Nokia 8110
These first couple of phones were not mine by choice. I was too young at the time. My phones were basically old models that my parents no longer wanted. I remember the Nokia 8110 as the phone that was used in the movie, The Matrix. Unfortunately, unlike the movie version, the slider is not spring-assisted. Damn thing was huge. I remember a huge problem with it was that it had no vibration mode and the ringer was really soft. Missed all my calls.
Ericsson 768
Finally, a phone that was pocketable. I don't recall much about this one, except that this also didn't have vibration mode. But I bought a 3rd party addon that added this functionality. It was a thin black thing that attached to the bottom of the device via the charging ports. There were magnets inside it which vibrated everytime there was a call. Pretty ghetto solution.
Nokia 8210
This was a phone that my parents literally picked up from the streets. Someone had left it on a bus. Even more petit than the Ericsson 768 and it finally had native vibration! I remember I tinkered a lot with the ringtone editor. Ironically, I lost this phone on the tram heading to the Peak in Hong Kong.
Motorola StarTAC
This will be the last phone that my parents choose for me. I just moved back to the US for university. And this was one of the most advanced phones in the US at the time. Mobile tech in the US at the time was just crap. Anyway, it was good enough. But this had to be the most boring phone I ever had.
Sony Ericsson T68i
I remember I bought this phone because it was one of the first with a color screen (albeit 256 colors). Also, I liked it because the formfactor resembled the Nokia 8210 which I was quite fond of. This phone was also one of the 1st to support a camera. But the camera wasn't built in. It was an add-on to be purchased seperately and attaches to the bottom of the device. Similar to that vibration add-on for the Ericsson 768 and equally as ghetto. The joystick soon started to malfunction after about a year and a half of use.
Sony Ericsson T630
With the joystick failing on me, I sprung for the T630. It was an obvious upgrade path for me. Larger screen with 65k colors and built in camera! The camera quality and screen resolution were pretty pathetic. I had no idea why I thought the camera was cool. Again, joystick was the first hardware to start failing on me. I was beginning to see a trend...
LG KE820
My T630 was purchased over in the US and didn't work with HK networks. So I was forced to get another phone when I moved back to HK. Besides, the joystick was shot. I decided that I just wanted a phone as small as possible. With the KE820's 9.9mm width and the relatively large screen, I was sold. I remembered that I thought to myself at the time "Wow, the screen is so huge. I should be able to enjoy videos on this thing!" So, I converted and loaded a couple of DVD's onto the thing. Unfortunately, the video player lacks a full screen mode. The video filled only about 75% of the screen. The number pad layout was also an issue. And then there's the friggen joystick which was again, the first hardware to start failing. Never was I going to get another device with a joystick.
But it wasn't the joystick that killed the phone. One rainy morning, I was running to the bus stop to catch my ride. Somehow, the phone slipped from my pocket, landed on the concrete, and I didn't even know about it. It just layed there for a while in the rain before someone picked it up and used the phone's contact list to reach me. I picked it back up from the kind individual, but by then, most of the buttons were dead.
HTC Touch Dual
HTC, an unknown brand at the time, started to market their Touch phone. I thought to myself that it would be nice if it had a keypad. Then the Touch Dual released and I couldn't wait to pick it up. At the time, I was sold on the large screen and formfactor. I had high expectations for Windows Mobile because I figured it must be pretty advanced compared to the last time I used the OS which was back in 2001 with the Compaq iPaq. Boy was I wrong. The OS is still the same and the device was pretty unstable. (See my review)
HTC Touch Diamond
I remember not liking Windows Mobile very much. But I loved what HTC did with the OS with TouchFlo3D. The Touch Diamond's release was pretty spectacular. I was almost drooling at the TouchFlo3D animations and the VGA display. (See my review)
HTC Touch Pro2
I was ready to jump ship from Windows Mobile, but Android was just not ready for primetime yet. And I really don't like the iPhone OS. At the time, the Touch Pro2 was my most satisfied phone purchase. Best hardware keyboard, huge screen, and snappy performance. It was still Windows Mobile, so there will be the occasional freeze but they were very rare. (See my review)
HTC Desire
The HTC Desire had all but one of the specs that I wanted in my next device. Internal storage of at least 4GB. But with the falling prices of microSD cards, it's something that I can overlook. The Desire has surpassed the Touch Pro2 as my most satisfied phone purchase. (See my review)
