toy. I know our time together is very limited. It will have to be replaced soon if only to put it out of its growing misery. I’m just not sure I’m ready to let go of my old friend the 4s. Sigh….