Sony Ericsson k618i

This phone gives you more bang for your buck than your average under-$100 phone. I bought it for S$98 on a two-year contract nine months ago, and if I am not mistaken, the price is now S$68.

S$68 is not bad at all, considering how much you can do with this nifty gadget.

I hotsync my phone at least once a day — syncing my phone and my computer is a breeze with bluetooth technology; it takes all of fifteen seconds — and this means that I get all my addresses, telephone numbers, notes about my contacts (e.g. kids' names, birthdays, etc.), to-do lists, to-read lists, and events (including notes) on my phone. When I am visiting a good friend in her HDB flat and I can't remember if she lives on the 5th or 7th floor (and I am too embarrassed to ask), I can whip out my phone and check out her address.

Having my to-do lists synced means I don't have to remember my long list of books to check out. Whenever I see a book I'm interested in that I'm not yet willing to buy, I'll stick it into my to-read list together with the library branch and reference number, and forget about it until the next time I'm at the library.

Syncing my phone with my calendar also means that I can run through my day's events on my way to work. I can rehearse outlines, make sure I have everything I need for a meeting later in the day, check when my buddy is on call, and see if I'm free on a certain day for dinner. It is all in my pocket. In fact, when my computer is turned off, I don't have to worry about not hearing the alarm because whatever alarm I set in iCal is synchronised with my phone too. I can input a running appointment at 4pm in iCal, set an alarm for 10 hours earlier, sync my phone, and my phone will beep in the morning to remind me to bring my running gear.

And it is connected to the internet. When I am stuck in a jam on my way to the esplanade library at 7pm on a weekday and I can't remember whether the library is actually open, I can look up the opening hours online to decide whether I should give up and get out of the jam. When I am in Concourse buying confetti for a wedding and the bride says mysteriously, "Did you read the email I just sent?" three times in a row, I can check my gmail account with my phone to reassure myself that the bride did not send an "I'm-upset-and-want-to-call-it-all-off" type of email. And I can update my afterthoughts blog whenever inspiration strikes.

Now for the downside. The sound quality is just not that hot. This phone picks up a lot of ambient noise, making it almost impossible to have a good conversation if you are not in a quiet room. Compared to the stellar voice quality of a low-end nokia phone, this one looks pretty bad. I wonder if it is because the microphone is extra-sensitive because it is a 3G phone? It is also less hardy than a low-end Nokia. Drop it a few times and it'll get chipped and cranky. You don't want to drop this one too hard. I've already dropped mine.

When I am talking to a friend in a train and I keep having to say, "Hur? Whaddaya say?", sometimes I just want to chuck it all and go back to a low-end Nokia, but when push comes to shove, I doubt I will 'cos I can't give up the added functionalities that I've come to rely on.