It’s not hard to imagine why mobile phones have become a necessary accessory for everyone. Mobile phones, or more known as cellphones locally, come in all shapes (candybar, flip phone, etc) and sizes (thin, thick, bulky).
I remember the very first time I saw a cellphone, it was sometime in 1998 or 1999. If I am not mistaken, it was the StarTac -
I was in college when it first came out, and boy were you “cool” when you had one like that. I remember that the network operator was Mobiline then. I can’t remember though, if Smart and Globe were already existing during that time. All I know is that Mobiline is currently known as Piltel, the owner of the Talk and Text brand. I don’t have an archival history of the evolution of cellular networks in the Philippines. If anybody has one, I would be very much delighted to hear about it.
When Nokia launched this -
It probably ushered in the era of the cellphone craze. During that time, it was the most ubiquitous model I could see in school. Nokia made a firm foothold here in the Philippines with that model and the rest is cellular history.
It’s just disappointing that although Nokia remains very user friendly and retains its very intuitive user interface, it has failed on one other important product attribute – quality. I blogged once before about how its quality has suffered, and how it often hangs up on the user when you have gazillion messages and calendar notes saved inside a Nokia phone.
Ericsson then was just purely known as Ericsson. It had great looking models out there, but the interface, and more importantly – texting – were an exercise in patience. But one thing that struck most with me (at least during that time) was the ability of Ericsson to CANCEL the sending of an SMS, something that up to now, Nokia doesn’t have (do correct me if I’m wrong). Now, it has one of the best models out there in the market.
My memories of the first mobile phone I ever held were not memorable. The phone was butt-ugly. It was a product of Alcatel. The memory is so faded I don’t even want to know the model of that phone. It was darn heavy, had an attena that was so fragile you had to be careful when you pulled it out of its socket, was a two-liner, was very difficult to use, but we were forced to make do with it.
Apart from a horrendous looking phone, I was a caveman then, not knowing how to operate a SIM card. After inserting it into the Alcatel phone, the phone asked for my PIN. I didn’t know what it was, so I kept on entering random numbers until the phone screamed PUK PUK PUK. Apparently I had exhausted all the security codes that after all was said and done I was the one screaming – PUK SH**, PUK SH**, PUK SH**.
We called the person who sold us the SIM and we were told to look into a sheet of black paper. At the back of my head I said to myself, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US BEFOREHAND?????”. A SIM card then cost about 300-500 I think. What a waste of money.
When we finally bought a Nokia 6150, my brother and I would fight about who’d be the one to use it first. Aah, the memories of yesterday. Now, we each have our own phones and each of us have two phones – one the major network, the other one has the 24/7 call and text unlimited option.
I wonder though, where is cellphone heaven (or hell)? Where do old models go? I doubt if they are just thrown into the waste bin. Maybe they go to Recto or Greenhills or maybe the provinces?
The last time I checked, there were already a billion cellphone users. People have a strong need to communicate. So strong that if you missed a person’s call, you will lose your job. A poor guy (actually a police chief in Silay City, Negros Occidental) lost his job after he ignored his city’s mayor.
Cellphones have also become tools of deception. If the Internet has terms like phishing, spamming, etc, even text messages have similar scams. For a while, there were lots of people posing as PCSO/Pagcor people texting unsuspecting victims that they won a jackpot prize, but that they had to deposit money first before they could secure a prize. How dumb is that?
I remember a maid of ours was one such victim, and she really believed in it so much that she wanted to deposit Php 4,000 at the nearest Western Union. I borrowed her phone and I talked to the impostor via text and call. I asked him a couple of questions, and the scammer shouted at me because he got pissed I didn’t want to deposit. Haha.
Recently, thieves have gone the route of boiler room operations. Putting up fake offices, and then “hiring people”. Four people were duped into giving up their cellphone in a supposed job interview. The plan is ingenious but obviously insidious. You just have to hand it to some people, they’re just that crafty.
Mobile phones have certainly gone a long way, and if I am not mistaken, Sony Ericsson will be coming out with Mobile phones with PSP quality games. I’m eagerly awaiting them. I think there are already slew of gaming centric Sony Ericsson models (model code starts with “F”) that are already out in the market.
Kids these days have all the fun. Hehe.
