READ THIS NOW!!!!!:
I’ve heard it said that times change, and I don’t doubt it! I’ve seen a few changes in my time but none match the rise and rise of the mobile phone — they’re everywhere, and they’re no longer just phones they do loads more nowadays. [insert emoji here]
Very soon I think I might upgrade to a so-called ‘smart phone’* to mark this occasion I’d like to share with you—the avid reader—a few of the mobile phones I’ve had over the years. A little trip down memory lane, if you will, so fasten your seat-belts and enjoy the ride!
By the way, all these phones are now for sale at very resonable prices.
* actually reader i already did this.
I’ve heard it said that times change, and I don’t doubt it! I’ve seen a few changes in my time but none match the rise and rise of the mobile phone — they’re everywhere, and they’re no longer just phones they do loads more nowadays. [insert emoji here]
Very soon I think I might upgrade to a so-called ‘smart phone’* to mark this occasion I’d like to share with you—the avid reader—a few of the mobile phones I’ve had over the years. A little trip down memory lane, if you will, so fasten your seat-belts and enjoy the ride!
By the way, all these phones are now for sale at very resonable prices.
* actually reader i already did this.
THE WiKO
Ah, the Wiko I had this one a few years. I have to confess it wasn’t my first ever mobile, I’d had a few before this one. I think I got it in 2013. This phone was French and served me well for a good while. At first I thought I’d be able to choose English (my native tongue) on the phone’s settings, but it turns out I couldn’t! I suppose it helped me learn a few more words in the lingo. When I got back from France I continued to use it, and having a French phone added a cosmopolitan edge to my otherwise humdrum existence. I was sad when it stopped working. The battery went and I couldn’t find another one for it. Shame.
7/10
Ah, the Wiko I had this one a few years. I have to confess it wasn’t my first ever mobile, I’d had a few before this one. I think I got it in 2013. This phone was French and served me well for a good while. At first I thought I’d be able to choose English (my native tongue) on the phone’s settings, but it turns out I couldn’t! I suppose it helped me learn a few more words in the lingo. When I got back from France I continued to use it, and having a French phone added a cosmopolitan edge to my otherwise humdrum existence. I was sad when it stopped working. The battery went and I couldn’t find another one for it. Shame.
7/10
THE HUAWEi
It doesn’t take an expert to figure out why I was drawn to this phone——the bright orange livery is pretty hard to resist isn’t it? As soon as I saw it in the shop I knew it was the one for me, even if it was a little more expensive that the others I was considering. It was £30, and with that I got a charger, instructions and it all came in a box. I bought it in a backstreet phone shop in the town of Goole (Britain’s largest inland port!). I was in a rush the day I bought it as the Wiko had died on me quite unexpectedly. I had a quite demanding girlfriend at the time so it was important that I had a working phone.
The phone lasted longer than the relationship and although the phone served me in a solid capacity I didn’t ever really warm to it. I’d had it about a year when the speaker in it broke, after that I had to conduct all my conversations via the loudspeaker setting. Not ideal.
When the battery died in this one I was able to find a replacement, so I kept it going a bit longer. Then it totally stopped on me, I’d be ringing people up and I could hear them but they couldn’t hear me—or something like that. I don’t remember finding any amusement in these difficulties, although looking back perhaps it was quite funny.
It still has a few numbers on it so I turn it on from time to time to transfer them. I’ve yet to turn it on for purely nostalgic reasons but that day can’t be too far away now.
5/10
It doesn’t take an expert to figure out why I was drawn to this phone——the bright orange livery is pretty hard to resist isn’t it? As soon as I saw it in the shop I knew it was the one for me, even if it was a little more expensive that the others I was considering. It was £30, and with that I got a charger, instructions and it all came in a box. I bought it in a backstreet phone shop in the town of Goole (Britain’s largest inland port!). I was in a rush the day I bought it as the Wiko had died on me quite unexpectedly. I had a quite demanding girlfriend at the time so it was important that I had a working phone.
The phone lasted longer than the relationship and although the phone served me in a solid capacity I didn’t ever really warm to it. I’d had it about a year when the speaker in it broke, after that I had to conduct all my conversations via the loudspeaker setting. Not ideal.
When the battery died in this one I was able to find a replacement, so I kept it going a bit longer. Then it totally stopped on me, I’d be ringing people up and I could hear them but they couldn’t hear me—or something like that. I don’t remember finding any amusement in these difficulties, although looking back perhaps it was quite funny.
It still has a few numbers on it so I turn it on from time to time to transfer them. I’ve yet to turn it on for purely nostalgic reasons but that day can’t be too far away now.
5/10
THE ALBA
This one is still very new to me, but I bought it second hand. A well know high street retailer sold it to me, the battery was guaranteed for 30 days but the phone itself is guaranteed for two years!
This is utterly and unashamedly ridiculous considering it only cost me about £12 and the two years is pretty much the average lifespan of these little nuggets of tech. Some of the buttons are a bit sticky and are hard to press but apart from that I have developed a warm relationship with this one. This is largely to do with the fact that the ringtone and alarm being a rather lovely snippet of chilled house music—what’s not to like?!
Yes, I like the design and the user interface. Recommended.
8/10
This one is still very new to me, but I bought it second hand. A well know high street retailer sold it to me, the battery was guaranteed for 30 days but the phone itself is guaranteed for two years!
This is utterly and unashamedly ridiculous considering it only cost me about £12 and the two years is pretty much the average lifespan of these little nuggets of tech. Some of the buttons are a bit sticky and are hard to press but apart from that I have developed a warm relationship with this one. This is largely to do with the fact that the ringtone and alarm being a rather lovely snippet of chilled house music—what’s not to like?!
Yes, I like the design and the user interface. Recommended.
8/10
THE ALCATEL
You may or may not know (or care!) that I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the Republic of ireland over the last couple of years. This style of living necessitated the acquisition of mobile technology gaelic style. Word on the street was that the best deals were to be had from a large superstore mobile provider. This is how I end up with the Alcatel. The actual ‘pay as you go’ deal I got was quite impressive: 15 euro gives you free calls for a month, BUT you get to keep the 15 euro toward texts, premium numbers and foreign calls, I found the 15 euro was lasting me up to 2 months or so, so my mobile bill was probably something like 20 or 30 cents a day.
This deal was considerably more impressive than the phone itself, which is probably the cheapest, most lightweight piece of mobile communications technology I’ve ever come across. it’s rubbish—but it does work on a very basic level.
It says ‘one touch’ on it, but I have no idea what this means.
3/10
You may or may not know (or care!) that I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the Republic of ireland over the last couple of years. This style of living necessitated the acquisition of mobile technology gaelic style. Word on the street was that the best deals were to be had from a large superstore mobile provider. This is how I end up with the Alcatel. The actual ‘pay as you go’ deal I got was quite impressive: 15 euro gives you free calls for a month, BUT you get to keep the 15 euro toward texts, premium numbers and foreign calls, I found the 15 euro was lasting me up to 2 months or so, so my mobile bill was probably something like 20 or 30 cents a day.
This deal was considerably more impressive than the phone itself, which is probably the cheapest, most lightweight piece of mobile communications technology I’ve ever come across. it’s rubbish—but it does work on a very basic level.
It says ‘one touch’ on it, but I have no idea what this means.
3/10
T H E S A M S U N G
A veritable beast among mobile brands, Samsung remain at the cutting edge of mobile technology.
I found this one on a beach on the west coast of Ireland. It was covered in sand with only a small part of it visible, the fact that it was found at all, by anyone, remains a source of constant fascination for me.
As this was a found item I obviously wanted to return it to it’s owner, but also I had a sneaky thought that if I couldn’t do that then I could keep this rather snazzy piece for myself. When I found it there was just very little battery left in it, not enough to ring anyone from it.
I took it into the Garda but as I’d taken it to a station which was not in the closest proximity to where it was found they refused to take it off my hands. As a result I was left with this phone with a dead battery. I found a few chargers for it, but nothing seemed to work. it became a bit of a burden for me, I didn’t really want to have to deal with it. Eventually I found a new battery for it and I turned it on. At this stage I was fully committed to returning the phone, but it soon struck me as I looked through the phone that (a) there was no obvious information of who it belonged to, (b) there was no credit on the phone so I had no idea what the number of it was, and (c) most importantly even trying to return a phone after all this time (it had been a couple of months since I found it) was actually a bit weird—whosever phone it was had long since moved on. As a result I put the SIM from the alcatel into the samsung, deleted all the info on it and started to use it as my own phone. As you might imagine I was keen to get away from the alcatel (only 3/10 remember), but I never shook the weirdness off. The provenance of the Samsung hovers around it yet still I don’t know what to do with it. I’m actually back using the alcatel.
Maybe I should go leave it on a beach.
Notwithstanding the personal baggage associated with this phone the form and functionality merit a solid 8/10. Well done Samsung.
A veritable beast among mobile brands, Samsung remain at the cutting edge of mobile technology.
I found this one on a beach on the west coast of Ireland. It was covered in sand with only a small part of it visible, the fact that it was found at all, by anyone, remains a source of constant fascination for me.
As this was a found item I obviously wanted to return it to it’s owner, but also I had a sneaky thought that if I couldn’t do that then I could keep this rather snazzy piece for myself. When I found it there was just very little battery left in it, not enough to ring anyone from it.
I took it into the Garda but as I’d taken it to a station which was not in the closest proximity to where it was found they refused to take it off my hands. As a result I was left with this phone with a dead battery. I found a few chargers for it, but nothing seemed to work. it became a bit of a burden for me, I didn’t really want to have to deal with it. Eventually I found a new battery for it and I turned it on. At this stage I was fully committed to returning the phone, but it soon struck me as I looked through the phone that (a) there was no obvious information of who it belonged to, (b) there was no credit on the phone so I had no idea what the number of it was, and (c) most importantly even trying to return a phone after all this time (it had been a couple of months since I found it) was actually a bit weird—whosever phone it was had long since moved on. As a result I put the SIM from the alcatel into the samsung, deleted all the info on it and started to use it as my own phone. As you might imagine I was keen to get away from the alcatel (only 3/10 remember), but I never shook the weirdness off. The provenance of the Samsung hovers around it yet still I don’t know what to do with it. I’m actually back using the alcatel.
Maybe I should go leave it on a beach.
Notwithstanding the personal baggage associated with this phone the form and functionality merit a solid 8/10. Well done Samsung.