The Battery Lottery

Some time ago I gently inveighed against the iPhone because it doesn't have a replaceable battery. That, along with no memory card socket, prevented me from joining the Apple cellphone bandwagon. After a dalliance with Motorola and Blackberry, I bought the Samsung Note 2, the Note 4, took a brief excursion into Galaxy S land as a temporary expedient for a broken screen, and then fianlly got a <STOP>

Nope - too soon. And far from "finally."

It's no secret what I want(ed) in a cellphone: A camera with good resolution, a music player with capacious memory, the ability to send and receive email, and a large screen with good resolution. (Is someone thinking "and the ability to make phone calls"? To me that's more nuisance than feature.) As I have progressed from the Motorola Q with its execrable camera to the Note 4, more of my desiderata have been requited. With the advent of 256GB SDHC memory cards, I can finally retire my iPod Classic and carry essentially my entire music collection with me. With the advent of high resolution screens in the Samsung Note series, it's hard to imagine wanting better resolution, although I wouldn't object to a somethat larger phone. The camera in the Note 4 is quite good; short of turning the back of the camera into a much larger light collecting area*, it's unlikely to improve drastically. What's left?

Precious little, really. If it weren't for the marketing geniuses of Samsung, I'd keep my Note 4, replacing the battery every year or two for ten bucks, and remain content. Of course there's no place in this world for a consumer being merely content. He must want more. MORE! And, tragically I do. I want longer battery life and faster charging, a bigger screen on the same size phone, a better camera even if it isn't that much better. Oh, and please make it waterproof.

One Waterproof Phone With a Bigger, Faster-Charging Battery and a Better Camera and Edge-to-Edge Screen Coming Up

That would be the Samsung Note 7. I skipped the Note 5 because Samsung foolishly eliminated the memory card socket. I skipped the Note 6 because Samsung, foolishly or otherwise, skipped that number to bring it into sync with the Galaxy series. In the Note 7, the mamory card came back! I was no longer content with my now obsolete and uncool Note 4. I ordered the Note 7 immediately upon its announcement, and received it the first day it was available. Great screen! Great battery life! Full of "features." Fast! Samsung, reading my mind, even offered a purchase incentive: a 256GB memory card. I did have two reservations, however. The minor one was that it used the new USB-C connector, which was incompatible with all the chargers, gadgets, and cables I had accumulated over the years. That was solved quickly by ordering a bunch of micro-USB to USB-C adapters on eBay. Almost free. The other? A non-removable battery. I reconciled myself to this misfeature by accepting it as necessary for making the Note 7 waterproof, and with the realization that, in my experience, I would probably replace the phone before the battery gave out.

The Note 7 is a great phone. I <alternate fact> am very happy with it. </alternate fact>

Why am I telling this lie? Find out when the saga continues on logical tomorrow.

Helpful Diet Hint

Nutella is the perfect dessert**. You can eat it with any utensil, and no preparation or cleanup is required since it's edible right from the bottle. One problem, though, if you're trying to gain or lose weight, is calorie-counting. If you refrigerate it, as I contrarily do, "tbsp" becomes meaningless. How do you know how many calories you are eating? I date the lid with a Sharpie when I start a bottle. Dividing the number of days by the number of "servings" and multiplying by 200 gives you average calories per day. ** (It's a prepper's dream, too, since it's calorie-dense and lasts for years. How many? I found out by accident; let's just say the expiration date is off by an order of magnitude at least.)