Tech Christmas

[MunchkinD13]

Anyone else have a full on tech Christmas? Tech gifts all around in our family this year. It's funny when family members get their first Apple devices, suddenly they think you know everything. My mom got an iPad and an iPhone for Christmas this year and she is so not good with technology. Thankfully my husband has been very patient with her and teaching her. Now she calls all the time "how do I do this". Haha. She's asking about cases too. Maybe she will be a case whore too like me.

The best one was my Grandma. She is 89 years old and has never used a cell phone. My parents got her one for Christmas this year in case of emergency since she still drives. Yesterday she told my dad her phone was broken because there was no dial tone. So cute.

 

[Garz]

Yes teaching your mother about iCloud over the phone was not fun. It was easier to teach her other stuff in person.

 

[Kristy_Lyn]

I posted this story in the Christmas Wish/Gift List but it fits your thread better so I wanted to share it in here.

I just spent the afternoon setting up my Mom's new iPod Touch! Boy was that labour intensive, she said I should get some combat pay. I had to do a whole lot of explaining as she has never used any type of smart phone and barely uses her old flip cell phone. She doesn't even text, so this was a lot of explaining. When I left her house today she was definitely on information overload.

I set up iMessage and started messaging her when I left, one crucial piece of info I forgot to tell her was about auto correct. Needless to say her first few texts to me were "got iron" and "jets gave away" Still not too sure what she was trying to say but I was getting a good laugh out of it. She was able to successfully type out "ffs" and "sh*t" I finally explained a little about the keyboards intuition factor and the auto correct and finally she got it!

She's loving the apps, mainly bounce bullet and angry birds...I'm sitting there trying to get everything updated and she's yelling at me: "hey look I got almost all those buggers with one bullet"....lol she's 60 years old so it is pretty fun to watch her figure this thing out.

THE NEXT DAY:

A continuation has been throughout today as I have helped her set up "text plus" as she wants to text her non iPhone friends. That hasn't been the easiest, but she did get it done. Not sure how much she will use it though.

I got her to get some ebooks into her library, and login to her email via her iPod...she actually figured out that one on her own. Then we ran into some issues when using the iBooks app, we were able to correct it, however right after that lesson, I taught her about screen shots and how to attach them to a text message. That worked out well, she was impressed with herself, and now when she runs into an issue I will just get her to screen shot what the heck she is talking about that way I can direct her to the correct button...

She also shared with me today that she went out and bought a case and screen protector and then sat in Starbucks playing bounce bullet, her new favourite game. She then got yelled at by her husband to hurry up and drink her latte and eat her lemon square and stop playing her "damn iPod"

Whenever I see my Mom say FFS it makes me smile!! lol

 

[Alli]

I'm going opposite direction generation wise. I spent the last week teaching nephews and niece (ranging from 12-21) how to operate their various computers, tablets, Android, and iPhones. Showed them some tweaks and apps they were unaware of, and had some good fun.

 

[Eileen89]

I'm going opposite direction generation wise. I spent the last week teaching nephews and niece (ranging from 12-21) how to operate their various computers, tablets, Android, and iPhones. Showed them some tweaks and apps they were unaware of, and had some good fun.

I wish Tapatalk had a like button. I logged in via Safari so I could like this post. Your young nieces and nephews are luck to have a tech smart aunt that can teach them.

 

[Kristy_Lyn]

I'm going opposite direction generation wise. I spent the last week teaching nephews and niece (ranging from 12-21) how to operate their various computers, tablets, Android, and iPhones. Showed them some tweaks and apps they were unaware of, and had some good fun.

That's awesome Alli! They probably appreciate having your help! And you all got to have a lot of fun in the process!

 

[Alli]

Not only that, but my niece (the 21 year old) had gotten an Android tablet for her mother for Christmas. So I was able to tell her all about SquareTrade, and when she got home yesterday, the first thing she did was to get her mother a warranty.

Oh, and my father (a mere 83 year old tech wiz) also decided that he should be warrantying all his purchases through SquareTrade. So I came out ahead in a few ways.

If we don't count the small fortune I spent gifting everyone apps cause I felt they just had to have them....

 

[buttonstc]

What is Square Trade?

I just got an Android tablet at Best Buy and turned down all their extended warranty offers since Consumer Reports steadfastly advises against them.

But I've never heard about Fair Trade.

 

[Alli]

What is Square Trade?

I just got an Android tablet at Best Buy and turned down all their extended warranty offers since Consumer Reports steadfastly advises against them.

But I've never heard about Fair Trade.

So glad you asked! Welcome to SquareTrade! - Referral Discounts | SquareTrade | SquareTrade Warranties I have warrantied all my gadgets through Square Trade for years. Have had excellent service on claims, too (one laptop, one video camera, and one still digital camera).

And their referral plan doesn't hurt either. For every person I refer, they send me $5.

 

[buttonstc]

Well I followed your link over and checked it out. Then when I attempted to get a quote to see how much it would
cost for my device, all I could ever get was an error message telling me to enter a valid price. Well I even took the time to go to the find.com to see the current price in my area.

After trying twice more with amounts for the ACTUAL prices listed for both Best Buy and Kmart I just gave up. I don't know what on earth more they want. Do they expect me to just commit blindly to it and fork over my credit card number without knowing how much it will cost me.

They need to do some serious work on their interface and quote estimating engine. I can't imagine many people willing to spend endless amounts of time to please a finicky computer program which can't adequately track prices of things.

I don't know what the problem is but I gave it my best shot with real world prices verified in current time. : :

 

[Alli]

Huh? All you had to do was enter the price and it comes back with a quote. What were you trying to warranty, since the price for every model of iPhone is on that page.

 

[buttonstc]

I did enter the price and then clicked on the large oblong green button immediately below. I then get a blue screen which reads "error please enter a valid item price"

Each price I entered came back with the same exact result. I know for a fact that it is currently retailing for 260.00 at stores near me.

Its an Acer Iconia A100 seven inch tablet.

They didn't have a place to specify exact device but just a drop down with a bunch of choices. I chose tablet of course. But for some reason they seem to think that's not a valid price.
I have no idea why. All I could do was verify current prices on The Find. They have always been very accurate when I've used it in the past. Maybe it thinks that's too low a price for a tablet? Who knows? But I got the same error response when I put in $350 which is far more typical for tablets and was the original selling price for quite a while.

Since I'm dealing with responses generated by a computer program, its not as if I can reason with it.

Totally frustrating and makes no sense at all. Its a name brand. Not something so esoteric no one had ever heard of it. I realize that they get a lot of iPhones and I pads but good grief. Other things do exist.

But I got Apples extended warranty on my phone and was quite happy with that since they twice replaced for free those cheapo charging cords