I started carrying a mobile phone the day I turned 21. My first phone was a gift from my dad for my 21st birthday as per my request. Actually it was the only request he agreed to; the other 3 birthday requests, i.e. my own personal laptop, a supplementary credit card and my own car, were thrown out with no appeals allowed. :( Anyway, the phone was a red colour flip phone called the Ericsson GSM 768. Yes, it is practically non-existent now, but at that point in time, it was the coolest phone around.
Since then, I have upgraded several times. After the 768, I received a red Phillips Genie as part of a package deal through a 1-year's subscription to TODAY newspaper. (The similarity in colour was just a coincidence.) Alas, the poor phone only lasted 3 months, as it was stolen by a student when I was undergoing a school attachment as part of my teacher training programme. Thus, I could not even remember what it looked like. Needless to say, I never got it back, so I had to buy another phone - Nokia 3210, the oldest and biggest Nokia model around. It was big and bulky and heavy, but since I was still an undergraduate and footing my own bills, I could not complain. Afterall, beggars can't be choosers.
The 3210 lasted me several years, until after the time I graduated and started teaching. Then, it was stolen by another student. (Why do these things keep happening to me?!) Luckily, I replaced the grey casing with my own fancy Winnie the Pooh casing, so I was lucky to get it back the very next day from the second-hand mobile phone shop where that particular student had sold it to.
Later, the 3210 gave way to a smaller, sleeker phone - Nokia 8250. It was a gift from my then-boyfriend, complete with a Winnie the Pooh casing. I loved the phone. It was small and handy and light and I could download my favourite tunes into it.
Then, in 2003, I got lucky. I won a series of contests organised by M1, i.e. the Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Weakest Link SMS Games. I won 2 Motorola mobile phones for being the top scorer for both games. The first Motorola phone was a pink Motorola E360. The features were pretty alright, but it was not that user-friendly. I took a while to get used to it. Besides, it was quite big, bigger than my old 8250, and the battery was not long-lasting. I had to charge every 1 to 2 days. The second Motorola was a silver T720 with a flipcase. That was a cooler phone with polyphonic ringtones and a colour LCD display screen. Then, I won a Motorola lucky draw by dropping in my waranty card, and lo and behold, I won another T720! I gave that to my boyfriend so we could have "couple" phones.
Last week, I made a major decision to change my phone. I wanted a phone with MMS, Email, Camera and Video functions. So, I bought the Nokia 6170 - a sleek phone with a silver flipcase, colour LCD screen, camera with zoom, Video Recording, GPRS Email and MMS functions. This is the most expensive phone I ever own. Ah, what bliss to be a working person with disposable income. I can at last indulge myself a little bit more. xp
What happened to my previous phones? The 768 was given to my ex boyfriend, who broke it when he threw the phone at me for making him angry. The 3210 was given to my first brother, who needed a phone when he went overseas to study. Alas, he lost it in the big country down under. The 8250 is still with me, albeit not in working order anymore. The E360 was lent to my friend, who lost the charger and scratched the original casing before giving back to me. And the 2 T720s? Both are still with me, although with the display gone for one and the sound gone for the other.
As you can see, my phones only have shelf lives of 2 years at the most. I am hoping my new 6170 will last me for much longer. Perhaps the title of this piece should be changed to "Ode to 7 Mobile Phones" instead?
Since then, I have upgraded several times. After the 768, I received a red Phillips Genie as part of a package deal through a 1-year's subscription to TODAY newspaper. (The similarity in colour was just a coincidence.) Alas, the poor phone only lasted 3 months, as it was stolen by a student when I was undergoing a school attachment as part of my teacher training programme. Thus, I could not even remember what it looked like. Needless to say, I never got it back, so I had to buy another phone - Nokia 3210, the oldest and biggest Nokia model around. It was big and bulky and heavy, but since I was still an undergraduate and footing my own bills, I could not complain. Afterall, beggars can't be choosers.
The 3210 lasted me several years, until after the time I graduated and started teaching. Then, it was stolen by another student. (Why do these things keep happening to me?!) Luckily, I replaced the grey casing with my own fancy Winnie the Pooh casing, so I was lucky to get it back the very next day from the second-hand mobile phone shop where that particular student had sold it to.
Later, the 3210 gave way to a smaller, sleeker phone - Nokia 8250. It was a gift from my then-boyfriend, complete with a Winnie the Pooh casing. I loved the phone. It was small and handy and light and I could download my favourite tunes into it.
Then, in 2003, I got lucky. I won a series of contests organised by M1, i.e. the Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Weakest Link SMS Games. I won 2 Motorola mobile phones for being the top scorer for both games. The first Motorola phone was a pink Motorola E360. The features were pretty alright, but it was not that user-friendly. I took a while to get used to it. Besides, it was quite big, bigger than my old 8250, and the battery was not long-lasting. I had to charge every 1 to 2 days. The second Motorola was a silver T720 with a flipcase. That was a cooler phone with polyphonic ringtones and a colour LCD display screen. Then, I won a Motorola lucky draw by dropping in my waranty card, and lo and behold, I won another T720! I gave that to my boyfriend so we could have "couple" phones.
Last week, I made a major decision to change my phone. I wanted a phone with MMS, Email, Camera and Video functions. So, I bought the Nokia 6170 - a sleek phone with a silver flipcase, colour LCD screen, camera with zoom, Video Recording, GPRS Email and MMS functions. This is the most expensive phone I ever own. Ah, what bliss to be a working person with disposable income. I can at last indulge myself a little bit more. xp
What happened to my previous phones? The 768 was given to my ex boyfriend, who broke it when he threw the phone at me for making him angry. The 3210 was given to my first brother, who needed a phone when he went overseas to study. Alas, he lost it in the big country down under. The 8250 is still with me, albeit not in working order anymore. The E360 was lent to my friend, who lost the charger and scratched the original casing before giving back to me. And the 2 T720s? Both are still with me, although with the display gone for one and the sound gone for the other.
As you can see, my phones only have shelf lives of 2 years at the most. I am hoping my new 6170 will last me for much longer. Perhaps the title of this piece should be changed to "Ode to 7 Mobile Phones" instead?
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