Technology Makes Life So Much Easier

Kathy has been carrying two cell phones for over a year now. One is the phone she uses, currently with T-Mobile, and the other, formerly with Verizon, contains all her contacts. Back when she left Verizon, the T-Mobile tech was unable to transfer her contacts from her Verizon phone. (It did not have a SIM card.) Rather than endure the tedium of re-entering all her contacts, she elected to just carry both phones. Some contacts were lost through attrition. Some were transferred by receiving calls from them. And some she had to look up on the old phone and type into the new phone to call.

So I got Kathy a new phone for Christmas. The tech at the T-Mobile store was exceptionally helpful and managed to transfer all contacts from both old phones onto the new one which made Kathy very happy. Plus, the keyboard on this phone makes sending text messages to Josh a lot easier, much to his chagrin. Apparently there's a teen requirement that says you're only supposed to text with people of your own age group or something. Josh, not the most verbal person in the world, rarely answers his phone, but he will answer text messages. Well, mom just wants to communicate with her son.

Anyway, Kathy has the manual out and she's learning all the capabilities of her new toy. Well, we have to try out that voice recognition now, don't we? So how did it go? (BTW, she has two numbers for me in her contact list, my work and cell.)

Phone: "Command please."

Kathy: "Call."

P: "What number?"

K: "Five-oh-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two."

P: "Did you say five-five-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say five-four-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say five-nine-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?'

K: "No. Call five-oh-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two."

P: "Please try again."

K: "Call."

P: "Command please."

K: "Call five-oh-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two."

P: "Did you say five-five-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say five-four-nine-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say five-five-five-four-five-eight-three-four-five-two?'

Now Josh offers some advice. "You're supposed to say 'zero' instead of 'oh'. Just tell it to call Hank."

K: "Call Hank Greer."

P: "Command please."

K: "Call Hank Greer."

P: "Did you say call doctor (name starts with "H")?"

K: "No. Call Hank."

P: "Did you say call (randomly selected name)?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say call (still another wrong name)?"

K: "No. Call Hank." In her exasperation Kathy is gradually increasing the
volume of her voice and moving the phone closer to her mouth.

P: "Please try again."

K: "Call Hank."

P: "Command please."

K: "Call."

P: "What number?"

K: "Call Hank."

P: "Did you say call (randomly selected name from contact list)?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say call (another randomly selected name from contact list)?"

K: "No."

P: "Did you say call (yet another randomly selected name from contact
list)?"

K: "No. Call Hank."

P: "Please try again."

K: "Call."

P: "Command please."

K: "Call Hank."

P: "Did you say call Hank Greer?"

K: "Yes!" A more joyful, triumphant and relieved "Yes" has never been
spoken before.

P: "Which number?"

Kathy screams in frustration giving me and Josh a good reason for busting out laughing.