Mobile Phones

Back in the early 1990s, I got my first cellular phone, a Motorola MicroTAC Elite Series. In those days, it was the smallest phone available with the cool flip cover. The battery life was laughable especially after 6 months. I was able to talk on it for about 20 minutes before having to plug it into a power source. This phone weighed a ton compared to current celluar phones, but it was one of the most innovative mobile devices at the time! I did keep this phone for a long time even though I deactivated the service in 1997. Between 1997 and 2001, I did not find a need for having a mobile phone. Strange to think of that today though huh?

In late 2001, I decided that it is time for me to conform to the norm and get myself a cool new phone. I chose the Nokia 8260 because my friend Mark had one and I loved its small size and weight! This phone is the start of my addiction in hacking and tweaking celluar phones. I changed many of its system settings and swapped the face plate with many 3rd party after market covers that I bought over the Internet. Changing covers on the 8260 was a challenge because it did not have the xPressOn feature like today's Nokia phones. With too much tweaking and opening up the covers, the phone eventually started to die on me. That's okay because I had my eyes set on the next Nokia model.

At the end of 2002, I upgraded to the Nokia 8265. It is a better design of the 8260 with a better SMS and graphics feature and xPressOn cover. Although this might not seem as an upgrade for some, I chose it, again, for its small size and open faced design. After having had the experience and experiments with my 8260 and learning from my mistakes, I decided to only purchase OEM phone cover plates which were much better quality and fit. Upon my purchase of the phone, I acquired three face plates with different colors to match my mood. Of course, I had to tweak this phone as well. I changed the carrier name to my site's name and personalized a few more things here and there. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was and still am a ringtones nut? Well, I admit it. I spent and still spending a good portion of my free time searching and downloading ringtones for every cellular phone I have had.
From my experience with the 8260, I also learned to never plug a cellular phone into an AC source while talking on it. Doing so will make the phone heat up and shorten its battery life. The best way to pamper and prolong a celluar phone's battery is purchasing two batteries with an external battery charger. This way you can just swap the batteries when one is running low; thus, you never have to use the AC adapter. It is also a good practice to drain the battery before charging it. In fact, I had three batteries for the 8265. I do not recall having to plug the phone in at all throughout the time I had it. All three batteries are still in their prime condition today. I gave this phone to Jay, Mark's brother, because I decided to go with the new generation of cell phones.

In January of 2004, I took a giant leap and got myself a Nokia 7210 phone which is packed with features such as FM Radio, Loud Speaker Mode, WAP, SMS, MMS, IR, and much more. Yes, you guessed it, I also bought the phone with the necessities: two additional face plates, desktop stand and charger, and an extra battery. A couple of weeks later, Trendy gave me her Sony Ericsson t68i which has the bluetooth technology and a better WAP reception than my 7210.
The Nokia 7210 became my daily cellular phone because of its awesome loud speaker function while the t68i took the role of my travelling companion due to its better WAP reception and smaller charger.
Both of these phones are unlocked and share the same SIM card. It is amazing to think how far technology for cellular phones have come since the days of my Motorola MicroTAC. Fortune has a nice article about the history and the evolution of cellular phones and technology. The article inspired me to write this entry which I plan to update when I decide to once again upgrade.

On December 9th of 2004, I decided to upgrade to the new Nokia bad boy 7610.