Begrudgingly, I joined the 20th Century last week – I became one of the gazillion people to own an iPhone.

I had always said I didn’t want a Smartphone. I just wanted a phone – something to make calls. I didn’t need a phone with a camera. I already have a nice Canon DSLR. I didn’t need a phone to surf the internet. I have a computer for that. I didn’t need a phone to text. Well, OK maybe I did need a phone to text. It makes it so much easier to communicate with people.

I remember when car companies started making cars with daytime running lights. I said I would never have a car that thought it was smarter than me. I know when it’s dark and when it’s time to turn on my own headlights. I realize the DRL are designed to make the car more visible to other drivers. Of course, they had a several side effects. In the South, people who first saw them continually pulled off the road, thinking a funeral was coming. They have since discovered that people see their lights on at dusk and just assume their real headlights are on. Instead, it’s the reduced power daytime versions, leading to reduced visibility.

Of course, cars have gotten even smarter over the years. They beep when tires are low. My wife’s car even sends her an email when it’s time to have the oil changed. Seriously. I saw a commercial on television the other night that showed a BMW that will actually read aloud your incoming text messages.

But I digress. Back to phones.

I got my last phone in 2006 before going to England. I upgraded to make sure I had a phone that would work on the European system. And that flip phone served me well as I was introduced to text messaging. For the record, it did have a camera and internet capabilities, but the screen was so small, it was hardly worth the effort.

I always knew my next phone would be a Smartphone. But I kept putting it off. At a newspaper seminar a few months back, I was admonished because out of 50 industry professionals, I was the only one without a Smartphone. I quietly scribbled “I am the dinosaur in the room” in my notebook. I continued to put off getting a new phone. Part of it was the cost. Part of it was resistance to change. Part of it was stubbornness.

All that changed a couple of weeks ago when I noticed my trusty Samsung flip phone wasn’t hanging onto a charge like it used to. The battery seemed to go dead all the time. When I finally thought to look, I noticed the charger wasn’t always charging. There was a bad connection. Unfortunately, the bad connection wasn’t in the charger, it was the phone. For a couple of weeks, I would barely push the connector in. As soon as the phone beeped and I could see it was charging, I left it alone and hoped a fly wouldn’t land on the cord and cause it to quit charging.

When I tried to use the car charger, the back of the phone got blazing hot. I knew then it was time to bite the bullet. I upgraded to an iPhone and it arrived last Friday.

My wife was certain that I would be engrossed all weekend, installing apps, adding contacts, trolling the web and just generally being amazed by the new toy. It did engross me for a while, but I intentionally set it down on numerous occasions, just to prove her wrong.

I have added some apps, mostly weather or news related. All of those were free ones. The only one I paid for was Jeopardy, for a whole $1.99. I played it once, and smoked the two saps next to me. Of course, the fact the answers are multiple choice make it a lot easier.

More apps, including more games, are in my future, but I am taking it slow. Being busy at work is helping limit my time.

As far as the phone aspect, it’s fine. The texting side is a little harder. I was pretty good at the alphanumeric keypad on the little flip phone. The QWERTY keyboard on a touch screen is taking a little while to get used to. One thing I have not turned on is autocorrection. I’ve seen way to many jokes online where that feature seems to have a mind of its own, creating some interesting conversations.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

William Moore is the Senior Editor at Gulf Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at wmoore@gulfcoastnewspapers