Stick With What You Know

I have always been of the mind that I don't like touch screen phones, and I have always been of the mind that I don't like QWERTY keyboard phones. You would have thought that by now, I would accept this and just deal with it. I guess wisdom doesn't always come with age!

The main thing I use my phone for is messaging, text and email. I rarely call. I web browse frequently, and I like the added extras available on most modern smartphones, such as camera, GPS, MP3 player, etc. I've tried all platforms, from Windows Mobile to UIQ to S40 to your bog standard phone interface, and nothing performs to the level of S60.

Knowing this, I still like to try out new phones, new features, new services and new products. But, every time, I go back to what I know. Of all the phones I have owned, only a few have really stood the test. Amongst those are the Nokia 6310i, Nokia 7650, Nokia 6600, Nokia N73, Nokia N95 (inc 8GB version), and Nokia N82. I wouldn't suggest I am a Nokia addict, but the phones that pass the test are for me the phones that I keep going back to, after trying something new. Before owning a 6310i, there was never a phone I was particularly bothered about, although the 2110 was ok, as was the 8110, but the 6310i was in a class of it's own. I'd buy a new phone, but nothing came up to standard, so I would go back to it. Until the 7650 came along. And the same with that, I must have bought the 7650 at least 5 times, as I would sell for a new phone, only for it not to come up to scratch, so I would buy the 7650 again! Same with the 6600, N73 and N95. Sure there would be a period in between whilst I was using other phones, but none ever passed the test the way these phones did.

And now, the latest phone to pass the 'test', is another Nokia, another S60 phone, another NSeries phone. Over the last few months, I've been using the E51, then the Samsung F480 Tocco, followed by a Sony Ericsson C905. The Tocco, whilst a nice enough phone for a touchscreen affair, just didn't cut it, especially web browsing, and text entry was a pain. The C905 is a great imaging phone, with some nice features, but the keypad was hard and lacked any decent feedback, and it just looks like an old phone. Kinda plain and normal.

So, I took the opportunity to take a look at the market, and see if there was anything new out there for me. And, rather than make an impulse buy like I usually do, I took my time and compared phones. As mentioned in previous posts, I took my choice down to mainly the E71 or E66 with the E51 as an outside option, or the N95 8GB or the N82. I nearly went for the E71, I truly did, but that blasted QWERTY keyboard, it sucks! Surprisingly usable it may be, but not usable enough. For a quick message it was fine, but once I got into a long text conversation, it wasn't long before the phone and I became bitter enemies! I did try to persist, but I can't begin to tell you the relief of putting my SIM back into the N82. No more typos! Simple, easy, T9 assisted text entry. Just what I need.

So, after all the fannying about of the last few months, I hope I will remember the lesson learned. I actually do not like touchscreen phones; I actually do not like QWERTY keypad phones; nothing compares to S60 for usability, 'customisability' and functionality.

Basically, I should stick with what I know, and right now the current hero handset that I know, the latest to pass 'the test', is the Nokia N82.