The first mobile phone I had was a Sendo SV663 camera phone. Prior to buying the phone, I was pressured by friends and relatives to get a mobile phone, after all the main use of a mobile phone is communication they will say. I also made up my mind the GSM network I will subscribe to. Glo Nigeria (the patriotic side of me was at work) was the network. That was around the time mobile phone usage was catching up in Nigeria.
I had my eyes on a mobile phone with camera phone, nice look, and colour screen. I did a thorough check for a phone available then with the features I wanted. GSMArena website:
http://www.gsmarena.com/ was of great use to me. Using the Phone Filter tool on the website I was able to narrow down on the Sendo SV663 (I do this every time I want to buy a new phone). I can recall how happy I was with the phone then it was so cute. I used the phone for a while but wanted more from a phone even though I was low on cash. The mobile phone lack suitable means of transferring the pictures I took to a PC, I had to send it over wap which cost money and the games on the phone was only trial versions. I know then there are some very good feature packed mobile phones which may not get so much advertising space one could buy for less compared with common expensive ones.
I was out to get such mobile phone and with better feature compared with the Sendo SV663. I will like to send my pictures to the computer free and easily too. The Alcatel OT 756 was my target, second in line, the OT 556. I eventually bought the Alcatel OT 556; it was a lovely phone, virtually every phone function has a keypad shortcut, very good camera picture, full games and great sound. It was when I had the phone that I learnt from a website of the free audio software Wavepad available for free download at
www.nch.com.au/wavepad. The Wavepad is a very useful audio software (I still use it till date)! Unfortunately, I did not use the phone for up to two months because a friend of mine tinkered with something and the phone will not switch on again. I took it for repairs; it was one story or another. I had to dump it.
As I have gotten used to making and receiving calls with my own mobile phone any time anywhere, it is only a short while after that I bought a Sagem V56. The phone fits with a local saying in Yoruba: “Ile Oba ti o jo, ewa l’o bu kun” meaning the King’s palace that got burnt down has added beauty to it (because the new one built is more magnificent compared to the one that got burnt). The Sagem V56 has good VGA camera, USB and infrared data transfer capability, and I could create .wav audio file to use as ringtone. One other great feature I love about the phone is the inverted LCD digital clock, I do not have to turn the lights on to check the time in the dark.
My love for mobile phone coupled with increased income got me searching for another mobile phone. This time it is the well thought of, feature rich Sony Ericsson K750i. Testimony abound to the wide appeal this phone has (Sony Ericsson sure did make quite a lotta dough from this phone). About this time I discovered that if one is patient and not too eager to lay hand on the latest phone just out of the oven one could get such phone at much less price say a year after its release. The K750i makes it possible for me to take my music with me every where and listen to it crisp and clear on the earphone bundled with the phone. I could listen to FM radio, play games, listen to music and the very bright torch comes in handy lots and lots of time. The 2MP camera with flash was the bomb for me. I took loads and loads of great pictures with the phone, even friends will come around to borrow the mobile phone to take pictures! Not long after I was in Slot Shop at Computer Village, Lagos and was just checking out the deals available then when I saw the K810i with 3.2 megapixel camera I bought it straight on more for the camera than for any other thing. I retired my K750i immediately and kept it for eventual sale. I later sold it at a good price.
Presently I use Nokia N82 5MP camera phone and an LG GM200 2MP camera. The LG GM200 I bought in replacement of a Nokia E51 mobile phone which I gave out recently). The LG GM200 is a low end phone with wireless FM radio, great Dolby Mobile sound feature, and long battery life. I bought it for the MTN Nigeria network SIM I use to make MTN to MTN calls.
The Nokia N82 is a Symbian phone, a little obsolete considering some new great offerings available now. However, having a great quality camera phone, with image quality that beats even some digital cameras available in the market (it beats Olympus 7MP digital camera owned by a friend), video recording at 30fps, wireless connectivity, GPS and document viewer, I am proud to flash the phone around.
