Cell Phone Heritage

I don't pretend to be an early adopter.  Well, maybe sometimes I do.  But I'm not really an early adopter.  And I guess I don't do change very well, either.

Take our cell phone usage for example.  In the almost ten years of our marriage, I have owned exactly 3 cell phones.  Granted, the first 2 years were cell-phone-less years.   (Can you remember what it was like to be be in college/married/out-and-about without a cell phone?  Liberating thought or devastating-- you choose.)

So these three phones get a little overview here about what they were and why I liked them.

4/2005 to 4/2007
Samsung SGH-E105

This phone was TINY and I kept mine on a tether just so I could find it among all the other stuff in my pocket. Crazy, I know.  It was small in my hand, but dense.  I remember feeling trendy having a flip phone that would end a phone conversation when you clapped it closed.  I remember the screens being so nifty and enviable.  "Oooh, a screen on the outside and the inside!"  And to what end?  I didn't have a camera on it, didn't have any games to speak of, and really was for... making phone calls.  But it was novel.  And fun.  It went through the laundry once, and survived.  I dried it for a day or two, and it booted up, but the screen was black.  Then after a week, the screen was on, and I used it happily until it was time for a free upgrade.

4/2007 to 10/2008
LG CU550

Life got a little more interesting when I got this phone because it had a camera... that could swivel to be forward facing or back facing.  I could take pictures and assign them to phone book profiles.  I could do voice activated dialing (which was a cool feature, but how often did I really use it?)  It had splendid annodized metal on the casing and the keys, and was a nice solid phone.  I felt like if it wasn't heavy, it wasn't sturdy.  This phone had a microSD card slot which was a thrill, because then I could load in my .mp3 music collection and listen to it on hands-free device.  And yet.  I tried and tried and tried to get the microSD card to slot, even going to the user forums to get this wacky user code to reset and recognize the card slot, but it never really worked right.  Ultimately, the outer glass on this one cracked, and I became unenamored with it.

10/2008 to present
Sony w580i

Can it be that I've had the same slider phone for the last 4 years?  I guess it can be.  The funny thing is that I am STILL in love with this phone.  Here's why:

• It has an FM radio with L/R stereo handsfree headset... Sony headphones with great sound.
• It has a great .mp3 player built in.
• I can put all kinds of movies and shows on the phone to watch in .3gp
• I put in a couple Gb of storage on a M2 SD card, so can have hours upon hours of video/songs.  I currently have like 60 episodes of Perfect Strangers, several movies, kids shows, and a full music library on it.
• It has a decent camera.
• Its battery life... honestly, I charge it up twice a week, and its going strong.
• The speaker phone.  It recently out-performed a blackberry and iPhone in around-the-desk conference calling.  Again, leave it to Sony.
• Step counter.  How else would you feel guilty about only taking 2295 steps today?
• Games downloads, themes, and the like.  These were from pre-"Apps" days, so getting anything at all was a real treat.  But really, how cool is a customizable phone?!
• The LED lights around the case.  Yes, shwanky lights that will change colors based on who's calling.
• Bluetooth.  Easy data transfer.  And in that rental car in MN this summer, it auto-synched and I could voice-dial from the steering wheel!  With a four-year old phone, people!

Blake dropped the phone Saturday and now the sound on the earpiece is starting to buzz.  I've replaced the screen, I've re-skinned it using a relative's retired version of this phone.  Do I stick with the phone I love, or do I consider a new phone?  Consider for a minute:

• I don't text.
• Not motivated to pay a data plan, since I have internet all around me at home and work.
• Don't (think that I) need apps on the go really, since we have an iPod touch, GPS, a Kindle, a netbook, a DVR/Media PC.