The Phone Saga

Phones have come a long way and luckily i have seen them changing with the times. From the first LG moonlight to the current Priv, I am hereby recollecting my memories with my mobile phones.

It was rainy day of July 2005 when I and Saurabh(my friend) braved the rains to get the first mobile of my life. It was a reliance GSK phone manufacutured by LG under the common name 'Moon Light'. This phone was quite different from the older phones or the starting phones as it lacked an antenna and had a cool moon-light type back light instead the yellow screens of its older siblings. 

The first mobile which i came across belonged to my Cousin brother 'Sonu Bhaiya' and it looked like this.

At that time mobile phone meant to me , something that only rich could possess. It was back in 2001-02 when i first touched the mobile pictured above. It was a revolution for me and yes I did enjoy the snake game in these mobiles. In 2002-2003 my elder sister used to work with Ushaphone (a leading company of that time in mobile phone segment), and from her i got to know more about mobiles. One day she gave me a mobile phone in hand and i was just shocked, it felt like  an electric shock from that mobile. That day for the first time i noticed the Vibration feature in that tiny flip mechanism mobile which was like the one shown below.

In 2003 my sister got married and now i had to look somewhere to else for learning more about mobiles. This was the time when Reliance started the spree of making Mobiles possible for every hand and some of my friends did got a reliance. This was the revolution which India needed and yes it was the time when mobile was becoming more and more affordable. Gone were the days when Outgoing was charged at 8Rs. per minute with Incoming call charging 4 Rs. Per minute. Now Reliance was offering mobiles with absolutely zero incoming charges. This was the era i would like to call 'Missed Call era' when people used 'missed calls' as signals. For eg. when somebody had to meet someone, he would say 'I will give you missed call once i reach there'. 

So after seeing a lot of mobiles and finally persuading papa to have one, finally we zeroed on LG moonlight to be our first phone. The lucky day came soon and despite i the heavy rains I went to buy my first mobile along with Saurabh. I would like to mention here that Saurabh already had two mobiles by that time and he was the one who helped my in persuading Papa to get one for us. The deal was done and as we paid 2500 Rs to the Reliance store guy I had my first phone in my hand. Although it was the family phone but later it became the one dedicated for me as I left home for Btech in the August of 2006. The beautiful device can be seen here:

Giving more impetus to the Cell phone revolution, Reliance came up with Rs. 220 for 15 days plans which made outgoing calls from Reliance to Reliance absolutely free and this was the time when the ships of other cellphone companies started to sank. The new reliance phones were having polyphonic tunes and gone were the days when mobiles had only black and white screens. The color screen phones were here and were the new trend. New games like Cricket were now possible in the phones and yes we were enjoying the cellphone revolution by being a part of it. In 2005-06 reliance also came with Free SMS packs and this period was loaded with 100 or more sms-jokes coming to your mobile in a day. I love to call this era as 'the SMS era'. People in India started misusing the beneficial service of 'SMS' in the wrong way and it is still continuing in the form of 'Whats-app forwards' to date.

Till 2008 i used this phone and slowly it battery started developing problems. After a few replacements of battery and service of the charger , I asked my father for a better phon e. So on 27th October 2008 I got my new swag phone. It was a samsung Vsleek phone that came with a camera and a very very good mp3 player. Now the phones accepted the SIM cards instead of the fixed GSK so were now able to change the numbers without changing the full device. 

I just loved this new phone by my whole heart. My love with this phone dint last for a good time as in June 2009 I lost this phone in a car and never got it back.

For a few days i had nothing to be called as my mobile, but my luck shined again and My Nani (maternal grand mother) gave me 2000 Rs. I never knew that this was my last gift from her as my beloved Nani passed away a month after giving me her last blessings. This time i thought of being economical as I knew no mobile could replace the one which i had lost. I settled for a simple LG basic colored screen mobile phone. 

This mobile was with me till 2011 and saw my transition from being a college student to a software professional in Adobe Systems. This was a good phone with a brilliant battery backup. In 2011 i was about to witness the new wonders of the mobile segment. In 2011 Adobe was testing Flash in the smart phones. I would like to confess that in 2011 most of the Indians were unaware of the fact 'what a smart phone was'. So i got hold of a HTC Desire HD which was like a Diamond Axe for the one who used to boast about his Iron Axes. From 800 Rs LG phone i was now using a device worth 37000 Rs. Isnt it a big transformation. Most of the people noticing the mobile in my hand saw it with Awe and Shock. When people were busy in typing SMS by a numeric key pad i was playing with GPS in a touch screen phone.

This was hell lot of a change and I was enjoying the change. For the first time I used a 12 MP camera in a mobile phone, it was  having a superb music and video player. It had the best games, best graphics and the best body for a mobile phone. For the first time i used the Edge connectivity in this phone which was called 2.5 G at that time to browse Cric Buzz for World Cup 2011 scores.

The cover for this phone costed me around 1000 Rs at that time, isnt it insane considering that it was just 2011 and not 2019.I left Adobe in September 2011 to prepare for Civil Services Examination and this phone was taken back by Adobe. By this time i had lost my LG phone due to a faulty clip based cover. The clip remained stuck to my belt while the pouch carrying the phone dropped itself somewhere....i dont know. 

Now i had to chose wisely, i could not afford a smart phone but i wanted a phone with Net Connectivity so that i can browse the web on it and read some news items. After googling a lot I finally went to Noida Sector 18 Market and purchased this beautiful phone with a Qwerty Keypad. This was the moment when i got in love with the Qwerty keypad facility of the phones, which is still my first choice when i look for a phone in the market.

This was a cool phone with the best keypad and Edge connectivity. The Opera Mini Web Browser in it was really helpful when it came to my studies. A lot of other apps like Dictionary also helped me during my preparation of UPSC exam. This phone also provided the facility to watch youtube videos, although the quality was .00001% as compared to the HTC device i used earlier. 

This device was with me till 2013 and saw my transformation from being an Adobian to a student and finally to a Civil Servant. In 2013 this phone was still working but i started looking for new entrants in the field. I settled with Nokia Asha, the phone having whatsapp but having the same body as the Nokia X-201 which i was using earlier.

This phone was not at par with my expectations as the phone's color was slightly dull in comparison to the dummy's shown online. This phone was having a 2MP camera along with a dedicated Facebook button. I used this phone for nearly 6 months when i exchanged it with my father for a spice touch screen phone. My father hurried in buying a phone for him and got a touch phone which he dint like at all and so he agreed to exchange his new phone with mine. The spice gadget looked like this:

This phone was priced at around 2000 Rs and did well for its price but very soon my demands from a phone started increasing and i was again craving for a Qwerty based phone. In 2015 Jan I was married and then i also involved my wife in the quest for a perfect phone. She helped me in finding the best possible phone for me and it was a Blackberry Q5 with both touch and type. It was really a boon for me and i could not have asked for more at that time. The device was priced at 16000 Rs but was available nowhere online. Finally i searched on OLX and got a Q5 (one year old but still with warranty) in just 6500 Rs. I  loved this device, it was quite a professional gadget and yes it had a Qwerty Keyboard. Blackberry at this time was famous for its security and POTUS of that time Mr. Obama also used a BB device. 

My bad luck again stuck in 2016 when this phone was stolen during a Dushera function in 2016. Now i had to get a better phone and i started searching again, i was sure about one thing that the new device should also have a keyboard. This time I got BB passport and indeed it was a gem of a device. This device came with a full square screen along with a swipe enabled physical keyboard. The battery was too good and the processor made it a never( NEVER) hanging device. I used it for almost 2 years without any problem. The phone's robustness was such that even after being rolled down by a three wheeler's wheel it just got a scratch and the screen was intact.

In 2016 blackberry stopped support for Whatsapp in BB devices and thats why I had to leave BB passport and look for a new option. By this time BB had launched its first Android device called Priv. Priv was really a marvel as it had a full Touch Screen and a slider Keyboard. It won my heart and in September 2018 i purchased BB Priv to enjoy the Beauty of Android with the ease offered by Physical Keyboard. 

Friends I am still using and loving this device. Its really a professional device and meant for serious business. I dont know which phone will replace this one but am sure the next one will also have a keypad of my choice like my earlier BB devices. I have some suggestions in mind which can change later on.

So till the time I am loving my BB Priv... the choices will keep on changing. I will update this blog as i get a new cellphone. Till then BYE BYE . 

Update May 2020

I used blackberry Priv for around 8 months, the phone worked perfectly fine but the battery was draining too fast.(Since I had purchased a second-hand priv using OLX hence these risks are unavoidable). As my work suffered due to power issues with the set, I started looking for other options with bigger battery life. I checked for new blackberry devices like Keyone and Key2 /Key2 LE but the costs of all these sets were still out of my range hence I settled for an MI device. This MI device was aptly named as Mi Max 2 as it not only had a 5300 MAH battery life but also a 6.44 inches screen, what more you can ask for in an affordable price of 14000Rs.

I purchased Max 2  in march 2019 and used it for another 6 months, and in that period, enjoyed watching youtube tutorials in the giant screen, the crystal clear sound using Tantra earphones(T1000 Super Extra Bass 225 Subwoofer Wired) and was least worried about charging it. Something that seems good can have problems too if it is not in accordance with your habits and expectations. Although everything was par excellence in Mi Max2 but it lacked my basic requirement of a physical keyboard. While using Max 2 , i noticed that i was least comfortable in using the onscreen keyboard and for me this keyboard only helped in typing out whatsapp chats or sms and not the bigger docs or blogs which earlier I easily did by using physical keyboards in Passport and Priv. 

The one major problem in Mi Max 2 was its bloater apps, a lot of Chinese apps came pre-installed and were annoying. While using MI phones you cannot be sure that your data is secured as a lot of wrapper apps can access data from other apps and change settings without your notice. As i moved into PMO after my transfer from DD News, hence i immediately thought of switching to Blackberry key1 or key2 due to the security issues. Finally in September 2019 while searching OLX again i found out a good deal for Key 2 and grabbed it, luckily the quoted price was not too high and the phone was in a mint condition. 

Key 2 is the phone which i was looking for after Whatsapp and other prominent apps stopped working in native BB-10 OS. Now with the power of Android and hardware of blackberry, Key 2 for me is a solid choice. It has slid off from my hands a lot of times but due to brick type built it dint get ever minor dents. I am again loving this device from BB and if God be willing I will be using this device for another 5 years (if the battery holds good or i get an easy battery replacement).

With love

BB lover

 

Update 2025

As i BB key 2  battery died , i have to finally switch and after so much research i finally landed to Samsung M33 5G. Apple was not affordable for me and i think samsung comes second to apple in security. Finally I am using this since last 2 years and it is going good, no hanging issues, no memory leaks, no over heating and good connection at all the times. Voice clarity is quite good and the phone is handy. I havent seen any bloating apps etc in this and it obeys my commands instead of filling up the phone with Chinese apps without my consent. 

 

But yes, if BB or any other company comes again with a physical keyboard i wont think twice in switching to that...for love needs no bounds.