I have always been a nokia symbian user.  My first symbian was Nokia 3660 which attracted quite a number funny look from my friends.  That was the time that mobileirc made its days.  Then, i moved on to another bigger and better 3660 look-alike, the 6630.  Later, it was N80 and then, the N82, which i still keep.  Its 5mp xenon flash and Carl Zeiss Lense have served me well during the last 2 1/4 years.  However, in the late of 2010, i was craving for a large screen and qwerty keyboard to cater my blogging needs.   

Seeing my online blogging buddies changed to a bigger touch screen phones and how happy they were, made me think that it was time for me to say "Selamat Tinggal Sayangku" to my Nokia N82.  In my mind, i was juggling back and forth :  Blackberry Torch, IPhone 4 and Any Android Phones.  But then, i postponed the idea, since my piggy bank was not enough for me. 

At the end, last month, for no apparent reason, suddenly i had one in my hand.  I guess you can figure it out which it is.

Anyway, here are few things that that you should consider when buying a handphone. 

1.  Budget :  This is most important thing because it will be a guideline for what you can have and what you cannot have.  I once asked my office mate, what kind of lappy did he want, and he answered, something like me.  And i told him "Nope!" coz that would be out of his budget.  ANother office mate of mine said that she wanted a Green Lappy.  I laughed and scolded her at the same time.  LOL!!

2.  Things to do : What do you want to do with your phone apart from the typical call and sms?  You want to have a bling bling experience?  Take picture or shoot great pictures? Are you a social media person? Do you want a phone that sides more to your social lifestyle or business lifestyle.

3.  Do you intend to have an internet data plan with your mobile carrier?  Why? because this will trully unlock your handphone full potentials.

4.  Phone Operating System.  Currently we have WP, Bada Os, IOS, Android , RIM (Blackberry) and Symbian.  I am not going to tell which operating system is the best, because they are lots of reviews about them. But generally : 
a.  WP is made by the Microsoft which announced partnership with Nokia last month.  The announcement stirred up such a commotion among symbian and Nokia lovers all over the world.  The future of symbian looks bleaked, light a dying star.  But there may be a faint hope, for only time will tell. Haha.
b.  Bada is an OS made by Samsung for its own phones.
c.  RIM = Research In Motion is associated with Blackberry Phones.
d.  IOS = Apple Mobile Operating system which runs on Ipad, IPod Touch and IPhones.
e.  Android = Operating system owned by Google based upon a modified version of Linux.  With Android, the system is positively hailed as great, making mobile phone manufactures getting benefit of it but not much on strengthening their own brand.  Generally speaking,  it is Android that makes the experience great.
f.  Symbian = Was originally created and merged by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Symbian Ltd and NTT DoCoMo.  Later, Nokia bought Symbian Ltd.  Some people said, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and others left the symbian platform due to Nokia trying to monopolize the symbian Market.  Sony Ericcson came up with symbian UIQ (touch Screen), which then put death by Nokia.

Basically, with android and symbian, it goes like this " I love Nokia but not symbian, i love Androids, but not HTC, " : D

On a general level, all these OSes allow you to do awesome things.  Basically, if you migrate from a propreitory handphone to a smartphone, all you get is great experiences.  However, if you were previous users of any one of these OSes, be ready to miss and love something., or there is nothing to miss and lots to love. Haha.  It is like moving from windows to apple or windows to linux, or linux to apple.
How long do you intend to use your new smartphone handphone?  I think it should serve the owner for 2 years, minimum.  Then, you ll have the value of your money.  With regards to technology, no point of regretting buying any techno gadgets, because if you keep waiting for the latest, at the end, you will not buy them.  Choose specs according to your budgets and needs.   Timing is important too.  Example, it was better to wait for Ipad 3g rather then impulse buying of Ipad Wifi only when it was first launced.  .
At the end.. 
 
What will you do with your SmartPhone?  Internet Data Plan is a must to unlock your handphone full potentials.  I am using Digi Smart Plan.  I hope that N8 will serve me well as my N82 for the next 2 years.  As a normal OS user, i still like symbian. After this, i  may probably be looking to IOS and Androids Platforms.  I dont know, i am opened to suggestion.
My Nokia N8.  I like the Push email which notifies me of my new incoming gmail.  I like that i can view them in HTML, and can pinch-zoom the site.  MyMariuca looks awesome in an incoming mail.  Haha.  However, i wish there is a "treaded email" feature which is on Android and IOs.  IOs and Android have better visual in their incoming mail message, though it doesnt bother me much.
 Three reasons why i choose N8 in spite of  what is going around today are,  My Budget ( i dont think i can afford any rm2k phones, My previous Ovi Maps synchronization, which i love the navigational features and the push features of Gravity. I dont know you people but Gravity is awesome Gravity allows me to see updates from FB, 4[ ], twitter and Google Reader. All i need is just to set the preffered timing.  GPS works in Gravity too. Twitting picture is a breeze , and i can send to Flickr too.  And last but not least is the Camera itself, Carl Zeiss lense with biggest sensor on mobile phones, plus that 12MP and xenon Flash.

Now, i dont know if i am going to do Live Blogging via my "LiveMoBo" or simply ditch LiveMobo and port it to "RestNrilekS".  Anyway, enjoy my simple N8 pictures
 
I still need to play with the settings.  This picture is too dark.
Nope nope nope, still wrong picture settings.  Owh the Malay Dishes at Hotel Equatorial.  Lunch Buffet is rm52.  Food? Awesome.  Cakes and muffins will make you heavenly bloat .  Haha.
I need to learn to stay still when taking pictures in public.  Haha.
Nyum nyum.  I think i ate like 2 plates of macam-macam dessert.  Haha.
I like the fact that i can edit directly from the phone.  No need to transfer picture.  There are awesome tuning like crop, highlight, shadow, contrast, sharpen and many more.  I think the editing features are more than enough, and they do the job for that instant uploading.
Same picture that has been cropped using the N8 editing pictures.  BTW, all pictures have not been edited using Photo-Studio (which i find awesome, light, easy and fast compared to PhotoShop).  All were edited using the N8 editing features.  The only thing i did, was the "RestNrilekS" Stamping and image sizing for practical site viewing.
Well, at first, N8 for me was only because of Price, Ovi maps and Gravity.  But then, i begin to love it more because of the HDMI feature and the USB on the go.  Angry Birds looks awesome on my TV.  Hehe.  I am not much of a handphone gamer.  I play game on PC.  However, i do have the HD phone version games, and they are good.  I also love the fact that i can do editing for Office works too.


I know, N8 is not all without its flawed here and there. For instance the no potrait qwerty.  But i have no problem since i am using the BM predictive language, and my finger is faster on predictive alphanumeric than on qwerty.  There are things that Iphone, Blackberry and Android Phones can do better than N8.  But there are few things that i feel N8 excels.  Finally, budget wise, i feel that N8 is the best handphone based on my needs. It is a great multimedia phone. Hehe.


By the way, congrats Foong, Caroline and Monica.


Till next time.
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