Mobile Dilemma

So here's the thing. Due to some poor care of my HTC Hero as seen here (yes, I got the bronze one):

It started to display sentient-like abilities in calling my girlfriend every few seconds on its own, literally. This could be due to the numerous times it has been soaked in various forms of liquid substances, not excluding soy milk and certain well-known brands of instant coffee. Now I do realize that the Android 1.5 (Donut) operating system was, at least a year ago, in a league of it's own for mobile phones but I did not quite think that it would go the way of Skynet. Though it did at that point in time feel that way.

And so I needed another smartphone to take it's place, with the Hero being sent for repair (thank goodness for warranties), which may mean weeks with me having to make do with an old Nokia. Having scoured what available cellular concoctions at the time -which was roughly two months ago - I did not feel all at ease with what was on offer. Sure Motorola's Milestone was pleasant looking phone running on an Android 2.0 but the in your face presentation of the first generation MotoBlur really put me off it. Besides, I was never a fan of slide phones with QWERTYs.

And then there was the HTC Legend. The supposed continuation of the Hero's legacy. However, apart from the unibody construction, updated HTC Sense UI and the Android 2.1 (Eclair), there was nothing in terms of computing power or memory that places this as the next logical step up from where I was before. The Legend was basically a Hero-refit, if you will, with an updated operating system, which does not necessarily translate to it running any more smoother or being more capable than the Hero itself. It did look good though and very familiar as well.

Bear in mind too that my options were limited given that I was still contracted to my local mobile service provider and could not quite jump off to another provider without incurring further delays. And thus I did the unthinkable.

I got myself a 16GB iPhone 3GS, without contract. Yes it did cost me a bundle and no, you may not ask me how big a bundle it was. I figured, it's a good enough phone with a relatively high trade-in value should I decide to revert back to an Android phone (which was more than likely) considering that a recontract was due in roughly 8 months from that time. And even though it had just a 600 MHz ARM processor, there was no multitasking ability, so it should run quite smoothly.

I have to admit the experience of using this was good, to say the least. No multitasking meant no overloading of the CPU and very minimal lag. Getting full access to the App Store and all it's contents, paid or otherwise is also refreshing considering that users in Singapore only have access to the free content in the Android Market if one were to use an Android phone, without any special procedures. However, it's the user interface that I find somewhat lacking. Rows of icons spread over several pages doesn't necessarily inspire me to feel as though this contraption is in any way of form, representative of me. I know that sounds a bit absurd, considering that it's just a phone but that was the feeling I get from being able to customize with HTC's Sense UI.

And so I waited for a worthy enough Android phone to make it's way here. What with the Google Nexus One and the HTC Desire already out in the world somewhere. The only downside with Google's first foray into the handset market is that it was, at that point in time a web-purchase only for the rest of the world, which was quite costly in itself and was only tied with certain telcos in the United States. And so I remained hopeful for the Desire.

There were some Android based phones that seemed to make tiny ripples in the mobile world. The Acer Liquid, the Samsung Galaxy series, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, X10 mini and the X8. However, apart from Sony Ericsson's customized layout of Android 2.1, both Acer and Samsung's offerings were more to vanilla Android 2.1. And having said that, Sony Ericsson's own modifications of Android 2.1 did not quite, at least to me, do the operating software justice.

And so I waited. Though it pleased me to know that HTC had in fact released two mobiles of the highest quality in the Droid Incredible and the Evo 4G, I was at the same time saddened to know that these were telco-specific phones for Verizon and Sprint respectively. Still, I was especially impressed with the Evo 4G, touted to be the only phone able to match up to the now announced, soon to be released iPhone 4. Just have a look at the Evo 4G's promo video. Not to mention that it has been placed head to head with the iPhone 4 as it's only real competitor over numerous websites, with this being one of them.

Nevertheless I waited and hoped and was glad to know that the Desire was finally released in Singapore and picked up by the telco that I'm contracted with. So it should be a simple trade and upgrade, right? Not quite. I've kind of grown to like this iPhone 3Gs of mine. And what with all the accessories I've bought for it (solar charger included) it kind of makes it difficult for me to part with this piece of retro-junk. Yet at the same time I would dearly wish to own the one

handphone that I've waited for nearly a year now. And seeing that my contract will only truly end in November, god knows what other HTC-Android gadgets might pop up to temp me. Especially now with the release of Android 2.2 (Froyo) and the rumours of a certain HTC Scorpion sporting both the mentioned operating software and a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Oh well, guess I'll just keep watching videos of the HTC Desire over these few months while I make up my mind.