The history of my cell phones...

Well it's time to actually start writing about some hobbies that I've had over the years! The Christmas Season is over, and the New Year is just around the corner! And what comes with a new year...new phones! And new phones mean new technology!

I've spent some time recently thinking over the evolution of the cell phone and what it means to me! It's been a fun and long ride and I highly enjoy each of the phones I've had. Every cell phone bought creates a special place in my heart, and I have fond memories of each of them. I remember the time (I'm not that old!) when a cell phone was just that...a cell phone! It was a good and simple time when you still called someone that you wanted to talk to because SMS messages weren't all that popular...BBM didn't exist...Apple still hasn't developed the iPhone...and Android was a reference to some type of robot! But those were the good ol days...and today there's no such thing as 'just a cell phone'...it's a powerful, all encompassing piece of technology that aims to make our life as easy as possible...and unfortunately making physical contact with other people unnecessary to stay in touch...

The Sanyo!

My first personally bought cell was from Clearnet...Clearnet!? What's that you ask...well that is the company that was taken over by TELUS in the late 90s or early 00's...the phone was a Sanyo (don't know model number) but it was great! The battery life was phenomenal, it took a beating, and kept on coming back for more! Unfortunately it met a very untimely death when I was out with one of my good buddies and left it in the car overnight! The battery froze and the phone wouldn't hold a charge for more than a few seconds at a time! This is when I realized the importance of recording phone numbers on paper because I wasn't able to keep the phone long enough to actually get any numbers out of it!

How I miss my RAZR...

The lovely Sanyo phone was replaced by the mighty Motorola RAZR...what a phone! It had a colour screen! Whoa!!!! Talk about mind blowing technology! The keyboard was good, albeit took a while to type on, the screen was a multi-colour display which gave horrible pictures/images...but the same can be said of our old consoles (NES anyone!?). The RAZR was a flip phone and was surprisingly robust for the slim design. The hinge always worked, the phone's been dropped but there were no cracks in the glass or any physical damage which would cause it to stop functioning! After a few fond years with the RAZR the screen had decided that it wanted to play and basically was rendered useless when all the pixles went their own separate way! This was a very sad day because I loved that phone as well...I'm still looking for it...but cannot seem to find it.

The 8330...uninspring

Now after the first 2 phones (6 year contracts in total), the real fun begins! My first phone was the RIM Curve 8330! Wow! QWERTY keyboard, a real screen, internet capabilities, BBM(!!!!), and all those wonderful things that came with it...especially work emails from the boss at 3am! (took a full hour to figure out how to stop that thing from ringing when certain mailboxes had new mail!) This phone had it all and I loved it! I kept it for years and really enjoyed it. It was a good size, a good weight, and a very robust phone to boot! It was dropped, water was poured on it, and each time it dried up, and just kept on going! However with more and more powerful apps that were installed the phone began to bog down...and that didn't help things! Being itchy for new tech after 2 years...I made a drastic shift in my phones...

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A very painful, untimely death...

to the Apple side of things! The 3GS bought used from a good friend of mine! This phone was...wow...it had everything I had ever wanted...it was fast, great colours, SKYPE!, music, everything that you could want! Except...the keyboard! Now at this point in time I didn't know what I wanted and I know I wanted a keyboard! I missed that part, and the BBM, so I did complain and complain and complain about that lack of functionality! I also didn't fully understand the phone so the full potential of it was lost on me...and then it died...a painful, graphic, horrible death! But the good thing is that it protected my right cheek from damage in the fall (see attached pic...of the phone not the cheek!)

Still functioning for dad...the 9000!

Once I quickly realized the phone was dead...I called TELUS immediately and went back to my 8330 that very morning...and I hated it...and I cursed TELUS and cursed them some more to give me a discount on the next phone...but they wouldn't budge! I had over a year left on my contract and they could care less about the problems with my phones...so a good friend decided that she wanted the Torch...and bequeathed the 9000 Bold to me...wow...what a keyboard...what internet capabilities...what an annoying scrolling ball! The phone was big, but fit well...the battery life was great, the sound was great, the phone was just a good and solid phone. Yet unfortunately something was still missing in my life...

9700...now in dad's possession

...so then came the 9700! Now this phone I knew was more of an in-between until the next beautiful phone came out...it was a good sturdy phone...didn't complain when abused...survived water damage...survived drops...and just kept on going. The battery life...wow...wow...wow...and the signal was strong no matter where I was! The keyboard was a big smaller than the 9000...but it was worth it! My father is now the proud owner of the 9000 which I had the 9700...surprisingly today I gave him the 9700 as he wanted to try it...

And now we have the creme de la creme of my phone collection...the 4s! Now this is a phone that I very hesitantly purchased with TELUS again (long story)...there was a lot of thought, research, and indecision that went into this decision due to my previous experience with the 3GS...but let me tell you...this is the phone that I could not be happier with! It does everything I want...and it does all of it well! Sure there's no keyboard...but the keyboard can be made to include Polish...which really helps with emailing the home country! With each passing day I learn something new about the phone, and I eagerly anticipate when I can actually fully appreciate the total capability of the 4s...hopefully the 5 isn't coming out too soon as that would suck for the wallet!

The 4S...wonderful

So this has been a very long post, and I'm sure boring at times...but it does chronicle my phone history and I hope to update it in the next lil while with a new, better, and more powerful phone! Or people's tastes will go back to the simple...make a call...and done!