Smart phone? No thanks.

While I like the idea of a smart phone, Ive been disappointed by the reality, which is probably deliberate on behalf of the makers. If they were really any good, you would never need to upgrade, so every new phone has to have a glitch that the next one will fix. If I wanted to take photos on my phone, or play games on it, or send e-mails, or read e-books, navigate, surf the web, socially mediate or look up a Jamie Oliver recipe, I'd buy one, but I just need a phone really. If I had an hour to kill on a train or a bus I might be tempted to check in with the Cambridge Bird Club, I guess, but I don't have that slot in my day.
I was an early adopter of the digital diary and to-do list using a PDA. Do you remember them? My first was a Psion that folded like a mini laptop and had a proper QWERTY keyboard. They still look cool to me. The company stopped making them and was absorbed into Nokia eventually. They invented the Symbian operating system too.

My second was a Palm Pilot which was not as nice, but soon the smart phones came along. My brother in law in Amsterdam is called Joost and he is a hi-tec sort of a guy. He's been passing me his old Nokia smart phones for some years and I have really got on well with them, syncing with Outlook on my PC or iCal on my Mac.

When I travelledWhile I like the idea of a smart phone, Ive been disappointed by the reality, which is probably deliberate on behalf of the makers. If they were really any good, you would never need to upgrade, so every new phone has a glitch that the next one will fix. If I wanted to take photos on my phone, or play games on it, or send e-mails, or read e-books, navigate, surf the web, socially mediate or look up a Jamie Oliver recipe, I'd buy one, but I just need a phone really. If I had an hour to kill on a train or a bus I might be tempted to check in with the Cambridge Bird Club, I guess, but I don't have that slot in my day.

My latest phone looks like a Blackberry but runs on Windows. It's got a nice little keyboard and a bright little screen which I can read without my glasses. BUT the user-friendliness ends there. Nothing is where you would expect it to be. I still can't find a list of missed calls on it, but the worst thing is that it doesn't sync with my computers or with Google Calendars.

So I've gone back to a proper diary which is great because it has a picture in it by my son, Nick. I have started making paper to-do lists as well. It's like a whole new world has opened up for me. I'm free of the demands of digital, the need to update software and constant need for fresh batteries or a re-charch. My colleagues are free of those annoying little beeps and clicks during meetings and they get my full attention, poor things.

Someone will tell me that I just need a better phone, but I don't want one. If I was on that train now I'd be looking out of the window at the flooded fields, watching the light change on distant hills and dreaming of a walk in the country.

To Do List

• Buy post-its
• Tippex
• Pens
• Guardian
• Coffee