For the first time in my life.
Okay, that’s not 100% true. My first phone (purchased two years ago in Korea) was used. Then I had a prepaid one that I bought while I was in the US last summer. Technically that one was new, but it was a crap phone and I gave it away when I left to head back to Korea – so it doesn’t really count. But the new one I got last weekend?
It counts.
Man, does it count!My students in Korea always laughed at my phone. It was old, didn’t have a color screen, had no games and didn’t have a camera. Yeah, it was a crap phone, but it served its purpose well enough.
But it’s still not cool when a 12 year-old has neater stuff than you do.
My new phone is the Vodafone V401D, and it’s hella cool. Much cooler than any of my students’ phones. It’s got a camera (20x digital zoom), games (Puzzle Bobble!), can do internet stuff (email and web), has a gorgeous screen (240×320 high-def color LCD), and it comes in a funky metallic green color.
Vodafone calls it “Cyber Green” but I think it’s more of a ‘Zilla Green.I’m still figuring out all the bells and whistles, but I’m totally in love with it so far. It’s got a cool little trackpad on the side that functions like the scroll wheel on a mouse, which makes it a breeze to zip through menus, emails and web pages. The camera works pretty well, too. Better than my old Ghettocam ever did, that’s for sure. Here’s a sample shot (first pic taken with the camera) looking out of the apartment window:
Sure, it’s not as good as my regular digital camera, but it’s pretty nice for something included in a phone.I’m sure if I showed it to my old students they’d be impressed, then they’d all want to know how much it cost. I know I did when I first saw it. You ready for this?
It was only about $87.
And that wasn’t with some sell your soul to the devil 2-year contract like you get in the US, either. I signed up for a 3-month deal.
Pretty sweet, huh? ^.^
(Yes, I know anybody in Japan will be all, “big whoop” if they read this, but it was cool to me, so that’s why I wrote about it. So there.)