I think cellphones first hit the Philippine market back in the early 1990's when I was still in high school (yes, it was that long ago). I remember there were two kinds; car phones that you can bring along slinged on one's shoulder, and the big bulky "deadly weapon" kind. Only the elite can afford owning a 1st generation unit. They were so expensive that it was considered impractical for non-elite folk. Not to mention that they were heavy, they get extremely hot when you make a long call, the battery died every so often, and oh, did I mention that the rates were crazy?Early into college life, I was approached by one of my bestfriends, Pipoy. He had this Philips Fizz unit and he told me he could make a call and send a message to other Fizz users. I went, "So, to whom do you send messages to?" He answered, "Wala pa eh." That was my first introduction to the 2nd generation units.
After a short while, the industry was flourishing. New models from Philips, Bosch, Panasonic and Alcatel were being introduced to the people at semi-reasonable prices. Carriers Globe and Smart were offering pre-paid plans with units for only Php5,000. Well, at that time, it was a lot. But everyone started getting bitten by the texting bug.
I lived in a boarding house during college in Cagayan de Oro. I had a roommate, and we were living with around 12 more people. It started out with just 1 of us having a unit. The guy's name was Yumi. He had this Nokia 2110. And at that time, I was in awe with the units capabilities. It can make calls for a price, but send SMS to other Globe users for FREE! Wow. So all the boys were taking turns texting other people, mainly girls, and I guess that how having textmates started. Well, not really.
One by one, we started getting cellphones of our own. I actually had a unit my mom lent me for emergencies. It was a Nokia 100. It was horrible. It was huge, heavy, not very attractive... and worse of all, it didn't have any SMS function. Back then, my girl friend persuaded me to buy a new one, with her paying initially and me just paying her back. I liked the idea and she got me a Bosch Com 607. It had 27 monophonic ringtones, a calculator and an orange backlight. How cool is that?!I had one of the coolest phones only for a short period of time, only up to the time when the infamous Nokia 5110 arrived. Then they had the coolest phones around... up until the Nokia 3210 arrived. And then they were cool, up until the Nokia 6110 arrived. And then the Nokia 6150 with vibrating battery. And the 7110. And the 8110. The Communicators. Posh phones. Sports phones. Practical ones. Small. Big. Just right. The list goes on.
We're in the period where 3rd Generation or 3G was just introduced, and it's quickly becoming obsolete. 3.5G or HSDPA is now available, and 4th Generation or 4G phone are right around the corner. I presently have a Nokia E70, which for me is the swiss knife of all cellphones. It has 3G, Bluetooth v1.2, IrDA, WiFi, VoIP, a gull-wing keyboard, 2MP camera with CIF video capture, expandable memory, office applications, blackberry connectivity, music player, and it runs on Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition with a 2" screen that supports 16 million colors. It's turning 1 year old in August, but right now, its features are almost obsolete. Crazy!
I also have a Sony Ericsson K800i which I bought because of it's Cybershot lable and the 3.2MP camera with autofocus and Xenon flash. I had it for almost 6 months now, and SE just announced that they'll be releasing a new phone by the end of the year called the K85oi. It's still a Cybershot, but it now has a 5MP camera with autofocus, Xenon flash and 3 LED lights for video capture. Augh!
I guess updating/changing phones is just like buying underwear nowadays. Having said that, my next phone will definitely be the SE W960i. It's one of the latest Walkman phones of SE. It has 3G, a 2.6" touchscreen, an 8GB internal memory, WiFi, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP*, 3.2MP camera with autofocus and LED flash, picture/document editor, handwriting recognition and it runs on Symbian OS v9.1, UIQ 3.0. Oh yeah, it can send SMS and make calls too. Who freakin' needs an Apple iPhone with this baby?!Man, I am sooo in love with cellphones. Can't live without them. It's an obsession.
God have mercy on my soul.
*A2DP is a Bluetooth feature wherein your phone can transmit music seamlessly to stereo bluetooth headsets.
