The last six years or so, I’ve written about Spring in terms of being a time of renewal and re-birth, a time for change and starting over. It’s just a pity that this includes contemplating owning two new brand new smart phones in as many months.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think people today may be getting too attached to their phones and other electronics. It does not mean I do not see how such technological marvels actually can improve life a bit.

In terms of smart phones that means on the spot weather updates, being able to see if a product is worth it’s price in physical retail locations and many other features like a flashlight, camera and even being able to read millions of books on the go.

Problem is the exact same dilemma that has popped up across the computing market even before Apple was even a company and computers themselves, especially of the ‘home computing’ variety did not even have monitors or screens…once you buy any computing device it will soon be made obsolete by the next model. And if you have to buy a ‘budget’ device, you are already halfway behind in the race to stay relevant with your purchase from the time you break the seal on it’s packaging.

In this case it is the phone’s ‘internal memory’ that is the issue. Put plainly, for most of those flashlights, maps, coupons and other electronic Swiss Army Knife functions, that is where they are stored. So as this phone only has a small amount of internal memory, after it updates out of the box there is only enough room for about four of my ‘essential’ twenty or so apps I like to keep handy.

Now let me be fair, this was indeed a budget model phone, being a generous gift from a close friend when I was between jobs after Christmas, but the phone itself cost around ninety dollars with tax and on top of that there was also a twenty-five dollar fee to switch my account from my old phone to this one.

Point is, that is indeed over a hundred dollars, and even though a hundred dollars certainly does not have the buying power it did twenty years ago, it is still a decent amount of money and you would expect the item purchased to be able to perform the functions it was made for.

Being at the very least slightly tech savvy, I realize that part of the reason it may have such little internal memory is to cut costs, but to me this is like a used car lot selling a car the dealer knows won’t last more than a month before it breaks down, but sells it anyway. Most people would call that a crooked deal and it is ironic how the computing industry gets away with it daily, and as it effects so many with smart phones being in the hands of everyone from grandma to the great grand kids, it is surely one of the great consumer swindles of the twenty-first century.