![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Two Years of Waiting...
Oct. 18th, 2010 10:15 pmI remember being so excited in the February of 2008 when the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 was announced. Back then it seemed like the swiss army phone; it had all the latest features, a fantastic screen and a slide out keyboard. Also back then, Android phones didn't exist. I had been using the very dated Symbian S60 3rd Edition device, the Nokia N93 which had a fantastic optical zoom lens and unique cool folding design (so unique, it featured as the phone which turned into a Transformer in the film of the same name) however the OS was just so slow and was very dated by then. The iPhone was out and leading in terms of touch screen technology and so I was keen to get what I believed to be the best of the opposition.
The X1 didn't come out until October 2008 in the UK but I had held on for it's release having been so excited about it back in February. Of course by October the first Android device, the G1, had also come out. However while the operating system interested me, I thought it was an ugly phone and figured better phones using the OS would be out later (I was right about this at least). As I was desperate to get the X1 and dump my old phone, I opted for the 2 year contract with Vodafone as that brought the price down. This meant I would be tied to that phone and network for the next 2 years, but I figured the phone would be good enough that it wouldn't matter for that length of time. I suppose in hindsight, that was a rather naive thought...
So I got the phone and I loved it to start with, as I do with all new gadgets I get really. However as time went on, I liked the phone less and less. Android was improving massively with the large range of new and exciting devices and I was stuck with the frankly terrible Windows Mobile 6.1. I somehow coped with the stock ROM for a whole year before getting fed up with the interface and it was then I decided to flash my phone with one of the ROMs available on XDA Developers. I was so grateful I did as this made it feel like I had a whole new phone with all the new skins and interfaces stolen from various devices. However as good as these "cooked" ROMs got, it was still Windows Mobile 6 underneath it all. Naturally I had been keen to get my hands on an Android phone but as I couldn't justify nor afford a new phone outright, I had to wait the full 2 years.
Those two years finish on the 24th of October and so I was obviously interested in the various new devices available. HTC announced that their latest devices, the Desire HD and Desire Z would be released right in time for the end of my contract and so I looked into these devices and weighed in the positive and negative points of both and decided on the Desire HD. I went for the HD because even with the resistive screen of the X1, I mostly type on the screen now (mostly because the keyboard was a pain to use and wasn't very responsive) and also, the screen is large (despite annoyingly still being 800x480, the same resolution of the X1).
Now, I'm all too aware that Microsoft have just announced their new phone OS, Windows Phone 7 but I've been with Microsoft for 2 years and have learnt to hate their phone operating system. I knew their new OS is a huge departure from Windows Mobile 6 (which has effectively just been an updated version of Windows CE) but the damage has already been done. Plus the new OS will need a lot of time to find it's feet (application wise) before being a real contender. Also, I'm not a big fan of the panel interface as I'd want something a bit more customisable.
So anyway, I've ordered the new phone from T-Mobile for another 2 year contract as I can get it for £30 a month with unlimited texts and data* and the phone costs £90 but I get £80 cashback via the infinitely awesome Quidco meaning it's only £10 for the handset. I should hopefully get it by next week and can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm expecting it to also reduce my need to have my Cowon A3 PMP on me as the phone will do everything it can and with a better screen too. I just hope this was the right decision as I hope I've not made the same mistake twice as it'll be another 2 years until I can upgrade again!
The X1 didn't come out until October 2008 in the UK but I had held on for it's release having been so excited about it back in February. Of course by October the first Android device, the G1, had also come out. However while the operating system interested me, I thought it was an ugly phone and figured better phones using the OS would be out later (I was right about this at least). As I was desperate to get the X1 and dump my old phone, I opted for the 2 year contract with Vodafone as that brought the price down. This meant I would be tied to that phone and network for the next 2 years, but I figured the phone would be good enough that it wouldn't matter for that length of time. I suppose in hindsight, that was a rather naive thought...So I got the phone and I loved it to start with, as I do with all new gadgets I get really. However as time went on, I liked the phone less and less. Android was improving massively with the large range of new and exciting devices and I was stuck with the frankly terrible Windows Mobile 6.1. I somehow coped with the stock ROM for a whole year before getting fed up with the interface and it was then I decided to flash my phone with one of the ROMs available on XDA Developers. I was so grateful I did as this made it feel like I had a whole new phone with all the new skins and interfaces stolen from various devices. However as good as these "cooked" ROMs got, it was still Windows Mobile 6 underneath it all. Naturally I had been keen to get my hands on an Android phone but as I couldn't justify nor afford a new phone outright, I had to wait the full 2 years.
Those two years finish on the 24th of October and so I was obviously interested in the various new devices available. HTC announced that their latest devices, the Desire HD and Desire Z would be released right in time for the end of my contract and so I looked into these devices and weighed in the positive and negative points of both and decided on the Desire HD. I went for the HD because even with the resistive screen of the X1, I mostly type on the screen now (mostly because the keyboard was a pain to use and wasn't very responsive) and also, the screen is large (despite annoyingly still being 800x480, the same resolution of the X1).Now, I'm all too aware that Microsoft have just announced their new phone OS, Windows Phone 7 but I've been with Microsoft for 2 years and have learnt to hate their phone operating system. I knew their new OS is a huge departure from Windows Mobile 6 (which has effectively just been an updated version of Windows CE) but the damage has already been done. Plus the new OS will need a lot of time to find it's feet (application wise) before being a real contender. Also, I'm not a big fan of the panel interface as I'd want something a bit more customisable.
So anyway, I've ordered the new phone from T-Mobile for another 2 year contract as I can get it for £30 a month with unlimited texts and data* and the phone costs £90 but I get £80 cashback via the infinitely awesome Quidco meaning it's only £10 for the handset. I should hopefully get it by next week and can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm expecting it to also reduce my need to have my Cowon A3 PMP on me as the phone will do everything it can and with a better screen too. I just hope this was the right decision as I hope I've not made the same mistake twice as it'll be another 2 years until I can upgrade again!
