This Time it's For Real

My faithful readers will know that my cell phone has been an ongoing source of frustration for me for several years now. I did have a golden era of over four years, starting in early 2000, when I got my first miniature Nokia phone. This was the phone that made cell phones worthwhile for me. Less than 4 ounces, excellent reception, excellent sound quality, and it lasted for more than 4 years. The part that finally died was the battery, and at that point this model had been out of print for so long that no replacement parts were available.

But by then the world had evolved, and I decided to take the leap and combine my phone with my PDA (which at that point was a Handspring Treo), and get the Treo phone. Now that was about 8 ounces, but combining the PDA function with the phone seemed worth it.

Only problem was that voice quality wasn't great, it was heavy, the software would occasionally hang the system forcing me to turn it off and back on, and in the two years that I owned it, I had to have it replaced four times (always because of problems with the audio connection to the ear-bud headset that I use religiously).

The frustration of those two years convinced me that I want a Nokia phone, no matter what it costs. So I went ahead and ordered the top of the line - the E71. But that love affair, as my faithful readers know, was shortlived, as explained here. So I moved on to the Samsung BlackJack, and fell in love. Unfortunately that love affair had the characteristics of sophomoric infatuation. The BlackJack is undeniably beautiful. But it's a first generation device. The software just isn't that great. Not to mention the fact that it's got a Microsoft operating system (read; sloooooow).

You may ask why I didn't get the Blackberry. Mainly, because the Blackberry was known to have poor voice reception quality, the monthly fee was high, and it was fairly bulky and pretty ugly. Of course you'll say I could have bought the Blackberry Pearl, but that one doesn't have a full QWERTY keyboard for typing.

And then, Tadam, out comes the Blackberry 8300 (Curve). Still pretty ugly. But only 4 ounces. Great sound quality. Voice recognition (missing on the Samsung), a built-in camera (missing on previous Blackberries), and absolutely impecable operation of the mail, contacts and address functions. So I replaced my short-lived BlackJack with the Blackberry Curve.

No, I'm not in love, at least not yet. But I am quite happy, and in my experience, this level of happiness, if maintained over time, leads to love.