de-I...Technology Wizard

I have been thinking of getting some kind of improved video capability for quite some time. Frequently on our trips I find that a video footage just seems to capture the sense of place more so than the still photos. I have been relying on guidance of what to buy from Son-in-Law 1A because he is a videographer for living. He turned me on to the Osmo Pocket which you can think of as an even more super light Go Pro.

So with me going to Ghana and definitely wanting to get some video footage for a variety of reasons, I made the plunge and bought one. It arrives a couple of days later and over last weekend I set out an afternoon to figure out how to use it. Unlike most males, I actually read the Operating Instructions. Of course as is so often the case with electronics I find, the 'Operating Instructions' that they claim are in the package are, in fact, not in the package. There is the 'Quick Tips' document and the 'Read all these Horrible Things That Can Happen' document. Just not the Operating Instructions.

Fortunately they are available on line and prove to not have much more information than the Quick Tips document. Nonetheless, I start out to get things set up. First, download the app for your phone. You can operate the device from its tiny touch screen if you are Tom Thumb. Otherwise the app on your phone is advised. Next connect the phone to the device.

There are two possible connectors depending on your phone. Try connector A. It is too small. Try connector B. It is too large. Repeat this process about a dozen times because you must be missing something. Frustrated, now go on line. Go to YouTube and look for videos on how to set up your Osmo Pocket. All say the same thing. Just take the connector and hook it up to your phone. Easy peasy. Right? Except one is too small and one is too large.

I must have the wrong connector some how. Go on line and look all over for connectors. There are basically two. The two that I have.

By now an hour has gone by and rather innumerable number of swear words. I am ready to pack this thing back up and send it back...except I didn't pay much attention to how it was packed when it arrived and waste more time trying to figure out how I would send it back.

I now look by chance at the power cord for charging my iPhone. I look at the connector that goes into the phone. It looks just like one of the two for the video camera. I connect that power cable to the phone. Hmmmmm enlightenment. I take the video camera connector A and find that if I had just pushed it a little more it worked just fine.

By this point I am done for the day trying to figure this out. The next day I get the battery charged. I hope this weekend coming up to actually turn on the camera and do something.