NOKIA E72 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I went to the Nokia Store in Trinoma last week and was pleasantly surprised to see that the much awaited Nokia E72 was already available.

For those looking forward to buying themselves the new E series business phone that is giving Blackberry a run for its money, you would be happy to know that the price is, I think, even less than the E71 at launch.

Cash Price is 22,258 while Card price for zero (??) interest is 23,258.

It has the usual E series package which includes the case, usb cable and a 4 GB memory card.

So what were my initial impressions? Luckily I had my trusted E71 for comparison and here is the summary:

Size: Essentially the same as the E71. Same sleek form factor.

Weight: About the same too. It's the type of weight that doesn't feel heavy but it imparts a feeling of quality and durability to the phone.

Keys: Much to my chagrin, the E72 keys are much better than my E71's. They are slightly bigger and the layout was changed just a wee bit.  

Appearance: This is the surprise for me, I thought that right off the bat, I would go for the E72 but this was not the case. Whether in black or in beige, somehow it had just about equal visual appeal compared to the E71.

So what is my take on the Nokia E72?

For non E71 users looking for a best in class qwerty smartphone then this is probably one of the best, if not THE best alternative.

In my opinion, it trumps the Blackberry which fails on value for money.

The reason may be the fact that showbiz people here have made the Blackberry their buzz word and their must haves. Since they are not on tight budgets, the price of the Blackberry has remained relatively high.

There are of course some new offerings from Samsung and Sony that will compete directly with the E72 but from reviews so far, the E72 remains at the top of the business phone class.

For E71 users like myself, it's not such a cut and dried decision. 80% of the E71 is on par with the E72.

In my opinion, the advantages of the E72 would be the IMPROVEMENTS to the camera, the keyboard and better gps.

I emphasized improvement because the E71 is definitely not inferior. It's just that the E72 has improved on it.

Personally, my upgrade plans remain the same. I hope to have the Xperia and the E72 soon. Maybe the Xperia could be my Merry Xmas to me :)

As you can see the E72 is not tops on my list. I am still very happy with my E71 and I will not be letting this go, even when I get an E72.

Everytime I tinker with my E71, I still marvel at how well equipped it is and how it has singlehandedly softened the mind of a previously die hard Sony Ericsson devotee.

I hope to be able to do a detailed review of the E72 soon. But till then, if you are in the market for a smartphone in the 22k range, then look no further.

The E72 looks like it will assume the throne of the E71 as the best smartphone.And I can hardly wait for it to assume a place beside my E71 :)

The JAC TECH Store is now open!

With the help of my friends in AMAZON, I am now able to offer tech stuff and books that I have personally picked out.

In time I will attempt to post reviews for all these items.

So please come in and stay a while.

I will be updating and reorganizing the store constantly so if you have any requests just send me an email and I'll try to get it on board the store.

A long overdue report about gadget updates

Sometime in the last couple of months, some serendipitous events magically occurred and the following things happened:

I gave up:

My SE P1i to my significant other

My SE W850i to my eldest son

My Samsung E250 to my eldest daughter

My W810i to a buyer on Ebay

My 3120 to a sale in my village

My 6120 to a buyer on Ebay

I gained:

A Nokia E71 through the generosity of my mother

A Nokia 5800 Xpress Music from the sale of my 2 Nokias

An SE P990i as a swap from my son for the W850i


I always post my gadget wishes and pipe dreams here so here's what I have realistically ( i think) planned for myself as far as upgrades are concerned:

The following info is formatted as follows:

Current phone / Line (Network) / Upgrade path

Nokia E71 / GPS Business line (Sun) / E72, will retain E71 to replace K810

Nokia 5800 XM / Personal Line (Sun) / No upgrade planned

SE K810i / Ebay Toy Business Line (Sun) / E71, (see above)

P990i / Business Line (Globe/Duo) / Xperia

Samsung C5212 / Business Line (PLDT Landline / Smart) / A dual sim phone with 3G that has a longer standby than the C5212


I also plan to get a robust phone with long battery life, good GPS, wlan etc. to bring along on my mountain biking trips. Will be backed up by another phone carrying a different sim with a very long battery life, maybe a Philips. It may sound like overkill but believe me, in the places where I ride, signal can get spotty and the weather can change rapidly. I already got stuck on the trail once with just one phone with no signal while my riding companion had one phone with signal and low battery. This was right in the middle of heavy rain on a muddy trail with no lights. So I can assure you its NOT overkill.

Of course I will only carry 2 phones when riding but during my workday, I wish I could carry less phones but I need to segregate my businesses and I also need to carry my office with me. My Globe and Smart lines are prepaid and are loaded with the barest minimum except for the Superduo service which I find indispensable.

So thats the update for now. Obviously I need to post several reviews soon from the the hardware to the service.

Watch out for them and thanks for reading.

Sony Ericsson Satio : First Impressions

I have to admit that the Sony IDOU or SATIO was one of the handsets that I declared that I WILL BUY.

However, like many dreams in this world, reality shows its not all that its hyped up to be. Again like some dreams, it may have been better left as one.

I had the chance to see the mockup in the Sony Ericsson Shop in Trinoma. The sales people were certainly eager to please with their canned responses but once I started asking some slightly technical questions theirs eyes glazed over and they starting mumbling over and over again that they were not informed of the technical specs with nary a glance at their product catalog which I suspect had the information I needed.

Anyway here are my first impressions based on the mockup and the brochure:

GOOD:

- The phone looks really classy in person, it certainly can hold its own with the Iphone 3GS

- It feels good in my hands, it imparts a feeling of solid build and quality.

- The form factor is excellent for men but it may not be as comfortable for the women. It is significantly larger than my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

BAD:

- The 12 megapixel lens juts out from the back. It may be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. For appearance, its a big no no because it looks bulky from the side. For handling purposes, the bulky thing rests the phone securely in your hands.

- Price, it costs much more than my Acer Core2 laptop. Essentially for the price you can buy an E71 and an Asus Netbook.

- The phone runs on the Symbian OS which is the same one used on the Xpress Music. Turn it on and several screens look so much like the Nokia. Which is not a bad thing except that you could buy two 5800's for the price of the Satio and have money left over to buy a good set of earphones and a bluetooth headset.


MY VERDICT:

The Satio is an undeniably good looking phone and it does have a 12 megapixel shooter. The form factor is better suited for men though women do tend to favor touch screens. As a touch screen phone, the appearance of this phone is top notch and oozed quality. In a way I could say that its a businessmans touchscreen phone. More business like than the Iphone.

However there are reports starting to crop up on the net about mass recalls and returns of the Satio due to unspecified software issues. It is a bit alarming considering that there were other SE phones that had software issues but were not returned by these outlets.

So based on the preliminary impressions and these reports, I would personally wait and see first. Beyond the bragging rights, it seldom pays to be an early adopter because you will actually be the beta tester of those products at a much steeper cost which will send you crying when you learn the market price 2 to 3 months after launch.

But if you have the dough and the courage and patience to handle latest and greatest with the aforementioned cons then go right ahead. You'll have a phone that will trump the Iphone on looks alone.

For myself, I'm sticking to my E71 / 5800 combo until the smoke clears and the bugs ironed out. Besides the X10 is starting to tickle my fancy too.

DISCLOSURE: To dispel notions of favoritism, let me share the following information. I personally carry 5 phones right now, 2 Nokias (e71 and 5800), 2 Sony Ericssons (p990 and k810) and a Samsung C5212.

Sun Broadband 3 MBPS - October 14 SOME IMPROVEMENT !

I always believe in being fair even to those who are cheating me directly or indirectly.

So today, I had a pleasant revelation when SBW started exhibiting some gesture of speeding up.

Here are 4 speedtests taken one after the other:

Sun Broadband 3 MBPS - Oct 13

Sun Broadband 1 MBPS - Oct 13

Sun Broadband 1 MBPS

RED HOT Sun Broadband 3 MBPS - Oct. 6

Sun Broadband 3 MBPS is really on a roll! Check these amazing results!

Sun Broadband 3 mbps Speedtest 10/4

Now this is really pathetic

The Fun Continues NOT! SUN BROADBAND 1 MBPS OCTOBER 3, 2009

The Fun Continues NOT! SUN BROADBAND 3 MBPS OCTOBER 3, 2009

Pausing Speedtest for a few days

Since the epic storm that hit the Philippines affected telecoms severely, in the spirit of fair play, I will pause Speedtests first until all networks are back to normal.

In the meantime, take care everyone.

We've got 3 more storms bearing down on us.

Sun Broadband 3 mbps Speedtest 9/24-1

Sun Broadband 1 mbps Speedtest 9/24 - 1

Sun Broadband 1 mbps Speedtest 9/23 - 1

Sun Broadband 3 mbps Speedtest 9/23-1

Sun Broadband 1 mbps Speedtest 9/22 - 1

Thought I'd include this speedtest as well.

This is the result for my SUN BROADBAND WIRESLESS P649 Bundled with my POSTPAID PLAN.

I am paying more than twice for my 3 MBPS so you can imagine my frustration.

Sun Broadband 3 mbps Speedtest 9/22 - 1

Sun Broadband 3 mbps Speedtest 9/21

The Daily Sun Broadband 3 MBPS Speedtest

Ok I think its about time I just posted these results so others can compare their own experiences.

I don't want to repeat anymore what countless people have said before me.

Suffice it to say, the SUN SBW 3 MBPS Plan has been extremely below par since I got it. At the start, I was getting speeds of 300 kbps then after much complaining, my speeds would fluctuate between very fast and very slow. Average though so far appears to be 800 kbps.

So in an effort to solicit feedback from other users I will post at least a daily Speedtest result. When I can, I will post 2 Speedtests a day.

I'll continue to do this until speeds are consistent and fair to me, the subscriber.

For the sake of consistency, I will use the recommended site which is GLOBE.

Suntel, Globe DUO and the Samsung C5212

As usual my updates are a bit delayed so I really have a lot of catching up to do.

SUNTEL WIRELESS LANDLINE

First an update about my SUNTEL.

- my call forwarding still doesn't work

- signal wise, it seems to me that my location in QC is a black hole for Sun Signals. I usually get good Suntel performance in other locations even in a moving vehicle. And that's in my NOKIA 3120 classic.

So let me give my final verdict for SUNTEL. While the network is unbelievably unstable in one specific address in QC, its generally pretty good. Network interconnection between different wired and wireless land line networks is particularly good.

GLOBE DUO WIRELESS LANDLINE

Which leads me to the Globe DUO. I got a DUO for my prepaid Globe after seeing the experiences of some friends.

Here's my experience so far:

- the call quality is excellent. This network is immune to the black hole in QC. Excellent quality and no dropped calls.

- interconnection problems are an issue though. It seems to have problems calling bayantel numbers and on occasion, some PLDT numbers. I've seen this act before and it seems to me the old telcos might be up to their old tricks again.


I know that the Globe problem is not of its own doing so I won't take it against the DUO service.

Globe must be commended for coming up with all these promos without excluding current subscribers. Its so convenient to have a landline and cellphone on one sim and now they even have broadband internet in my very same sim!

In my opinion, this will leave Smart in the dust if they don't react fast. Sun on the other hand, while it is to be commended for being the reason for all this radical changes in the telecom industry, it must now seek to provide more innovation and flexibility.

For instance, I don't mind paying for my landline service and my cell but I would certainly appreciate it if they can share the same sim.

Also, Sun should be more flexible in allowing current subscribers to upgrade their plans like for the Sun Surf and Text. I don't mind paying a little extra for my plan to be able to integrate the call and surf on my present POSTPAID line.

SAMSUNG C5212

The readers of this blog must know of my ordeal with the SAMSUNG C5212 when used with the SUNTEL and Sun Cellular Service which led to my selling this unit.

Well guess what? It was SUN PERKS time again so I could get a new phone. When I sold my C5212, the friendly local cell technician told me they can unlock it for a low amount. So when I saw that my plan could accommodate the C5212 on a 30 month contract, I went for it.

So now I have a C5212 again. This time sporting my Smart and Globe Prepaid sims. It's doing pretty good in this role. Except for the small inbox, the phone is practically perfect for my needs there. Truth is, I liked the phone before because of some unique features like the blacklist and some other small touches in the user interface. It was just so weak when it came to the Sun network.

At this point I am a pretty happy camper. My C5212 actually sports 3 lines because it carries my Globe, Globe DUO and Smart. One potential problem would be if I wanted to use the Tattoo feature on my Globe but I already carry my Sun Broadband Stick and a prepaid Smart Bro so I don't foresee any problems there.

Before closing, I am pretty much aware of how hard it was to communicate before. I used a rotary phone for a long time. We were so fascinated with CB radios and VHF/UHF stuff. We even set up 10 meter radios to take advantage of skips to be able to talk to people in other countries. I started data communications with a 2400 bps Dial up internal modem for crying out loud! To be honest I never thought I would see this much technological change in my life.

Fast forward to today, I am connected to pretty much the world. Wherever I go now I can connect at broadband speeds to the net via my netbook or phones. And I sell GPS tracking systems that can track a vehicle here from ANYWHERE in the world.

Nowadays life is one exciting tech trip with new things around every corner. Sure it hurts your wallet and sometime I know I will have to say enough.

But hey I was born in the tech desert and I haven't seen this much water in the first 25 years of my life. So is it any wonder then that I carry 5 phones, 1 netbook, 2 usb modems wherever I go?

Sun Cellular Suntel and Samsung Problems Interim Update 2

Well it’s been a good couple of weeks since my last update and with good reason. There is a new site on the right of this blog entitled Philtrack. Well that has been taking a lot of my time lately and you would think that it was enough time for Sun and Samsung to work something out.

Apparently not. Because my Suntel still sucks at home and this is with a desktop Motorola Service Unit. After much badgering by my contact in Sun, I received a call from Suntel asking about my call forwarding but no one has showed up here to check the network problem signal problem yet.

I would not be so upset over this had it not been for the fact that my business associates newly acquired Globe DUO works far better than my Suntel. The maddening thing is that Suntel is about the same price as DUO. I am actually on the verge of returning my Suntel and replacing it with a Globe.

Oh and about the Samsung. I just got fed up with waiting and staring at the disappearing signal on the C5212 display so I finally decided to bite the bullet and sell it on Ebay.

So its sold and so ends the C5212 saga. Not a happy ending and it certainly will affect my affection for Samsung phones at least in the Philippines.

After all I have been looking to acquire either the Pixon or the Innov8 or the new Omnia but I will be sure to check on service availability before committing to buy one.

Regarding Suntel, the only redeeming thing here is the commitment of my contact in Sun to work out a way on his own. If it was not for him, I probably would have submitted this problem to the DTI already.

Anyway I am emailing him again that my service still sucks and my call forwarding does not work either. I’m not waiting more than 2 weeks from today before I resort to drastic measures. After all, I call my friend on the DUO every other day and I hang up each time, upset about the quality of my Suntel signal.

So there. Lets see what happens within the next two weeks.

In the meantime I have a couple of new posts coming in the following days. I have a lot of news to share.

Competition escalates the mobile wars

A little competition is always good for the industry, be it mobile service providers or mobile phone manufacturers.

For instance, the Wireless Landline market that was started by PLDT and Bayantel has attracted the mobile phone service providers Sun and Globe. The metered pricing structure of PLDT has all but faded after repeated salvos of unlimited, unmetered service from all of its competitors.

I guess old habits die hard... but if PLDT does not abandon its old "monopoly" bad habits, it could very well find itself perched on a sinking ship.

These are times that the company has never seen before so the sooner they forget the outdated practices from the past, the better. Those only work when you are a virtual monopoly but those days are gone and thankfully will never come back.

However, there are encouraging signs from the company like the new SmartTalk promo which offers unlimited calls ala Sun.

Hopefully Globe will get on the bandwagon too but there is a little voice at the back of my head that says it might be a diversionary tactic again, to keep the Senate and NTC from burrowing through their records and exposing their profits which some insiders have described as astronomical. And that is credible given the P1 per text charge, and the millions of text messages sent in the Philippines everyday.

Going on to mobile phone manufacturers, for a long time, industry giants Nokia and Sony Ericsson grew complacent and the Koreans just came in and sort of took over a large chunk of the market. I mean when a Korean phone stages an upset of the CYBERSHOT line, well that is big news and a big headache for SE.

Same thing with Nokia, the Innov8 toppled the much vaunted N95 from its throne and the attacks have not stopped. Even LG was able to get in the game with several top rated handsets toppling old SE and Nokia handsets from their place in the "best buy" lists.

Much like the mobile service providers, Nokia then SE suffered from complacency and that lowering of the guard was enough let these upstarts get their foot in the door.

However, a recent slew of phones from Sony and Nokia have shown that the message has finally reached the decision makers and these phones look like they will at least regain some lost ground for their companie.

But as the previous posts show, the Koreans are constantly innovating and if this is what they can do in a recession, whatever can they do when their economy starts up again?

Unfortunately for the Nokia and SE, Korea was pegged by the international monetary authorities as one of the first economies that will recover and this will mean bigger challenges will be coming soon for them.

In the meantime, here then are some Nokia phones that are out to grab the market at the high end and mid end levels.

First up is the Nokia 6303, an upgrade to the 6300 which was a lackluster phone that had mostly sleek looks going for it.



Click here for the 6303 Classic review on Mobile Phones UK


Then there is the so called evolution of the 6500 Classic, the 6700 Classic. Now this phone is one that is catching my attention too so it seems that my technolust list is getting even more crowded. Oh well, the fun is in the lusting anyway..



Click here for the 6700 classic review on Mobile Phones UK



And lastly, here is a Nokia phone that is near the top of my technolust list, the N97.

I could go on and on about the features of this phone but I'll save that for another day. Just the mere images are enough to make a broke grown man cry.


Well the Americans and Koreans did get in some shots, pretty good ones at that.

First of is the Samsung S5600 Preston. Its supposed to be an upgrade to the Tocco Lite.



Read the Mobile Phones UK review of the S5600 here



And Apple of course will not be left out and its Iphone 3G S was reviewed too

Last but most certainly not the least, the LG Crystal was launched and its preliminary specs can be read also on Mobile Phones UK

The Sony Ericsson W995 Resource List

Well I've made no secret that I've been on the prowl for some phones to replace two "old guards" in my communications device satchel. I usually carry 4 phones and I need to replace 2 of them, the Sony K810i and the Sony W850i.

The reason being that I need better camera quality and I also need HSDPA and would prefer to have Wifi as well.

So far the candidates have been from Nokia

the N82,



N95 8 gb



and the 6220 classic.

These phones however are more for replacing the K810





than the W850. The W850i has been in my satchel for quite a while and it still stands head and shoulders above the rest of my phones in sound quality.

Furthermore, after my W810i was sold, it has now become my only phone with a flashlight. I used to sneer at this feature before but from the time I tried it on my K750i, I was hooked. It really is so handy and I know I'll be lost without a light equipped phone in my satchel, preferably on the all in one phone I would carry if I could only bring one phone. Which was at first my K750,

then my W810i,



then my V3x,


then my W850. As you can see, all are equipped with lights.




Well anyway, I was salivating about the W980 when information was first leaked about this handset thinking "this is it".



However, subsequent reviews dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. That made the waiting easier as there was no budget yet ( well there is still no budget now) but now I ran across several reviews of this new Sony Walkman flagship that just might make waiting unbearable.

The W995 has it all, 8MP camera with autofocus, GPS, Wifi, HSDPA, the trademark Walkman sound. The list goes on.

So I started surfing to check out reviews about this phone and this is what I want to share here today. The earlier people here start buying the phone, the earlier I can get my unit from one of the early adopters heh heh.

Here are the annotated links:

The always brief but always concise and informative summary on Mobile Phones UK

The GSM Arena in depth review

And another in depth review at the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog


At this point in time, given all these excellent reviews, I think I have found the replacement for my W850i. I like it so much that if this doesn't have a flashlight function, I'll buy a mini lite to clip on to it.

This phone has been called a convergent device. And that sums up why this might be the new stuff my gadget dreams are made of.

SUNTEL AND SAMSUNG PROBLEMS INTERIM REPORT

Well its been a couple of weeks already since I started complaining about the service. As recently as this afternoon, I had to return the call of a client from my PLDT landline as we could not hear each other over my SUNTEL line which was supposed to be my business line.

So in connection with this, here's what we have so far:

1. SAMSUNG - its a lost cause. The offer from their service line to bring the unit in for service was a joke. They said to bring it there but it will just sit there for a few months while waiting for the FIRMWARE and the PARTS to be ordered by the MAIN OFFICE after a request from the SERVICE CENTER. That was the ACTUAL statement of the person on the SAMSUNG HOTLINE!

For those in the know, you are looking at a waiting period of about 3 to 6 months. And that's for them to service my month old C5212. Its a dual sim so its like I lose two phones. This kind of turnaround and concern for customer satisfaction will definitely be the downfall of SAMSUNG here. That said I'm still on wait and see mode...

2. SUNTEL - my good friend who manages one of the SUN SHOPS, has been trying to expedite matters on his side. My suggested solution is still what I mentioned in my first post which is for them to either replace the SAMSUNG C5212 with a better unit, better matched to their SUNTEL network. AND to check how the SUNTEL network could be made AT LEAST AS RELIABLE AS BAYANTEL WIRELESS.

My other solution to him was to replace the C5212 with two phones since it was a double unlimited deal. I am actually willing to take one unit for the Sun Cellular line and another DESKTOP unit for the SUNTEL in the hope that this will give me a more reliable service.

Actually they offered to sell me a HUAWEI ETS3023 for P2,700 which is at least P1k more than the equivalent unit in BAYANTEL. This is terrible!

The thought of buying this unit at THAT PRICE doesn't sound right. I mean I'm doing this to get reliable service in a location that is supposed to be a prime area fully covered by all communication networks. To expect good and reliable communication in this area from a so called WIRELESS LANDLINE is not asking too much so I decided to sit and wait for SUN to do the decent thing and resolve this problem either on their own or with minimum financial participation from their subscriber.

So let's see. I'll give a little more time before I finally throw in the towel and just call the DTI complaint line.

The Japanese Gambit

While the Koreans declared all out war with the recent salvo of new mobile phones, let's not forget that Japan actually drew first blood with a duo of new phones designed to secure top bragging rights. It's interesting to see how this battle will end up but ones things for sure, we, the techno geeks will be the ultimate winners.

First up, we have the Sony Satio, formerly the IDOU. A 12 megapixel monster that looks more camera than phone. Read about it on GSM Arena and on Sony Ericsson



Then there is the new Aino, a multimedia powerhouse which connects to the PS3. More on Sony Ericsson and on GSM Arena



2009 is shaping up to be a really great year for mobile phone tech despite the global recession. I cannot help but be excited at the prospect of the wonders that will be revealed when the economy picks up once again.

Hopefully, in the next few posts, I'll go old school and revisit some icons of the cellular phone era. A lot of the users nowadays never had a chance to use the old technology so I just want to revisit these units to show just how far technology has come.

Watch out for it.

The Koreans declare WAR !

Samsung Korea has openly declared war against Nokia and Sony Ericsson with a barrage of new phones that will send techno geeks all over the world writhing from the agony of choice.

How can one possibly choose from the four new handsets unleashed.

One was the flagship Samsung JET which was mentioned in a previous post, its dubbed by Samsung to be
" smarter than smartphones" ..... ohhhkay let's wait a moment for that to sink in. Oh well whatever it means, the word flagship spell trouble to the newly announced Sony's and Nokias.







Another phone that will send new Omnia owners crying to their mobile phone dealers is the Omnia II 8000 Touchscreen Phone with AMOLED display. More info available here

This is a Windows Mobile phone, equipped with a 3.7 inch screen and a 5 MP camera.



Yet another more formidable looking phone is the OmniaPRO B7610 touchscreen smartphone. Official announcement posted on Mobile Burn

This is a Windows Mobile phone equipped with a 5 megapixel camera.




And in a move that looks like it anticipated the arrival of the Nokia E72, Samsung also released a new OmniaPRO B7320 smartphone a candybar QWERTY type. Snapshot review on Mobile Burn is here



And that my fellow techno geeks, is probably just the first salvo in an all out war in the Mobile Phone arena. The good news, we have new objects to lust after. But the bad news is without professional help, these goodies will drive us to bankruptcy.

Nokia E71 successor and Samsung's Flagship phone revealed in Mobileburn

New owners of the E71, it may be time to weep. Potential buyers, rejoice because prices on this highly acclaimed handset will likely fall in the the next few weeks.

This is because the E72, the successor to the E71's throne, has been announced. You can read about it in MobileBurn

The biggest single improvement is in the camera department, the only area where the E71 was found wanting. The E72 now comes with a 5 megapixel camera that may put the imaging criticisms to rest.

Another piece of good news to potential buyers, this time of Samsung phones, the Omnia HD and the Innov8 may be dropping their prices too on the heels of Samsungs launch of its flagship JET.

Further info may be found also on the MobileBurn site.

Personally I'm in gadget limbo. I'm frozen into inaction because I don't know if I should wait for prices to fall on the E71 or get the E72.

And since I also vowed to get a nice Samsung phone, now I'm wondering if I should just wait for Innov8 prices to fall while avoiding all reports about the Jet.

After all ignorance is bliss....

But the truth is, I'm becoming attached to my P1i. Its fulfilling my needs right now and I bought it at a price where I could get my P1 and a second hand N82 for the current selling price of the E71 which is about 16K. That's why I'm not too hot about the E72 or the E71 for that matter.

So maybe I'll go buy that N82 or that 6220 classic and wait for the Innov8 prices to fall. I've sort of narrowed down the choices for my second phone to these 3. Yes I know I said I'd get a Samsung but I'm just a little bit concerned about Samsung parts and service after my conversation with the Samsung service department as mentioned in my "double unlimited" post.

Choices, choices. But that is the spice of life too :)

Thing is, whenever I see the current prices for my K810i which is about 1/3 the price I paid for it, its a reminder that in the mobile phone upgrade world, the wise buyers are the ones who can control their excitement for a year or so. Year old flagship units sell for less than half the original price and give how much tech is in these handsets in the 1st place, that's quite a lot more tech than most of us will need.

I know its hard but as always, ask yourself "what do i need it for?" The fact that you are reading this blog means that you are into tech. And those who know tech naturally want the latest and the greatest. Lucky are those who are single and have a large salary all to themselves. Enjoy happy go lucky spending while you still can. They don't say it but marriage usually means saying goodbye not only to your singleness but to your toys as well.

On my part, with 4 kids, unless I am tapped by my the local phone distributors to test their products, I'll just have to content myself with in depth reviews and photos while waiting for my current objects of technolust to turn a year old.