Dance like no one's watching

Argh… this is terrible. I’m a bad bad handphone addict. When i was a poor student, i restricted myself to changing handphones once a year so that i could recontract and enjoy the offer prices for signing my life away. After i started work, this once a year trend soon accelerated to once every 6 months… and now, changing handphones has become a quarterly trend. (Maybe i got subconsciously influenced by how most tenancy contracts require tenants to service the aircon on a quarterly basis? Hmm…) Last year was when i changed phones the most number of times. From the Nokia 6230 to 6260 to 6230i to Sony Ericsson’s Z520i, i bought them all! (Ok, the last one was bought by Clown). Even the guy at the handphone shop in Eastpoint recognizes me. He probably can see the word “sucker” etched across my forehead whenever i step into the shop.

Once again, i’m at a major crossroads in my life. Ever since i found out that 3G video calls cost the same as a normal voice call, i’ve been itching for a 3G phone. Thankfully, most of the 3G phones on the market the past year were bulky & just not very appealing… well, except for maybe Sony’s k600i but that didn’t come with expandable memory.

But the itch was still there and u know the thing about itches… ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. U just gotta scratch! And since my Singtel line is eligible for a recontract now, i’ve been doing research on which handphone to get next.

According to the 3GSM World Congress held recently, the best 3G phone is Motorola’s Razr V3x was voted the best 3G phone. But the thing about Motorola is that the user menu is just not as user friendly as Nokia or SE. Certainly, the Razr V3 range of phones look cool, and are slim & stylish to boot. But no point getting a phone that i can’t get used to right?

So i explored my once favourite brand, Nokia. Nokia has 2 new 3G phones hitting the stores here soon (i suspect this weekend) – the 6280 & N80. The N80 is really really cool ‘cos it has a 3 megapixels camera (that’s almost the same as my digicam!!). But have u seen the size of that thing? It’s so bulky & heavy that if i got into an accident with a road bully, i could take a real clear picture of the accident scene, plus clobber the road bully with it in self-defence.

Then there’s the 6280. It looks slim enough. But i’m not quite sold on slide phones… i mean i did have one before – the 8810 (the “fingerprint” phone) which looked really great ‘cos of the shiny finishing. But the 6280 looked a little “toy-like”… and a little manly too. Should i pay good money for something i may not like that much?

My search for the 3G phone soon took me to the Sony Ericsson website. Wow. I was bowled over by their upcoming k610i. This k610i is an improved version of the current k600i (which i.m.o looks really good too). The main difference is that the k610i has expandable memory, and a 2megalpixel camera. This is gonna be one slim, sleek, stylish & ultracool phone. But there’s 2 things i don’t like about SE phones in general – first, the name search process can be rather tedious. Second, i still prefer the way Nokia’s messaging system works.

Sigh… decisions decisions decisions. Initially, i thought of getting the Nokia 6280 for myself, and the SE k610i for Clown when it comes out. Hey, no point getting a 3G phone if there’s no one to share the 3G video call fun right? (As far as i know, only Azure uses a 3G phone, of which she has never used the video call function….)

So should i get the 6280 now now?? If u notice the latest “scam” started by Motorola – they released the V3 in silver & black, then in gold & pink, and now blue… which means u’re stuck with the same colour unless u buy a new phone. It appears that Nokia is going that direction too? ‘Cos the 6111 first came out in black & silver… and now there’s frosted pink… whatever happened to Nokia’s innovative Xpress-on covers?? That was 1 thing i loved Nokia for! 🙁 The 6280 is going to be launched in silver & black… but those are such boring colours! (Sheesh, they’re not even considered “colours” in art). I want something unique… something feminine…. baby blue, pastel pink, lilac…

How now brown bunny? To 3G or not to 3G?