Two weeks ago, I was counting down the days until I got my iPhone 4S. It wasn’t just that I still had the original iPhone,  that an amoeba was swimming on my screen, or that it could no longer hold a charge beyond two emails (read, not sent); it was that I was lusting to be back on the trendy side of technology.

Last week I was a regular joe with a semi-smart phone. Now I’m a digital diva.

The pristine white phone arrived as promised on October 14, packaged in a well-designed white box, with clever interior packaging for the extra wires and buds. God bless Jony Ive. It was so gorgeous I was afraid to take off the plastic coverings front and back. I took a deep breath and turned it on. Duh. I forgot it had to be charged first.  Hours later, I tried again. Uh-oh. A tutorial. Go on line. Click this. Check that. Done. Done. Done. So why still no service? Redo. Re-redo. I called Apple. It was 9:45 pm. I gave them all my info and they decided it was an AT&T matter. They switched me over. I held on while all agents were busy.  Suddenly, the message changed. Business hours were 7 am to 10 pm. Please call back tomorrow.

Day 2. I finally got connected. But then the phone didn’t sync. Another Apple call and I was up and running! I talked to Siri. She answered me back. How cool am I! I took to the road and tried calling from the car. My car has Bluetooth. My phone didn’t work. I sat in my driveway and actually read the car manual to input the phone. It still didn’t connect.  I gave up and put the phone in my purse. Even if I couldn’t talk to anyone, I still had Siri to keep me company. I had stock options scrolling across the screen. I had a camera that took amazing pictures. I had face time. And enough battery power to last through any number of calls I couldn’t make from the driver’s seat.

That night, when my favorite IT man came home for dinner, he synced the phone with the car. I didn’t even ask how. Now I was golden. All I needed was a case.

Amazon had great ones. If I wanted to pay $17 for shipping. The AT&T store had boring ones. Kate Spade had cutesy ones. I needed something as simple and stunning as the phone. White with no facing. I surfed. I shopped. I obsessed. And then I found the perfect, white matte ZeroChroma Teatro. Finally, I was ready to make my digital debut. I called my most techno-savvy daughter…using Siri, of course.

“Hi, honey!”

“Mom?”

“Hi! I’m on my new phone.”

“Mom?”

“What’s the matter?”
“Mom? I can’t hear you. Turn up your volume.”

I hung up.  I wonder where the volume button is.

R.I.P. A shot of my old iPhone taken with my new 4S.

Send your favorite iPhone adventures to me at wendy@sandboxsummit.org.