That's fab! I have been working hard throughout the year and not taken many days off work and now I am left with lots of options of days off before they get taken off me at 30th September and I get my new allowance as of 1st October. Not sure what I'll use the leave for really. Of the six days I will take one on Monday 31st August, the bank holiday, so will have a long weekend then. The remaining five, I will use one for my final driving instructor test and there are still four more!! =D Ah, if only Elaam lived in Glasgow then I'd be able to plan more dates with her or something. Soon, soon. Term will restart mid-September, right?
So last Thursday I received my new HTC Magic phone, as a free upgrade from Vodafone. I had my eye on that phone since a long while. I think I first caught sight of it on the Vodafone website and started to check out the properties on various sites including GSM Arena and HTC's own site etc. Seeing it in real life when Vivien Lai allowed me to see it in church, really deepened my desire for the phone. It's so cool. Will start telling you what's so good about it. It is a smart phone powered by the Android operating system and runs alongside Google. Without getting too technical here are the great things I love about this phone:
The Good
All my contacts were imported within seconds after I signed onto my Google account. My contacts have an email address and phone number so I can contact them any way I want: email, call or text. Basically, those who use Gmail will have a Contacts list. It is that list that HTC Magic gets its data from. So you can imagine the convenience of adding/ removing/ updating Contacts details on the computer rather than typing them in one by one using thumbs! Any changes I make to my Contacts list on the computer is instantly updated to the phone.
My Google Calendar is worked in the exact same way. Setting up Events, Appointments and Tasks have never been easier. Because all previous appointments were on Sony Ericsson K810i, you could imagine the hassle of going through the whole calendar and typing everything all over again. However, doing through Google Calendar online I would make sure every appointment is accurately entered and reminders set as and when I want them.
Because both Contacts and Calendar are online, this virtual storage system would mean if I ever lost my phone or used another Google handset I could port the data back into the new phone again, hassle-free! =D
WAP is constantly on in the phone. It does regular checks for updates in SMS, MMS, Gmail AND GoogleTalk (the left-hand side chat for Gmail users). Whenever I get a notification through on the phone, it could be either a text, a new email or someone chatting to me (so far Alfred! Haha!) So it's quite exciting really! I'm always available for you to reach me! =D Whenever I am at home, I switch on wireless connection for faster connection to Facebook where I can view the full site as opposed to the mobile version which I used to get through my Ericcson K810i! =) I get to watch Youtube and BBC iPlayer as well, with smooth High Quality when streaming through wireless.
Google Maps is another great feature on the phone. I get to pinpoint my location wherever I am, provided I have WAP signal, and from there I can find my way home or find route from a particular place to my current location. Google Street View works well too and I managed to impress my mum when our flat appeared on my phone. Haha! All these things, and many other great things are reasons to get the HTC Magic.
The Bad
Nothing is perfect. There are also downsides to it. There is no physical keypad where you can slide out or whatever. The keys are touchscreen and whilst writing texts or emails, I find my big thumbs get clumsy and I touch the wrong buttons sometimes. When I turn the phone on its side, it does auto-rotate to a lateral keypad that gives bigger keys. However, that can't always happen, esp when I can't hold it with two hands all the time.
There is no built-in FM radio on it. The only music I get from it would be from my music files which I import via USB data cable, or when I download an application that receives radio signals.
Bluetooth, at the moment, can only be used to paid up devices like bluetooth headsets etc. It cannot be used to send or receive common files like pictures, mp3's etc which is a bummer. I read that they are developing an update for this. Hopefully soon as I know this phone is capable of it!
The camera is 3.2MP, the same as my previous Ericsson K800i and K810i, but does not have a flash. The quality of images are just so-so compared to the Cybershot cameras the Ericssons offered. However this is one thing I can overlook in place for the many great things it offers.
I initially had a concern with the battery. The first overnight charge lasted less than 24hrs. Although given the time I spent on it, installing, importing, tweaking etc it would have drained it, but I felt it wasn't holding it's charge and I was a bit concerned. After turning 3G back to 2G and few more charges later, I find the phone battery life more "normal" compared to my Sony Ericssons. However, if we consider the amount of things this phone has to run, who can blame it for running low on energy at the end of the night?
The Ugly
There is nothing ugly about this phone. I was thinking whether I'd look professional with this phone as opposed to an Ericsson. Being a driving instructor in the future I should / would be more practical with my phone and there is no need for fancy features or widgets etc. However, I am growing more and more fond of this phone as times goes on. I know having this phone will be great to store client details and they can contact be via call, text, email or even chat and I'd be reachable virtually any time of the day :)
A picture of my new handset: The HTC Magic
Picture of my previous handset: Sony Ericsson K810i. Click on the picture for a gallery of some pictures I had taken with the phone in the past year :)
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