For those of you who’ve attended my workshops or other presentations you may recall a little comical shtick I have regarding my lack of a modern mobile device.

I’ve always had a cell phone but only ever used it to make phone calls and the occassional text message.

Because I know my (limited) way around a computer and seem to have a grip on this social media stuff, folks assume I know my way around the mobile world too. I don’t.

It’s not that I’m stupid. I’m just not particularly seduced by gadgets and toys. They have little relevance in my life since I’m usually always in front of a computer. I just haven’t needed an iPhone.

For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain: during my social media presentations I mention mobile access to sites such as Twitter and Facebook but without much personal experience because ‘my partner won’t let me have an iPhone.’

I say it in all my presentations because it usually gets a good laugh but also because it was true.

Until last weekend.

My other half said to me ‘You work hard. You deserve a good phone.’ I was astonished. I have been unsuccessfully campaigning for an upgrade to my little Sony Ericcson (which looks something like this) for close to a year. I even persuaded my partner’s boss (who has a bit of an important job at our regional daily newspaper) to remark in a meeting that I really needed an iPhone.

Turns out I didn’t really want an iPhone anyway.

Presented with the choice of owning a shiny new smartphone I really had no idea what I wanted nor what I would really do with it once I got it.

I put word out on Facebook and Twitter asking for advice about what smartphone I should get.

The replies were wide-ranging. Here are a couple.

I still had no clue what to do so I got on the interwebs and looked at which smartphones were available from my mobile provider, Rogers.

I narrowed it down to a handful that ‘looked’ interesting.

A couple of friends had also strongly recommended I get an Android phone. Don’t ask me what that is. Click that little link back there to find out.

What I liked about Android was the idea of open source development – allowing anyone to create apps. That just struck me as a positive philosophy. Let’s face it, I had little else to go on.

And so this past Sunday we headed to the Rogers store and I walked out the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy Captivate. It looks pretty. Everything is displayed in HD quality and when I was fiddling with it in the store it seemed fairly intuitive to use. I’m not an impulsive buyer so I played around with a few devices until I was sure I was making the right choice.

With my purchase made, I certainly felt different – like I’d finally arrived in the 21st century. It felt like everyone else was using this kind of gadget except me.

Now that I have the phone – and bear in mind it’s only been a couple of days – I’m still not sure what to do with it.

I checked my email on the bus on the way to work yesterday and felt all ‘mobile.’

But any new-found enthusiasm was quickly squashed when my phone rang yesterday and I couldn’t work out how to answer it. Honestly, I’m not a technophobe.

Conversely it was in that same moment that I realised how vital it is that I have this phone.