Mobile Evolution

Ah, Friday afternoon! Let's discuss something lighthearted yet critical to the development of ones character.

I'm heading off to Florida-land soon to wrestle alligators and save manatees from extinction (hobby in my spare time, of course) and thought to myself, "I should probably look into activating my US cellphone for communication ease." Then I thought how foolish I would look using my US mobile as it's rather antiquated. I purchased it in 2006 and even at that point it was considered to be an older, cheap phone. But before we discuss the Nokia 2115i and its enhanced flashlight feature (oooh!), we shall rewind even further to the first mobile I ever own: the Nokia 3410.



What a sexy phone! Not the traditional black or silver colour. The phone had wonderful features such as: call display, multiple ring tone, texting, minimal web browser capabilities (never figured that out), and GAMES! Including SNAKE, the classic cellphone/grade 9 computer class game of sweat, trauma, and love.

I bought this phone in the UK - the Virgin Store on Princes Street in Edinburgh - for way too much money. Or at least it seemed so at the time because the exchange rate was terrible. I don't remember how much it was exactly, but probably close to $100 CAD including maybe $40 of credit. Maybe more. Maybe less. I don't remember. I don't think this was the cheapest phone available, but I think it was the cheapest once factoring in activation bonus. Shan, Keri, and I (my two flatmates/PEI expats) had the same phone. Like triplets, we could tell them apart by their unique differences. Scratches from being dropped, perhaps a random sticker applied, or what shade of make-up was accidentally smeared on it. This phone lived a good, expat life. It was dropped a few times (shocking in the land of beer and whisky), went on adventures with me, and was eventually passed onto another Islander (and temporary roommate) who used it until she left Scotland about seven months after I did. I'm not sure what she did with it, hopefully passed it on to someone else in need. I think I sold it to her for about 5GBP, which was basically to cover the credit on it. I spent that money on crisps and confectionery in the Glasgow and Belfast Airport, through my sad sniffles. The phone number was about 8,000 digits long: 07981 130 XXX [because I don't remember the last three digits]. I have it written down somewhere though. This phone also developed my love for predictive texting, which was forced upon Keri by Shannon and I.

Next up, the Nokia 2115i/American Phone v2.0:


This is actually the third phone I had. My second one was a different US AT&T pay as you go phone, which died a tragic death after only a couple of months. I was at the gym (at Disney's Boardwalk, for the geeky) and had my phone in my shorts' pocket. As I stood up from using the toilet my phone tumbled in. I fished it out (nae worries folks, it was only a Number 1 toilet use) and tried to turn it on. Lights blinked... and nothing. RIP phone.

Off to the Internet to find a replacement! Virgin had the best price: $20.00 for an older phone that came with $20.00 phone credit. Essentially, a free phone. A simple internet purchase later and the phone was delivered to my delicious, sweaty Disney apartment.

This is the phone I still have as my US phone. It's not activated, but they always happily give me a new phone number every time I feel the need to activate it again and toss on some credit. I haven't used the phone since going to Hawai'i/San Diego a year ago, so I'm hoping when I eventually turn it on it was emit smells of the delicious ocean. Hmm, right.

This phone still had a black and white display and the interface (right word?) was almost the exact same as my UK phone. However, the main upgrade was the FLASHLIGHT feature. You may laugh, until the power goes out or you are rummaging around in a dark hostel dormitory and realise that the wee flashlight is a *very* useful invention.

Onto Canada Phone v1.0: the Nokia 2521i.


We have upgraded to a colour display! I bought this phone in September 2007 right before going to California. I was driving at 1:00am to go to Halifax for an early flight and felt a mobile would be a wise addition to my luggage. It is almost the exact same as my US except the colour display and phone colour. It gave me a source of familiarity, comfort. I believe it was about $60.00, which seemed like a massive rip-off given the free-ness of US mobile. Bonus of being only a slight upgrade to the previous phone is that the phone chargers are the same, and I still have a flashlight which is useful as I don't have a good lamp next to my bed and my room's lightswitch is alllllllllllllllllll the way on the other side of my room, separated by an obstacle course of clothing, books, a random purse... anything really. Could be a snake in there.

My cellphone has not evolved for almost 2.5 years. The phone still works super well. It will randomly shut off once in awhile if I set it down too hard, but that's it. I could upgrade it, but I enjoy the sturdiness of old Nokias. You can drop them and they still work. Unless droppage results in toilet phone, but I think that would kill most phones anyway. I just sometimes feel like a tool using it, but now I like to think it'll only be a couple of more years until it's a cool retro phone. In 2013, pulling out this dandy phone with the flashlight will be like pulling out a Zack Morris phone from Saved by the Bell. Also, you probably have to pay extra to get an flashlight app for your iPhone. Just sayin'...



(Also, let's not even bother getting into the curse of the Blackberry and being 100% accessible to your employer all the time. Fools! Bwa ha haaaa!)