My Road to Android

Editor's Note: Today we're welcoming Allison Gingras as a Tech Talk columnist.

Remember when the cool girls in middle or high school pranced around in their Jordache jeans, and you begrudgingly put your comb in the back pocket of your Wranglers? Well, I do. It wasn’t that my family couldn’t afford it, my mother was just, let’s say, frugal. Why pay double (or more), for a product that does the same thing?

While she had a point, I knew the Wranglers of the 80s were not doing for my figure what my friend’s Jordache jeans were doing for hers. It is interesting to note, with hindsight, which product is not only still available over 20 years later, but has rebranded and molded be become a more popular choice.

While this analogy is not perfect, with regard to Android vs. iPhone, it does speak to my own journey of moving from what I coined the “stupid” phone world into the today’s popular smartphone market.

It was my personal view that the iPhone was the Jordache of the day, and I had a hard time justifying spending the money, waiting out the market for a long time to see what else would be developed.

So began my arduous discernment process to determine which phone was right for me. I recognize that buying a smartphone isn’t on the same level as a vocation decision, but since I like to include God in all aspects of my life, “discernment” seemed the proper term in this circumstance.

God, ever faithful to my prayers, made my choice very easy.

While watching television one late night, a commercial came on for a special through Pantech: for less than the cost of one iPhone, I could get not only a smartphone, but also a tablet. My mother’s frugal genetics kicked in, and my choice was made. I was online within minutes ordering the Pantech Burst smart phone, and Pantech Element tablet. Thus began my journey into Apps, Android operating system, and the realization that not every App was available for my new toy, oops better rephrase that in case my husband reads this, I mean my new home management assistant.