I *heart* my phones

All my adult life, I've been the proud bearer of whatever free or cheap phone came with my mobile subscription in London. Nothing fancy, not too many fancy geegaws if you please. Just phone and texting. Maybe the odd game thrown in for boredom busting during those long tube/ train journeys. Phones were for communication, little else. Then, we moved back to KL, and for whatever reason, I upgraded. Then again. And again. Finally ending up with the Samsung dual chip (1 chip for KL, 1 for Jakarta). I was honestly quite happy at that point. The Man had a blackberry (work), iPhone (social, but I was the only one who had the number!), and Palm Treo (KL). So mine were for communication, and his iPhone for the occasional games. Everyone happy right? So you would think.

2 years on. I now carry a blackberry AND an iPhone (Hubby's discard. He now has the new iPhone 3Gs or some such alphabet combo). Here in Jakarta, most folks go, 'Ya? What's your berry pin?' In KL, (usually from my parent's) the reaction goes something like that, '2 phones?? What for? You can only use 1 at a time! Not like earrings where you hang 1 on each ear!' (Last bit from my dad who carries an obsolete Nokia and gets furious if you change his ring tone 'cause he doesn't know how to change it back) Others say I should be in one camp or the other. Berry or iPhone, and never the twain shall meet. Well, the twain are meeting very well in our little family. Both daddy and mommy have Berrys and iPhones. In fact, I adore both my phones.

Initially, before I got my berry. Hubs and I had a little discussion weighing up the pros and cons of it. Seriously, why on earth would I need a Blackberry. Well, here in Jakarta, you can have unlimited data services using several of the prepaid providers. Mine is Telkomsel Simpati and I pay Rp180,000 (about USD18) for a month. In KL, I had to activate berry services on my Maxis postpaid line, and for unlimited data, it was well over RM100 (about USD30+) a month. Still, compared with about Rp60,000/month for only phone services, it was 3x the price... The unit itself cost Rp4.7mil (about USD 470) though, so not really more than my previous Samsung. So this is what we came up with in that little discussion: (assuming the package is unlimited)
1. Messaging between berry users is free
2. Messaging photos between berry users is free. Great for sending daddy photos of the stuff kiddo gets up to during the day. Sometimes I don't have my camera with me, but my phone, always.
3. Unlimited surfing all the time. Think 3 hour traffic jams and you begin to see how it might be a clincher in this discussion.
4. Most of my friends are on it. Makes it much easier to communicate. Especially since there is a status option that lets you post short messages. Saves the overseas roaming charges if your friends know not to call you when you're out of town.
5. My email goes straight there. No more missing important bank stuff because I couldn't be bothered to check my email.
6. Connection problem happen only rarely. So no cursing at the computer for disconnecting out of the blue.
7. Better relationships with family/ friends who live in other parts of the world who also carry berrys.

Ok, so there you go. I got me a berry... Now for the iPhone. Yes, yes, you're rolling your eyes. Still, I need something to stick my KL chip in, and since Hubby was upgrading to his iPhone alphabet soup, I might as well take his old iPhone right? See... Logic at it's best. Anyway, I love my iPhone too! Loads of fun applications to download from iTunes stores. Some free, some a couple of bucks. Lots of stuff for kids. I just downloaded a math program for kiddo that does addition and subtraction (Kidcalc). So what if I have to sit through endless kiddy voices saying, 'Twelve. Pumpkins. Minus. Three. Pumpkins. Equals. Nine. Pumpkins'...Kiddo likes it. And since math is really not her strongest subject, I guess it's good she's playing and learning at the same time.

As for me. I have my Defender Chronicles and Fieldrunners. 2 tower defense games that are so addictive it's not true. Think 2am fixed, bloodshot, stare at the little iPhone screen waiting to see if your 15th strategy of the night will keep the little scurrying enemies from reaching your home. Initially I would stare at them so hard that my lids would stick together if I tried to blink. Ugh. Let's not go there... Then there is the hypnotic game Enigmo, where you have to make all these little droplets of water bounce into a pot. And to cap it off, the puzzle game where you have to make a ladybird push boxes across the screen and avoid getting squashed by spiky balls (Ynth). Ooo... not to mention the penguin game where you crash penguins into polar bears (crazy penguin catapult) or the one where you have to milk your cows before they explode (milk panic)...

It's amusing at times when Hubby and I have to gather up all our phones and juggle them with other bits of paraphernalia just moving from one part of the house to another, but that's a tiny price to pay for the sheer enjoyment we get out of our phones...