My mother and father (69 and 70, respectively) have had very old and basic flip phones from AT&T Wireless for several years. Well, their service basically has sucked, and their monthly rates are way too much for what they have. So, my dad decided to do a major upgrade and get smart phones for him and my mom. Moreover, to save money--they're both retired--I recommended they go on my Sprint account and we get the family plan. I live 30 minutes from them and get a nice discount of 25% from Sprint, so everyone's overall costs would be less than what we currently pay. Plus, with a great promotion this week, I could get them a new HTC EVO and the Samsung EPIC at a total cost of $99 then two $50 rebates. Net cost = a credit of $1! Nice.
My mom demanded a slideout QWERTY keyboard; hence my recommending the EPIC. She didn't need the phone rooted, so I left hers as stock. I rooted my dad's EVO so his would be like mine and my sister's, whose I just also rooted. My brother in another state has a nonrooted EVO.
Well, I got the phones in Monday, worked on them yesterday (rooting, putting apps on, setting up some things for them, etc.) and today went to their house to sit them down and play Smart Phone Teacher for a day (well, for a few hours at least). As expected, things didn't go as I had hoped. My father? No big problem, because my sister can always help him since she has an EVO (she lives with them because she's a single mom, so she's there to assist him).
Well, got home about an hour ago. As I expected, it didn't go that well with my mom. She has all the patience of an ice cube in a frying pan set on high. My father is playing with his rooted EVO and seems to like it (he has always been a techie sort of guy, though he always ends up calling me for technical support--crap).
My mom just may be a lost cause. I was at their place at 1:00 p.m. I gave each of them their phones and tried to explain some basic stuff (what Android is, what these phones can do, etc.). Of course, my dad ignores me, toys around with his EVO, then just walks out and leaves to do other things. I remain with my mom to try and tell her how to do some stuff on the Epic (set up and check Emails, add contacts, make phone calls, send/receive text messages, go to the Internet, add/use apps, etc.). Of course, it didn't take her long to start ing about how she has "no patience for this crap." So I simply yelled at her and said, "Then learn to have some patience for a change and get into the 21st century!"
Within a couple hours, they had to leave for an early dinner engagement with her sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle). Upon my parents' return, I was still at their house finishing up putting Warm2.2 on my sister's EVO and having dinner with her and her daughter, my niece.
My dad walks in and I hear him yelling at my mom, "...well, you can't get the old phone back. Learn how to use it!" They walk into the rec room and my mom tosses her phone down on the table near me ing, "Take this phone back. I don't want it. I don't have the patience to learn this!"
To this I retort, "You're frickin' retired. You have plenty of time to learn how to use it. You're just being lazy and not wanting to learn something new. Take the phone and the manual and go to your bedroom. Read the entire manual like you're reading a book so you can see just what the phone can and will do. When you're done, start playing around with it."
"I don't care. That won't work. I hate this touch thing. It doesn't work for me," she replies as she picks up the tossed phone and starts pressing wildly all over the screen. Of course, I have to tell her that she has to use the touch screen in a recommended manner. "You can't just go pressing anywhere on the screen to scroll around, because sometimes there's nothing to scroll or nothing to respond on the screen," I advised her.
I then reminded her that as a woman, she can't use her finger nails. She can use the slide out keyboard for that. I downloaded and installed both Iris and Vlingo for her, telling her that those apps might help do certain tasks that she otherwise would do using the touch screen or keyboard, but then she ed about having to learn those.
Unbelievable.
I told her that she had 14 days to decide if she wanted the phone. If not, then she'd get some basic flip phone with no Internet, no Email, no cool ring tones, and limited text messaging, among other absent, nice things.
Her biggest problem, again, is that she simply has ZERO patience (I'm not talking a little; I mean absolutely NONE). She won't listen; she won't pay attention; she assumes everything; she finishes my sentences when I try to explain things to her (it's like I'm playing a game of Mad Libs); then she es when she can't figure something out.
If I become anything like her, someone please--shoot me.
My mom demanded a slideout QWERTY keyboard; hence my recommending the EPIC. She didn't need the phone rooted, so I left hers as stock. I rooted my dad's EVO so his would be like mine and my sister's, whose I just also rooted. My brother in another state has a nonrooted EVO.
Well, I got the phones in Monday, worked on them yesterday (rooting, putting apps on, setting up some things for them, etc.) and today went to their house to sit them down and play Smart Phone Teacher for a day (well, for a few hours at least). As expected, things didn't go as I had hoped. My father? No big problem, because my sister can always help him since she has an EVO (she lives with them because she's a single mom, so she's there to assist him).
Well, got home about an hour ago. As I expected, it didn't go that well with my mom. She has all the patience of an ice cube in a frying pan set on high. My father is playing with his rooted EVO and seems to like it (he has always been a techie sort of guy, though he always ends up calling me for technical support--crap).
My mom just may be a lost cause. I was at their place at 1:00 p.m. I gave each of them their phones and tried to explain some basic stuff (what Android is, what these phones can do, etc.). Of course, my dad ignores me, toys around with his EVO, then just walks out and leaves to do other things. I remain with my mom to try and tell her how to do some stuff on the Epic (set up and check Emails, add contacts, make phone calls, send/receive text messages, go to the Internet, add/use apps, etc.). Of course, it didn't take her long to start ing about how she has "no patience for this crap." So I simply yelled at her and said, "Then learn to have some patience for a change and get into the 21st century!"
Within a couple hours, they had to leave for an early dinner engagement with her sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle). Upon my parents' return, I was still at their house finishing up putting Warm2.2 on my sister's EVO and having dinner with her and her daughter, my niece.
My dad walks in and I hear him yelling at my mom, "...well, you can't get the old phone back. Learn how to use it!" They walk into the rec room and my mom tosses her phone down on the table near me ing, "Take this phone back. I don't want it. I don't have the patience to learn this!"
To this I retort, "You're frickin' retired. You have plenty of time to learn how to use it. You're just being lazy and not wanting to learn something new. Take the phone and the manual and go to your bedroom. Read the entire manual like you're reading a book so you can see just what the phone can and will do. When you're done, start playing around with it."
"I don't care. That won't work. I hate this touch thing. It doesn't work for me," she replies as she picks up the tossed phone and starts pressing wildly all over the screen. Of course, I have to tell her that she has to use the touch screen in a recommended manner. "You can't just go pressing anywhere on the screen to scroll around, because sometimes there's nothing to scroll or nothing to respond on the screen," I advised her.
I then reminded her that as a woman, she can't use her finger nails. She can use the slide out keyboard for that. I downloaded and installed both Iris and Vlingo for her, telling her that those apps might help do certain tasks that she otherwise would do using the touch screen or keyboard, but then she ed about having to learn those.
Unbelievable.
I told her that she had 14 days to decide if she wanted the phone. If not, then she'd get some basic flip phone with no Internet, no Email, no cool ring tones, and limited text messaging, among other absent, nice things.
Her biggest problem, again, is that she simply has ZERO patience (I'm not talking a little; I mean absolutely NONE). She won't listen; she won't pay attention; she assumes everything; she finishes my sentences when I try to explain things to her (it's like I'm playing a game of Mad Libs); then she es when she can't figure something out.
If I become anything like her, someone please--shoot me.
I do know the type though (your mom) and I'm not sure if you should get a medal for attempting to show her, or get berated for assuming you could do the impossible. Teching her is probably harder than teaching a g/f/wife who has the same attention span for tech stuff ... which is about the attention span of a gnat. 
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