I draw the line at Snapchat

<p>I am not sure if I even know who I am anymore. I'm just lost.</p><p><br></p><p>First, in direct answer to your topic; with my second 'child' headed off to college this year I found a weird thing happening. The two departed children started Snapchatting their Mom daily. This was new. Then our youngest got involved. He often joined me in chastising his older Snapchat using siblings. But then I was… alone. For the first time in my life, Paul was correct (no, not just on this topic ;P ). Windows was holding me back.</p><p><br></p><p>A month later when I jumped out of a ride share and flung my backpack onto my shoulders my brain played a trick on me. I got the signal that I was letting the backpack strap loose to fall on my shoulders. In reality I was releasing my 950xl mid toss sending it 4 feet away onto sold cement.</p><p><br></p><p>The explosion was spectacular.</p><p><br></p><p>I have cracked the odd phone in my time (no Paul, I did not just call the 950xl odd). But this was killed. Parts of the screen refused to peel off the cement leaving gaps in the front. When reassembled the usual 'bzzt' told me it was trying to power up. But the screen remained dead.</p><p><br></p><p>I quickly popped the sim and SD card, broke the screen in two and deposited the 4 separate pieces into 4 unrelated garbage cans in different parts of the town during my day. Having a moment of silence for Windows phone at each drop.</p><p><br></p><p>I really think if it had not been for Snapchat I would have ordered an HP X3 on eBay for a few hundred dollars and gone on with my stubborn life. But the gang had created a snap group literally called 'Family (without Dad)'. Not kidding.</p><p><br></p><p>So when I borrowed my Wife's iPhone to check my email and found an offer for a Galaxy Note on Black Friday pricing ($150 CDN down, 30% off monthly fee for loyalty retention, $75 bill credit, free Google Home, 50% off case, bonus additional gig of data monthly) and the first store I enquired at had the much desired blue version – I sold my soul. I now have a Galaxy Note. I am – an Android user. And I have a Google home. I feel dirty just writing this.</p><p><br></p><p>So I am now on Snapchat. I snap to the group 'Family (now with Dad!!)' On Android. Like it or not. It's a nice phone. The build quality is nicer than the 950xl but similar to older – truer – Lumias. It has a Glance Screen like my Lumia. Face login is faster (if less secure) than Windows Hello – though retina login is still slow, similar to Lumia – so I use face. When face login fails in direct light (like my Lumia) I have fingerprint backup (like the HP X3). I can't live with random (or install) app order in the launcher so I use Microsoft Launcher to get alphabetical sort back. I have to use a Samsung account, Google account, Hotmail Account, Facebook account, Microsoft account and Office 365 account to keep all my data synced and archived (oh and something called sync.me just to keep the contacts from all of those places in the contacts app). And Samsung pay works really well here and saves me from carrying additional loyalty and payment cards everywhere I go. So I did not loose much of what I like and there are gains. But I have a hard time getting past the <span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: transparent;">Frankenstein</span>'s monster I pieced together. Windows just did this out-of-the-box.</p><p><br></p><p>And I must have missed the announcement because Cortana is now available on Android in Canada. So my cross-device sync hell is still alive and well. Just like before. Really, I assumed they were improving that for other platforms and just left Windows phone users behind. Nope. Just awful.</p><p><br></p><p>But Apps? Apps suck. Really. Aeroplan app will not save my recent searches (flight prices change so they have to be searched regularly) and requires a login after submitting the search form (the website asks for a login when you start). If you type your password wrong you have to start the search over when you finally type it correctly. The website works better. Best Buy. The app does not have the same category filters. If you look at TVs you see cables, furniture and wall-mounts with the TVs. Want to limit the results by price to get a better range of product. Too bad. The website is better. Facebook messenger – now with ads!, MyDisneyExperience, no accommodation search, I could go on. But really, Apps suck. Most often, I have to return to Edge (Edge knows my passwords). Right back to where I was on Windows. A phone with a web interface.</p><p><br></p><p>Oh well. At least I have Snapchat.</p>