IgloONotes

I never would have thought that looking for a new moblie phone would be so hard. I've had a simple Sony Ericsson z520a for a good while, enough to tell me that I don't really need gadgets on my phone. All I do is make calls and send texts. The camera, I never use, nor do I use the browser, or even the games. The novelty of those things died out after just a month.

On the other hand, there's all these smartphones popping up and with prices plummeting, its made me rethink what I really want in a phone. Are 5 megapixel cameras going to tear me away from my beloved Panasonic TZ5? Are web browsers on phones going to rip me apart from my Macbook? I did a bit of cell searching and this is what I found out...

First up, the iPhone. When it first came out, I was in a craze and said that the only phone on my mind was the iPhone. Now that time has passed and the hype has gone over the hill, I've come to my senses and figured that hey, why do I really want the iPhone?

I figured that it was a bargain because you were getting a mobile phone and an iPod Touch in the same device. I fiddled around with an iPhone for a bit and was quite impressed. I could watch movies, listen to hours on hours of music, and best of all, surf the net using wi-fi, avoiding extravagant wireless data fees in Canada. GPS didn't hurt and the endless amount of applications coming online were sweet.

Nothing was stopping me. Then came along the deal with Fido in Canada where you could get an iPhone 3G for $199  with a new plan. Being a subcriber already, it was just take a call to the retentions department to work out a new contract with a sparkling new iPhone.

Then it happened. I actually got my hands on one. I was quite eager to pluck away at the touch screen and see what it was all about. A couple presses later, I was finished. My dreams of the iPhone faded into obscurity. I was lost in the menu's and items. There's tons of useful stuff, but I am not the guy to always want to know my local weather or stocks, or even what's the newest craze on Youtube. I have a Macbook and I was looking forward to the Dashboard and its widgets. Frankly, it just sits in the background with its files getting fragmented every passing day.

iPhone thoughts gone, I went back to my roots and found my new love, the Sony Ericsson W760i. It was a slider phone (something I've always wanted) and it was a Sony. It didn't have tons of applications and it was a basic phone with a few extras.

I'll honestly say that I was attracted to its purdy looks. Digging deeper, I found more of what I wanted. It had GPS and a half decent 3.2 Megapixel camera. It was looking good, real good. Then it dawned on me, it didn't have Wi-fi.

Why would wifi be so important? Long Distance 'nuff said.

Mobile phone carriers charge two arms and both your legs to call overseas. Yes, its really that bad. Even with so called "low cost" international rate plans, nothing can beat a VOIP phone provider. Skype popularized this calling method and since then, millions of little carriers have popped up like moles eager to sniff out your money. The thing is, I really want to give them my money because its so cheap!

I've been using VOIP Stunt! while in Germany. Its not nearly as well known as Skype and its website looks patched together by some high schooler. As they say, never judge a book by its cover.

There's an initial fee of $10.00. With that money, you get 120 free days (or 4 months) of calling. Yes, free. Not every country is free, but the list is extensive enough to cover all the places I regularly call.

There is one catch, and its that 120 days counts down from the first day you pay your deposit, even if you don't call. If that's the sour shell, there's a sweet center. When you chew through the free days you'll have a very friendly list of calling rates. Calling to Hong Kong costs only 1 cent per minute. With Skype, its 3 cents. Make calls every day like me and it adds up pretty quickly.

My ideal phone idea had been dashed once again and now I think I've found my match, the Nokia E65.

Its a little old and its feature set isn't really that sparkly. But like a trusty old sidekick, the Nokia's got things to back me up. Its a slider phone, its got wi-fi, and its simple. There's not so many applications and fluff to drive me crazy but there's essentials that can keep you going.

Its got an Office Viewer for viewing documents and even a web browser. But the cherry on top was its handling of VOIP. If the phone detects a wireless network, you can make it automatically switch to wi-fi when making calls. That means you can get a cheaper phone plan if you hang around places with a wireless network most of your life, people like me.

I reside either in University or at home. The University of Windsor is blanketed in Wi-Fi so access is as easy as stepping onto campus. My home is wireless equipped so that's no problem either. The Canadian government made things even easier for me because now its illegal to talk on the phone and drive. So when driving to University, I might as well switch off my phone, not that I make calls while driving anyway...

AND............................

Fido Canada dropped its prices across the board for its wireless plans, even ridding itself of the evil System Access Fee. Combined with a wi-fi phone, I have never imagined a better way to make phone calls. Now I gotta start looking on e-bay. Excuse me!

Tags: cell phones, Ericsson, fido, HTC, phones, smart phones, voice over IP, VOIP, voip stunt!