Mobile Entertainment

Having just traversed the murky waters of my annual mobile upgrade, I tend to agree with him.

So much changes in 12 months – the technology on offer now is, even to a tech-geek such as myself, quite staggering. And the number of options open to me was bewildering. Every time I thought I’d picked the ideal handset to go for, a rogue review or retail offer would steer me in a different direction. My definitive wanted list went through multiple revisions before I forced myself into a decision.

Having a little girl at home means that a camera is one feature that I do genuinely tend to use when out and about – so an upgrade from the 2MP snapper in my existing W850i was a must.

But beyond that I was left bewildered by the multitude of gadgetry that was being thrust upon me. Video calling? Meh. But 3G web browsing? Mmmm, ok. Hang on, do I need 3.5G browsing? Or how about wi-fi? What about buttons that change colour? And a touch-screen web browser? Maybe a Windows Smartphone then? But they’re all so big. Something smaller, then. That looks pocket-friendly, but then it only has a 2MP camera. This one then. Oh, no 3G… It seemed to go on and on.

The one obvious choice that kept leaping out at me was the iPhone. Apple machines are always hugely sexy, and a pleasure to use. But £269? I’m a journalist. I have a mortgage and a two year old. Then 02 dropped it to £169. Still realistically beyond my price range, but hey, that’s what credit cards are for, right? It certainly has a lovely browser, but no 3G? The lack of video camera finally steered me away from that in the end. And the fact that 02 ran out of stock.

So the next obvious contender was the N95 8GB. Feature-packed, for sure, but boy – that’s one big phone. And my current provider, T-Mobile, doesn’t offer the improved 8GB version. And despite the saleswoman’s insistence that there’s no difference between the 8GB model and it’s own silver version with a free 8GB memory card, I know enough to realise that the newer model is clearly the better choice.

There was a time when the Sony Ericsson W960i was my top target – big screen, wi-fi, decent camera, touchy-feely things. And I love my W850i. But T-Mobile aren’t doing that one. No problem, I thought, I’ll just swap to another network. But then I was staring at £35pm for what I wanted. And £90 for the phone. And the hassle of waiting to port my number.

In the end it was T-Mobile that made my decision for me. Not wanting to increase my monthly bill, they’d offered me a cut-price £27.50 per month deal for unlimited web and enough minutes and texts to see me through. Eventually it came down to playing the waiting game. I would have taken the N95 8GB had that have become available – and knowing my luck it probably will next week (that sort of information seems surprisingly hard to track down).

However, the appearance of the shiny new Samsung Soul U900 swung it for me in the end. Wi-fi was the feature I sacrificed in the end, but in exchange I got 3.5G, a 5MP camera and a very tasty (though possibly highly impractical) touch panel. It looks nice though. And now I’ve downloaded Opera Mini 4.1, browsing is a fairly decent experience too.

The truth is, though, that for anyone who genuinely invests any sort of significant time into their upgrade decision, the chances are they will always be left with uncertainty. There’s always something better out there, always a forum poster to cast doubt on your decision, always something a little shinier just around the corner. I certainly can’t claim to be liberated.