Back to Life without an iPhone

Back in 2011 I went for 87 days without an iPhone which was a challenge but has stuck with me and always made me more aware of how much time I spend glued to my tiny screen.

Well anyway, i’m running the same experiment again, but this time it’s not through choice, it’s because the battery in my 26 month old iPhone7 is broken and needs to be replaced. Apple did run a programme for a while to replace batteries for £25, but that now seems to be over and it’s a cost of nearly £57 for a new battery.

So it’s back out with the trusty Nokia 6300, that still works, despite being in a drawer for the last eight years. I charged it up and it worked first time. It’s been on my desk all day with a few calls made and received and it’s still showing 100% battery.

The camera on it is useless. It claims to deliver a 1600×1200 image size at the highest resolution. It won’t connect to my mac via bluetooth and when you send an image via multimedia, it scales it to 640×480. So it’s basically a standalone phone with little connectivity.

So one day in, what have I missed?

Not much to be honest.

1. Whatsapp – but only because we have a little group that goes for a walk on a Monday night and I have missed out on the organisation of that, so I hope they don’t forget me.
2. Coinbase – to see how my truly dreadful investment in Crypto is doing – but i’m sure I could check online anyway
3. Fitbit – I have been a bit obsessed with steps and heart rate for a few years and whilst my actual fitbit measures it, I can’t see the weekly figures.

And what positives have I noticed already?

1. There is NO DOUBT I am less distracted and have freed up more time to work
2. You work in a more linear fashion where you complete a job and then go onto the next one. I have genuinely only checked for new emails when I have finished what I’m doing, rather than as soon as they arrive. Very few emails need instantaneous feedback and most can wait a little while, for a better response
3. You don’t really need Google Maps for 99% of your journeys – But I always seemed to have it on, justifying it in my head by saying I needed to know about traffic.

Apple have said 5-7 working days for the return of the iPhone, so I’ll see how I get on. That’s not exactly a speedy service for a phone I use for work. The cynic in me would say they are trying to trick you into a getting a new phone. In truth, I almost fell for it too, but thought this would be more valuable to see how life without an iPhone goes again.

It went off this morning and is due back by the middle of next week.

Let’s see if I can cope.