Naked, and Afraid...VERY AFRAID!

Okay, so a month ago I posted this:

http://greatgadgetsgizmos.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=5

To save you some time, it was post about how my Nexus 6P was SO sexy that I liked to carry it naked. I was experimenting with different cases, but it was tough to give up that raw feeling.  It was clever, and well written, and you would've loved it.  Well, this post is an update to that one.  In short, I SCRATCHED MY 6P!!!!!

 Wait, not scratched, so much as gouged my 6P.  I GOUGED MY 6P!!!!!

In a word, dammit!  Despite my musings regarding going case-less, I had started using a clear TPU case in situations I deemed "high-risk".  The case was clear which let me see the beautiful graphite finish on my 6P, while not adding a significant amount of bulk to the slim body.  But, the feel of that sleek aluminum proved to be too tempting for me. I ran a quick errand on Christmas day (retrieving my elderly aunt from her ALF, a saintly mission), and decided to go without.  I did not choose wisely.  Rather than reach into my pocket and risk dropping my baby, I elected to keep it in the cup holder.  At some point, I reached into the cup holder to check a notification, and I heard the sound of metal being scratched.  Yes, that's right, I HEARD IT!  Now, in my experience, if you can hear a scratch, it's probably pretty bad... and it was.  When I looked at the back of my 6P The damage was worse than I expected.  Not only could I see the scratch, I could FEEL it.  It was deep, it was long, and it was gnarly.  It penetrated the beautiful graphite finish and revealed the shiny aluminum below.  The horror...  Now, how a cup holder could scratch a phone was beyond me.  As I sat there in disbelief, I ran my hands around the rim of the offending receptacle...and there it was.  A tiny, almost microscopic bur on the chrome trim.  It was SO small it was imperceptible to the human eye.  But, the back of my 6P found it alright.

Now, for many of you, it might seem ridiculous to get spun up about a scratch on your cell phone.  To you I say, you're the freak.  Seriously, how do you NOT get upset about a scratch on something so perfect.  My 6P cost a bunch of coin, and to see it like that just deflated me.  But, that was then, and this is now.  It's time to move forward.

Functionally, the phone hasn't lost a step.  Sure, that scratch bothers me every time I see it, and it's not bad enough to trigger Google Protection... yet.  So, why not look at this as a learning experience?  I've decided that, it's time to learn about the world of skins.  You know, those covers that adhere to the surface of the phone and hide the finish?  To that end, I've ordered myself a D-Skin carbon fiber back with a flat titanium strip for the visor of my disfigured 6P.  Heck, I even decided to get crazy and ordered the white NEXUS with the limited edition colored X.  I figured, if I'm going to learn about skins, I might as well go big.  This way I can hide the shame of my scratch (yes, it still hurts), and give the phone a bit of grip.   But, what if I drop the phone?  I mean, the skin will do absolutely nothing if I drop the phone, right?

And that's where that $89 Google Protection will kick in!

Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice?

I am what you might call an early adopter.  If it has anything to do with technology, I'll be first in line to give it a try.  In doing so, I occasionally experience a bit of frustration as I suffer through premature, buggy products.  But that's to be expected.  What's not to be expected is experiencing this with a mature product, one that's in mass release and being widely accepted.  Yeah, I'm looking at YOU Windows 10.

I strayed away from windows a LONG time ago.  For the last 8-10 years, I've used a Macbook Pro as my main business computer and an Android tablet for my off hours.  But, as the years passed, I started using my tablets for more and more work-related things.  For better or worse, I found myself leaving my laptop at my office in favor of carrying a lighter, more portable tablet.  The only issue was that, while many of the apps could mimic the real programs I used at work, they were always gimped in one way or another.  In a last ditch effort to span the gap between computer and tablet, I bought a Samsung Note Pro.  It was a 12.2" behemoth of a device (as far as tablets go), that ran a steroid-enhanced version of Android.  It got me closer to the functionality that I craved, but at the end of the day, it wasn't a "real" computer.

Enter the Asus T-100 convertible laptop, which I bought refurbished from WOOT.  This device was an eye-opener to me.  After a decade away, I started to fall in love with Windows again.  The Windows 8.1 OS was a dream to operate.  The gestures on the touchscreen were SO intuitive, I wondered why Android never adopted them.  I was convinced I would never get rid of the Asus...And then the Surface 3 came out.

I figured if I liked Win 8.1 on the Asus so much, I'd absolutely love it on the Surface.  And I was right. I happily used that S3 for months, and despite the fact that it wasn't a "pro" model, it handled all I could throw at it with aplomb.  And then Windows 10 came out, heralded as the ONE OS you could use across all of your devices, and the upgrade was free! Let me say this, I held out for as long as I could.  But, being an early adopter, that amounted to about three days.

The installation itself should've been my first clue to the upcoming grief-fest.  I started the install in the afternoon and had to let it run overnight.  OVERNIGHT!  Wow, it took forever.  But, once it was done, I was really excited to see this incredible new OS, and experience all of its device spanning features. But guess what?  I couldn't hate it enough.  Gone were all of my swipes and gestures for navigation.  Gone were the nice big icons that made the 10" screen on the S3 usable.  In short, gone were all of the things I feel in love with.  So, I reverted back to Win 8.1.

Several months passed, and every time I powered up my Surface, there would be that pesky icon reminding me that a FREE copy of Win 10 was waiting for me.  And then the pop-ups started appearing, telling me that time was running out to get my free copy of Win 10.  Running out?!?!  I couldn't let that happen, so I decided to try it again.

They say that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  I repeated it.  Well, that's not entirely true.  This time I knew what I was getting myself into.  What I didn't know, was that Windows had a surprise in store for me.  After installing Win 10, after months of flawless service, my S3 couldn't maintain a WiFi connection to save it's life.  Nothing.  Nada.  No WiFi.  And since the Surface line has no way to connect through a wired connection... I was screwed.   So, I jumped on another device, and searched for a solution.  Turns out that my issue was actually fairly common.  I read post after post from Surface owners who were experiencing the same issue.  Apparently, some drivers were either missing or needed to be updated, including the WiFi.  Of course, not having WiFi was going to make upgrading the WiFi nearly impossible, a real catch 22, so... still screwed.  And then it dawned on me.  The Surface was made by Microsoft.  Windows 10 is made by (spoiler alert). MICROSOFT!  Well shiver me timbers!  You mean to tell me that MS couldn't even be bothered to include the necessary drivers for their OWN devices?  Really?!?!  Talk about lazy.  Talk about disappointing.

I wish this story had a happy ending for Win 10, but it doesn't, not for me.  As I write this on my Surface 3 using Windows 8.1, I'm happy.  I don't need Windows 10.  Sure, one day I'll be cajoled into trying it again, but for now, I'll maintain the status quo.  BUT, the minute Google adds multi-windows to Android on the Pixel C...I'm outta here!