This is an update to my post a few weeks ago about getting a Google Pixel for $30 on eBay. And it is a really good update.
“The Phone,” as I call now call it, works perfectly. It didn’t have a scratch on it, and it was in pristine condition. Furthermore, the battery life is fine and there are no issues with the vibration motor or Bluetooth. I’m almost positive it was a refurbished device from Google; it’s too clean not to be.
Overall, the phone works like nobody’s business.
That’s a problem.
I have never owned a phone that has just worked. Actually, most of the tech I previously owned or do currently own is imperfect.
Prior to getting this phone in the mail and using it for about a week, I thought to myself, “You know, maybe I deserve a new piece of tech… Something that just works.” Well, I think differently now.
Instead of knowing myself and trusting the fact that having less means having more for me, I tricked myself into believing something that I really don’t: having the best will make you happy. In reality, having the best will not make you happy. You will. It might be a stretch, but I can’t use the Google Pixel because it doesn’t compliment who I am or who I want to be.
For myself, tech needs to work for me and not against me. A phone that works flawlessly is something I am not ready for. In this instance, it’s better if I don’t use what is the “best.”
I use a Chrome extension that delivers a clean, minimalist new tab page along with a daily quote called Momentum. Today, the quote read, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” People, included me, spend a lot of time on their phones. When I was using the Pixel, I found that I used it even more than my other phone, most likely because I thought that having an expensive $650 MSRP flagship phone meant that you have to get your value and use it as a flagship phone. And boy, does having a phone like that make it easy.
But that’s not me.
I am my best when I have something that does everything I need it to do, isn’t “perfect,” and has its quirks. The funny thing is, if I never got a Google Pixel for $30 that turned out to be in mint condition, I never would have really believed this, and I would still be asking myself, “What if I had another phone? Would it improve my life?” The answer to that last question is no, The Freemium Fellow’s life would not be improved by having a brand new phone. And it only took me $30 to figure that out.
It makes me incredibly joyous to have had this experience. I learned a lot about myself and didn’t end up spending much money in the process. That’s a win in my book. If I bought a brand new Galaxy S10 or iPhone XS, I would have learned the same lesson, but I also would have spent hundreds of dollars more in the process.
That is what The Freemium Fellow is all about, spending less to accomplish the same task. And that is exactly what was done, plus I ended up making some money by replacing my old Huawei phone with the Pixel.
When the time comes that I am in need of another phone, I will have a box on my shelf with a phone in it that works very well. . . Maybe even a little too well.
-TFF
P.S. The camera is legit out of this world. It’s unbelievably good. I will miss it dearly 🙂
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