Tech is a young human’s game

Time was, I’d spend hours tinkering with my computer stuff. I’d tweak the order my Extensions launched on the classic Mac OS to optimize my system. I’d figure out how to minimize fan noise. Once, I even tracked down a hardware bug where very exact conditions caused my Bluetooth and Wifi to conflict, prompting a motherboard swap.

I recently purchased an iPhone 7. The first one I received worked for a couple days then had a video failure. Apple sent me a replacement. I used the replacement for half a day, now it won’t connect to a cellular network.

I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s not fun. I just want stuff that works. I don’t want to ever have to deal with support reps and exchanges. I’ve always been one to want the new and the shiny, but now I just want the known and reliable.

Tonight I’ll be going home and swapping my SIM into my iPhone 6 that I thankfully haven’t sold yet. It works (though, it wasthe third one of that model I received under warranty). I haven’t decided if I’ll keep trying with this iPhone 7 or just return it. This has definitely soured my enjoyment of this purchase and I will probably be just as happy with my old phone, but I’d have to drive to Short Pump and talk to people.

UPDATE: Apparently a “hard reset” on an iPhone is different then turning it off and on again. A hard reset is when you hold down two buttons on your phone and it resets. It never occurred to me that these would be different actions. So, I’m keeping my new phone, but I still feel Tech Old.

Sam Davies @mrbeefy