Greetings, citizens of the Twenty-First Century! I would beg your attention a moment before I return you to your annual holiday lamentation, for I have good news! And no, it’s not that I have discovered the exclamation point key on the board of them in front of me! Nay, I call upon you to break from whatever drudgery inflicts your do hear me, for I have joined you in your wonderful silicon utopia! That’s right, I have finally cast of the shackles of mere cellular phone technology and come into possession of a smartphone! Huzzah! Felicitations! Celebration!

…

Sorry, I may have gotten a bit carried away there; I am pretty excited. I’ve finally gotten fed up with the issues I’ve been having, both with my four-year-old flip phone and as a result of it starting to give up the ghost. I was doing alright, but a few incidents of missed calls and an inability to check for those missed calls convinced me that “making do” was not a valid option. So I did some research, weighed my options, spoke with the parental units, and ended up making a change.

And yesterday (well, “today” as I’m writing this), my new toy phone came in the mail.

Needless to say, I’m excited. I always get energized at the promise of new tech, and this time is no different. I went with a Moto X, a relatively new smartphone from Motorola (man that sounds like an advertisement. Sorry.) with lots of intriguing customization options. As should surprise no one that knows me, my new device is black and green with silver accents. It even has a message for me on the back: “DON’T PANIC.” Best two words of advice I’ve ever heard.

I’m still in the early stages of New Tech Bliss, but one of my first impressions was how thin the thing is. Even compared to my tablet (a Nexus 7), which is only a year old, my phone is tiny. And it’s not just the screen size; the whole thing seems extremely dense and compact. A part of me, the one that still remembers chewing up minutes on something like this in elementary school, is still baffled at the raw power that fits into my hand these days. I know just enough about the technology that goes into smartphones to be truly awestruck at the amazing palm-sized personal computer and communicator.

Sorry, getting grandiose again. I’ll try to reel it in.

Second impression: man, this thing is going to pick up finger grease nicely.  Also, the size will take some getting used to.

I haven’t had a chance to do much with it yet; I’m still in the early setup stages, syncing accounts, installing programs apps, and customizing things. I’m not quite as rabid as I might be, since I’ve had a year to get comfortable with the Android OS on my tablet. Time will tell how much it ends up changing my habits. Probably nothing earth-shattering, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just a short time until I can’t imagine living without it.

But hey, we only get to experience new things every so often. Why not push the cynicism off to another time and enjoy it while we can? After all, we’re living in the future!

In SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!