Eric Holen

A couple of weeks ago, we got Yvette a new cell phone.  It’s a Samsung Instinct S30 with a big touch screen and it looks cool.  Of course, this got me to thinking that it was time to replace my cell phone.  That’s when I started reminiscing about how many cell phones I have gone through over the years.

My very first cell phone was a “brick”, otherwise known as a Motorola 8000H.  I bought it in 1988 just because the store gave me a credit card (bad decision).  At that time, I think was paying $45 dollars a month for service and the telephone came with 35 minutes a month.  Since few people had cell phones at the time, I think most of my conversations began with “I’m calling you from my cell phone.”  I didn’t keep the phone too long because I came to my senses and figured out that I didn’t need it and couldn’t afford it.  So, I sold the phone and paid a steep cancellation fee to the carrier.

My next cell phone actually wasn’t mine; it was Yvette’s, which I bought her for safety.

In Dec 1999, I bought my first real cell phone, a Motorola StarTac.  I chose it because it was cool looking.  I remember that at the time, Yvette told that I could not use it for work.  Today we laugh at that because I use my phone regular to place work-related calls.  I kept that phone for a few years, breaking and replacing the antenna every few months.

In Oct 2001, after I broke off my antenna within the phone and could not repair it, so I bought a new phone.  It was a Touchpoint 2100 and I got it after seeing it advertised for $59.99 at Radio Shack.  At that time, you could buy a telephone that cheap without extending your contract.  The phone was relatively basic, but did the job.

In 2004, I replaced that telephone with a Nokia 6200.  I selected the telephone because it had an infrared port that I could use to sync contacts between it and my Palm PDA.  This was also my first phone with a color screen and a camera.  To date, this is the cell phone that I kept the longest.

In Feb 2007, I decided it was time for a new telephone, so I bought a Sanyo SCP-8400.  I picked it because the phone had a great looking color screen and pretty fast Internet access.  While I liked the telephone, it was the one that I had for the least amount of time, only because I fell in love with my next phone.

Since I am a gadget pack rat, I still have the Nokia 6200 and Sanyo SCP-8400 sitting in a box in my home office.

Finally, in Jan 2008 I bought my current personal phone, a Motorola Q9c.  I selected it because it ran Windows Mobile and yes, it looked cool.  By far, it has been my favorite phone.  I use it daily to check email from multiple accounts and cruise the Internet (I mostly visit news sites and Facebook).

Today, I also carry a Blackberry Bold 9700, which is my work cell phone.

After spending a week agonizing over whether I should get another Windows Mobile cell phone or switch to a Blackberry, I finally came to a realization.  I decided that while my Motorola Q9c is approaching two year old, it does everything that I want.  Why spend money for a new cell phone when I am perfectly happy with my current phone?

So, me and my Motorola Q9c will carry on into 2010 and at least the near future.  That is until the cell phone bug bites me again.