Archive for September, 2008

With the current onslaught of new cellular devices invading the market: the Blackberry Bold, the HTC Diamond, T-Mobile/Google G1, the Nokia N96 to name but a few, I thought it would be good form to reminisce about my evolution to a smart-phone user.

I recall owning a really old Nokia (candy bar, green scale screen), as early as 1999. That lasted me about a year of basic phone usage and I moved on to the standard issue cool phone at the time in 2001: the Motorola StarTAC. This phone was simple but it got the job done. I did abuse this phone and it took a beating and eventually passed away in late 2001.

The next phone I remember using was an LG VX phone. It was one of the early models, maybe the VX 2000. I do remember that it was a flip phone (since I was still weaning myself away from my long lost StarTAC) and it had something my other 2 phones didn’t have: a colour screen.

I eventually got bored of this simple phone and started exploring the benefits of a feature reach phone that would help me be more productive (although I was an undergrad at the time, I don’t know how productive I was hoping to be with it). This is when I learnt about the Sony Ericsson P910i. I was in gadget heaven. This brick of a smart phone was the pride and joy of my pocket. I could manage all my PIM data, make calls, surf the web, play games and have an mp3 player all in one device. At this point, I was sold on the idea. Every since I sold my Toshiba PDA (that ran Windows something or the other, before the line was rebranded to Windows Mobile), I knew I needed a mix of mobile device and PDA or I wouldn’t be happy.

All good gadgets do come to an end and so did the P910i. I now wanted a device that had a full qwerty thumb board and powerful software to match. Hours of product research brought me to the only viable conclusion: the Nokia e61. At this point, I was again transported to geek heaven. Even without a camera, this phone had it all (for me at least): full qwerty thumb board, wi-fi, a growing library of solid applications (and as we know today, Nokia’s full support behind its handsets – hardware and software), removable storage and it was easy on the eyes (if you looked at it the way I did !). It just got the job done. I wasn’t fond of the directional stick but I got used to it. Through this phone, I rekindled my love for Nokia devices (did I really love my first phone…I can’t remember. Maybe it’s a subconscious return to my initial brand choice). I knew the ins and outs of the Symbian OS. And I tracked Nokia’s every move. I became addicted to Nokia blogs across the net, which I still enjoy to this day. All About Symbian, Darla Mack, E-series dot org. These were the blogs that tutored me into becoming more productive with my smart-phone.

Sadly, I outgrew my e61. My needs in a mobile device had changed. While debating what I should replace my Nokia e61 with (I contemplated the e61i), I ended up getting my hands on the Nokia N810 internet tablet. But that’s a story for another day.

My new need was for a phone that could be as powerful as the e61, if not more so and be able to snap incredible pictures. This was a tall order but once again, Nokia delivered. I replaced my Nokia e61 with the Nokia N82. At first, the N-series phone confused me. Why was my standby screen not exactly like my e-series phone? I was able to overcome this and enjoy this beautiful, powerful phone. N-Gage kept me busy when I had a few minutes to play, I once again had a mp3 player and I had a camera that allowed me to upload pictures directly to online sites such as Flickr, Ovi and Facebook.

Unfortunately, my perfect phone was pick pocketed away from me during the summer and left me wondering what to do. A lot of new phones were cropping up on the market and the new iPhone 3G was about to drop. I contemplated the move to AT & T and iPhone but opted not to. My loyalty was definitely to my brand.

By then, I had been researching the Nokia e71 and was plotting my return to my e-series roots. How could I be disappointed by the sleeker, more powerful successor to the Nokia phone that brought me back into the fold? After purchasing the phone (at the Nokia Store on Regent Street !)

I was definitely apprehensive about purchasing the phone but after seeing it in person and playing with it for only a few seconds, I knew this was the phone that I needed.

It has been lauded with praises from all around the blogsphere and to be fair, it’s well deserved. This smart-phone is as powerful as it is beautiful and is a joy to use. With Nokia’s continued support and their drive to make their mobile devices more productive (e.g. The Nokia Beta labs and all the good software that has come from it), I knew I had made the right decision.