Old, but not Obsolete

Here is a picture of my old iPhone 4s, cleaned and sitting atop the iPhone case that kept it in pristine condition.

I purchased this phone in February, 2011. It has served well beyond its intended life cycle, and certainly longer than Apple would have liked me to keep it.

He was my constant companion. He went with me to several states of the United States, and accompanied me through several states of sanity. He served as my music source, my entertainment, my ability to communicate with family and friends. For over a year he was my only source of Internet access for my laptop computer as a wifi hotspot. And I watched an entire season of Game of Thrones on his little screen.

His little battery started to give up in 2013, but I purchased a battery kit and replaced the battery myself. I'm not a fix it guy, but I was able to get inside him and replace the battery. In the process I mucked up the volume controls on the side, but they can be controlled elsewhere so it wasn't a big loss.

With every update from Apple that I installed, he became slower and slower. I deleted many apps and downloaded many pictures to keep a little bit of space on him, but eventually time itself caught up with the little guy. I was patient with him but then one day one app update just sent him over the edge. After numerous reboots I was able to resuscitate him, but at that point I was afraid to install other app updates. That little annoying number kept getting higher (seen above at 59) and so I decided when the 6s became available, I would get the new and improved iPhone.

He saw me through some rough times. Oh my, some really rough times. And even though he has no consciousness, he knows all my secrets and all my strengths and all my weaknesses. He's not really a he. He's just a piece of technology, but I'm amazed at how I've become attached to this little guy. He never judged me, he never intentionally failed me, and he always did whatever I asked him to do. He didn't have Siri or some of the other fancy apps available to his younger brother and sisters, but I was never led astray by the GPS app he has installed. He certainly helped me call AAA on several occasions, and he woke me up with his little alarm for four years now.

For basic functionality, there really was no need to get the new iPhone. This little guy works just great and he's been re-purposed to keep me entertained with Pandora that still works just fine, blasting through my bluetooth speaker system as we speak. He's still my friend, and he's still valuable, but he will no longer be my daily companion.

He's a lot like me in a lot of ways. He never gave up, worked hard at what he was meant to do, and worked (and continues to work) long past the time he should. He's old, but not obsolete.

Thank you, little iPhone 4s.