Night Night Nokia

I have recently been spending more time than normal in cell phone stores.  My husband switched from a name-brand company to a second-tier carrier about a year ago.  I didn't switch with him because I wasn't confident in the service.  But after a year in which he's had no problems I decided I would switch onto his plan.  I also needed a new phone.  I am not someone who goes through phones quickly - as I have recently observed that some people do.  

Apparently some companies allow an upgrade every 3 months and there are some who walk in, grab a phone, and then deal with how to use it.  Not me.  I want to research the features and look for something that meets the way I do life.  

My very first smart phone was a Sony Ericcson p910a that I bought unlocked online.  It was a smart phone before phones were smart.  When that finally became too quirky (it never did work quite right once it went into the pool with me to rescue my child who was drowning during swimming lessons) I bought a Nokia Lumia 710 (unlocked).  The very fact that I'm saying unlocked dates things somewhat because apparently now all phones are unlocked.  

Both of these phones had the desireable feature of allowing me to work on Word documents on the phone.  Being a writer, that is important to me.

So the Lumia was getting to the point where I couldn't do things in the browser because it was too old and I asked at the Microsoft store and they said there is no way to upgrade the browser.  SO - I set Spring Break as my time for making the big switch.  I'll be off work and can have time to really get to know the new phone.  Last weekend I started the preliminary shopping for a new phone.  

On Monday after work I realized my phone was completely dead and wouldn't recharge.  Finally we jacked with the jack enough and got it charged.  Wednesday I decided I wasn't going to rely on holding my tongue the right way in order to get my phone charged between now and Spring Break so we went to the wireless store to make the switch earlier than planned.

Ironically my old phone had no bars in the store.  I needed to retrieve my old account number so I went outside and still had no bars.  This happens from time to time and is always resolved by powering down the phone and then turning it on again.   So I did.  But the phone never got passed the Nokia loading screen.  It died right there in my hands - right at the hospital.

So now I've got the fancy LG Stylo 2 Plus and I love that I can write on the screen because I am a big list maker.  I'm a little hesitant to use it until I get a case for it.  And I'm a little annoyed that I have to squeeze in learning how to use it amidst everything else I have going on before Spring Break.  But more than that I'm wondering - should I have paid extra for this phone instead of taking the free phone.  I mean, if I only get 5 months use out of it before someone cradles me as I draw my last breath was that worth $60 (not to mention the time I'll waste learning everything new).