Upgrade

This is not about the government upgrade that they promise to the people, it's about me upgrading my handphone. Big deal, for those who don't know me. But I can only forsee one word from my colleagues - "Finally!".

That's partly because of the long period of decision making process. My colleagues would twitched whenever I mentioned that I want to change phone. I think some of them must be saying "Just stop talking and buy a f**king new phone!". But then hor, it's better to be prudent and view my options, before I take the plunge to commit to a new phone.

My Nokia 6610, has after all, done its due diligent for 3 years, just like its predecessor. I have been using Nokia phones since 2000. Back then, Nokia phone were the top mobile phone seller in the world, and they were renowned to be user friendly. But time has changed, there are now more players in the mobile phone marker, and newer technology such as 3G. Almost every phone has a camera. The camera phone is so prevalent that when I went back for reservist a year ago, the Army unit decided not to ban camera phone for NSMan. Instead the NSMen were ask to 'declare' that they were holding one and that they would not activate the camera function within the military compound (Who the hell want to take picture of army barracks anyway?). So most of them went to queue again after finished reporting. I was the few rare ones who didn't have to queue again.

I digressed. As I was saying, there are so many options that without fail every weekend, the newspaper is full of mobile phone promotions. I was tempted as one by one my friends and colleagues change phones. Some have changed at least 3 or 4!

What set me thinking of upgrading more than half a year was the Sony Ericsson K750i - It has what I wanted - Bluetooth, colour screen, camera capability. But I just could not rationalise paying three to four hundred bucks for a new phone in a consumer world where new models flood the markets every few months. And I was so used to Nokia. It's track record was so good.

My old phone was still functioning well. Yes its has its little fault (the volume can no longer be lowered) and the surface looks worn down. The LCD screen is also starting to fade off. But I did spend a bit of money to fix the keypad more than a year ago.

While it still has a trade-in value of 50 bucks, I know that sooner or later, it will be worthless. So its better to trade-in while it still has some values. And since the price is 'right', I persuaded myself that now is the right time.

Sorry, Nokia. You just lost your faithful customer. It's not that your phones are not good, but sometimes, people just need a change.

Sony Ericsson, I hope your phone would serve me well as according to what the feature specs stated. If all goes well this few years, when the time comes to change phone again, I may reconsider your phone again.