New Mobile - Nokia E65

On the very day that my mobile contract reached 21 months (20-Nov-2007), I headed to the Singtel shop at VivoCity to recontract my mobile plan and get a new handset. As I have been getting quite a number of long incoming calls recently (I expect the trend to continue), I finally decided to switch from my Classic plan (for which I already have the best loyalty price of $21/mth after 7 long years as a customer) to the iOneValue. Darn ... there is no benefit of being loyal these days anymore, be it with an employer, telecoms provider, and sometimes even friends!

Seeing that my broadband subscription has matured as well, I decided to re-contract to a slower 1Mbps plan for $35/mth with one month free subscription instead of taking the free Ethernet ADSL modem/router (I have TOO MANY of these already). Considering the amount of time I spend at home surfing, I really do not need the kind of speeds at 3.5Mbps up and 350kbps down. Paying $10/mth less gives me $120/year that I can use to supplement my health insurance (MediShield/IncomeShield).

Since a few months back, I have already decided on the Nokia E65 over competing choices from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola. Reason being it is a capable phone with good enterprise applications and connectivity options, besides being a smart phone which I can write my own applications on (run a web server or something).

My trusty Samsung X210 has served me well for a good part of this year - I have taken good care of it, and it still looks like new. I will still bring it around for a few more weeks as a backup just in case my new phone decides to act up one way or another, like running out of juice. Transferring contacts, fortunately, has been successful, thanks to the ubiquity of CSV export/import capabilities of the phone software among different manufacturers. Outlook/WindowsAddressBook capability is still the 'preferred' way of transferring contacts, but for a hacker like me, plain old CSV still holds a certain charm. My only other gripe is the lack of a good transfer mechanism for SMS messages, so now I have a whole CSV of my old SMS messages in the new phone as a data file. I'd like pointers on transferring SMS messages if there are any.

Since this is my first smart/camera phone, I've had fun taking mug shots of people, associating them with contacts on my phone list, like a child with a new toy. Hee, some things never change.

I am listening to music played (on looping Random Play) on my E65 as I am typing this. I've always wanted to have a all-in-one device that allows me to do everything - phone, camera, storage, music, radio, Internet, PIM, and games - but I fail to realize the catch with these AIO devices - that while they do everything, they do not do everything WELL.

File transfers are slow, even via the USB cable, not to mention the need to install the phone driver on the PC (these can never replace conventional USB thumb drives, so my Cruzer Titanium need not fear being neglected), playing music or games drain the battery pretty quickly (not leaving you much for phone calls), and the picture quality from the camera leaves much to be desired (they are grainy and unfocused). These jack-of-all-trades gadgets are good as backup devices when you do not have your regular camera or MP3 player at hand, but you should get dedicated devices if you want to enjoy the best experience.

The Nokia E65 being rated as the most trendy geek gadget in the mobile phone category was one of the strongest affirming reasons for my decision to get it as my next phone. I find that the other phones from Samsung/LG (too flashy without much substance), Sony Ericsson (good features but too proprietary) not really suitable.

Things I like about the E65:

• sleek, fashionable look
• quadband, 3G support for full world-wide usage (yes, I am a traveler!)
  
• built-in wifi
• camera for taking pictures and videos
• able to read PDF and Microsoft Office documents
• good, strong speakers for playing music
• large screen
• gamut of connectivity features, IR, Bluetooth, USB cable
• support for custom applications written in Java MIDP, C++, and Python (my favourite language, yeah! did I mention I wrote applications for the iPAQ and N70)

Some of my other gripes about the E65:

• lack of a thumb-grip for sliding the phone up and down
• holding the phone with one hand tends to have the index finger covering the camera lens
• lack of FM radio
• lack of stereo headset
• poor camera/picture quality, only 2MP, not 3.2MP
• lack of 2nd camera for 3G video calls
• bundled data cable cannot do charging

As I finish this post, my newly charged phone since this last night is just beginning to run out again. I shall keep playing music from the phone till it's drained and stop typing to charge it.

Hmm ... now the N81 looks rather good too, in terms of features, even though it is bulky and heavy, and it costs the same! Sigh, you can never get good enough I guess :). I shall pine for my next ideal phone which has Wifi, 3.5G, Quadband, FM, MP3, 3.2MP, external memory to be had in 12 months time when I am eligible for another handset upgrade! Right now, the only phone that fits is the SE W960i, but too bad it is LATE! Any other good recommendations?