A.I.O. I Need!

Singapore is going wireless starting January 2007!

Called Wireless@SG, hot-spots will be free for 2 years to all and subsequently be chargeable at small fee and a little more for faster connection option... of which, has no immediate concern to me until year 2009.

What is pressing now is to give myself a good reason enough to have another phone, most definitely an All-In-One gadget for my needs. Yes, needs. I need it.

Though I have a fantastic phone I use currently, a Sony Ericsson S700i, I will eventually require a phone that does almost every feature I want available portable.

My immediate requirement for a phone is a large and bright colour screen. Then comes the camera, a must. The larger the pixel, the better but I would settle for a 2 mega-pixel camera.

The third should be an MP3 player, built-in with extension slot for more songs and files to be stored in it.


Now, Wi-Fi is a must, since the whole of Singapore... well all town centres and busy public places on this island will have hot-spots for wireless connections to the Internet.

With lots of free, online files, photos, surfing favourites storage offered and now, the portable, no-downloads required spreadsheets functions available online, the ultra-portable All-In-One phone is virtually all I would need next year onwards.

Anything more, like PDA functions is a pleasant bonus to me!

Now, that is enough a reason to get a new one, with a wonderful option of handing my current phone down to Wifey. She needs nothing more than just basic phone, SMS, MMS and camera and MP3 functions. Anything fancier than that is of no interest to her.

Yes, I have finally figured out "why I need a new phone." I keep telling myself that until I believe it myself.

The power of persuasion... to oneself? Priceless!

Let me not go there.


Now, I have done some homework on the best phone I should have that has all the features I ever need, and have narrowed down to one brand, DOPOD!

Yes, DOPOD... a Taiwanese brand above the popular Nokia, and my trusted Sony Ericsson.

For the design and features that suit so much to my taste and needs, DOPOD seems to have listened to my requests and long-time search, and made it just for me! Scary, but wonderful.

The only thing now, is the different models that are so enticing, with some still not launch yet until before end of this year.

I have my eye on DOPOD's C800 which is to be launched in mid-November. It costs S$1.2K. The other contenders are DOPOD 838 Pro and DOPOD P800w that seem to be equally brilliant! Each costs S$1.3K and S$1.1K respectively.

A hefty sum to fork out, but considering the all-in-one functions, it will cost more to buy a camera and an MP3 player separately.

Lugging around these individual items is not exactly "hands-free" for someone who does not carry a bag to work or to anywhere else for that matter. Having all those gadgets bulging out from all the available pockets in my pants is not really a fashion statement either.

So, convenience costs money! I am good with that.


So much more reasons to buy my phone, now! I absolutely need it! I can taste it, I am practically drooling here.

PDA phone on the palm of my hands... oh, the temptation is just too strong!

You know, even though it is purely my portion of the money to spend on me, I still need Wifey's "blessings" to ease my guilt before buying my new toy.

And oh, what a technologically sinful toy it is!

No, I am not going there either. I just one my AIO PDA Phone!

Wait! Island-wide wireless access... a dual-mode phone with VoIP should be considered too for its free phone calls over the internet lines. Let me think...