We were in Seattle recently, having ice cream with friends and their kids, when suddenly their little children and my older ones posed in an adorable way on the sidewalk with their colorful cones and ice cream dotted noses.
I asked my friend’s wife to capture it real quick but she couldn’t because her phone storage was maxed out. Same thing happened when I suggested we each shoot some boomerang video from different angles at the conveyor belt sushi place (seriously the most fun I’ve ever had eating).
I offered commiserations because I’ve been in that exact same situation myself: cute kids, maxed out phone, major bummer.
Oh, I’ve got all of my phone’s photos and videos backed up in multiple puffy Clouds but I’m still nervous as hell to delete family memories from my phone’s hard drive.
It’s quite the 1st world problem, I know, the need to find blurry photos and those accidental 2-second videos we’ve all taken before realizing the phone’s camera isn’t on the photo setting that can safely be deleted so that we can immediately do a like for like swap in the moment our kids are being super duper sweet on the street in Seattle with equally sweet little playmates.
This is why I’m excited to travel this summer with a brand new no contract phone in my pocket.
When we leave for our 3 1/2 week Alaska to Atlantic epic cross country journey next month I’ll be staring at glaciers, geysers and my goofball daughters through the massive 6″ screen of the ZTE MAX™ XL. A new phone on the Boost Mobile no contract network that costs just $100 and comes ready to rock-n-roll with OODLES of storage space. So no playing seek & find to delete photos from 2012 so I can take fresh ones in 2017.
This Android phone has 16GB of storage (with a MicroSD slot supporting up to 128GB), a brilliant 13MP rear-facing camera to capture spontaneous moments quickly and professionally, and an extremely capable 5MP front-facing lens with front-facing flash (what!?!?) for those dad & daughter selfies we love so much while on the road together. The ZTE MAX™ XL runs Nougat, the spiffiest, newest version of the Android OS. Awesomesauce.
The ZTE MAX™ XL on the Boost Mobile network works so well as an auxiliary travel phone because there’s no contract needed to gain access to a monthly unlimited data, text and talk plan, over 26 hours of talk time on a stellar battery (because no one wants their phone to die just as the helicopter touches down atop Mendenhall Glacier — d’oh!) and that HUUUGE screen to take, edit and instantly share jawdropping photos that’ll make your Facebook friends and Instagram followers super jelly. Well, that’s my plan anyhow.
My everyday Droid phone will still be with me on the trip of course, for inbound and outbound calls and to text from the number everyone recognizes and thus will pick up when it rings or buzzes in their hand, but that trusty phone will mostly experience our epic road trip from inside the armrest of the Kia Sedona we’ll be driving from Seattle to the Atlantic Ocean shoreline in New Jersey.
Instead, I’ll carry with me this smashing new MAX™ XL phone from ZTE with a one month Boost Mobile unlimited plan. I’ll install my social apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, along with my favorite phone editing apps Snapseed, VSCO and Lightroom, all from the Play store for free. From there I will snap, edit and share, and make each and every person I know back at home green with envy.
They’ll be envious of the trip I’m on and the fact that I don’t have to delete any 8-year-old photos of Mouse with undies on her head to take new ones of Mouse standing proudly atop the magical blue ice of Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.
Some samples of photos I took quickly and applied no external edits to, just filters within the my travel phone’s camera.
- The ZTE Max XL Mirror Filter is wild!
- The ZTE Max XL Fisheye Filter
- The ZTE Max XL Mirror Filter is wild!
- Awww, Miss Whisper with the flash
- Trixie and my selfie with front facing flash
*ZTE provided a MAX™ XL and financial compensation to facilitate this story. All opinions expressed above are honest and unbiased, as always. I really do love that picture of my youngest girl with her undies on her head and even though it’s backed up in at least 3 places, I cannot quite handle the idea of deleting it.