It all started last year, around December, seeing many people with gorgeous-looking phones and looking at my own. My phone isn't really that bad (but it's an old Nokia model, I even forgot what's the unit called..I remember, 6101). Every now and then, I see some people using the same gadget..but the number of those people, yeah, very..very few. And considering that I'm living in one of the world's front runners in technology, well you could say my eyes really turn green sometimes when I see all the high-tech phones swarming all around me.
So, I decided that it's time to change my phone. Could be my birthday gift or Christmas gift for 2007 - whatever the choice, it should be in my hands before the year 2007 ends.
I began window-shopping, around August and at that time, the Beyonce commercial for Samsung was airing on TV. It fascinated me that I can have a phone and MP3 player back-to-back . Out of curiosity (plus the idea that I can be as cool and sexy as Beyonce when I get hold of that phone), my husband and I went to the Samsung center in VivoCity.
I took one look at the Beyonce phone and dismissed it right away..the reason? the screen is too small for me. And as a mega-texter, I like my screen really big as to read my entire message before I send it.
But no big deal. There are a lot of choices in that Samsung store and what caught my eye then was the Samsung 10.9. It is so slick, very compact and very light. I tried its music and camera features then and it was quite good. In my mind, this is THE PHONE. Ok, just need to save the money to buy it :)
Now, it's October and with the Hari-Raya celebration, there were a lot of discounts for mobile phones. Friday, Oct 12, we stopped by Plaza Singapura after work to buy some groceries. And maybe it's a sign, but there's a Singtel booth offering discount to my dream phone, Samsung 10.9. It is one hour before they closed, and all we had for testing is a dummy blue phone. No one last look at the features and the available colors, garnet red, copper gold, blue , and white. I don't exactly know the look of these colors except for the blue one, and nope, that color is not for my next phone, neither is the white. Now, which one between garnet red and copper gold, hard to choose..harder because I am just IMAGINING those colors as there were no other dummy sets. Finally, I chose red...BUT surprise! They don't have that color available anymore. And since I won't settle for the blue one, we walked away from that booth and planned to go to the Samsung center again.
And so, my hubby and I were back in VivoCity to check out my phone (hahaha! mine already). Eager me got hold of the 10.9 in all available colors but disappointedly, not one of them took my breath away. But since I want it, I settled for the garnet red, and started to fiddle with its features. All are ok, except for the text-messaging. I felt that the keypads were too-sensitive to touch and I didn't liked it.
My hubby, the ever reasonable one, suggested that we look for other phones. We went to the nearby Best Denki store and checked out the other manufacturers' phones, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson. Two Sony phones caugnt my eye, and they are both sliders and compact. One is S500i and the other is W580i. S500i boasts of its nature-inspired theme and it changes color/theme by day/night and by month -- how cool is that? :)
W580i, on the other hand, is a walkman phone, which I loved because it's like having your own mp3 player although the S500i can play mp3 tunes too.
But alas, with all the phone window-shopping, we went home that day with still no phone in our hands. And that night, I think I even dreamt of mobile phones, and I felt uneasy because I still don't know which phone to pick.
Sunday morning, Oct 14, breezed through searching for reviews on the two Sony phones I like (and helping my sister on her case study but that's another story). With the Singtel promo brochure also in my hands, I stumbled upon the new Sony release, the w910i. Features seem great, I even viewed a demo in YouTube. And yeah, I have 3 phones now to decide on (which was really not easy to do).
Before we left the house to continue our hunt, I've discarded s500i from my list already (with a great sigh). Sure, it's such a cute phone with all the changing colors but the features were more like my old phone's. This time, I wanted something new, like a Walkman phone.
Off we went to Bishan Junction, heading for the Sony Gallery, Unluckily, they don't have the w910i yet , even for display, because it's a new release. There's the w580i though, but I couldn't decide without comparing the two side-by-side. The sales person suggested that we go to Singtel's main cneter in AMK hub where the w910i is offered.
One train stop away and I was now queing for a number in Singtel 's center. No dummy sets for the w910i also but it can be purchased there. I was feeling excited and sort of scared at the same time. Scared because I can't even test the phone, not until I buy it. Arounf 15 minutes later, I was giving the sales guy my NRIC card..and I was holding the w910i. Color is hearty red, it's a bit bigger than the w580i but since I'm still not saying "YES", I was not sure how big is it and will I be comfortable with its size. WIth a few more minutes of contemplation, I agreed to buy the phone.
The box was opened then, and the sales guy gave it to me for testing. The size is A-OK. Screen is big yes, but the size still is comfy. I love the red color, the music sounds, the themes....it was perfect. The hunt is offically over.
Check out Sony's demo video of this phone.
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