The McVie Show Season 4

Last Friday evening my phone died on me. Well, not really my phone since it’s actually Leigh’s. But she lent me her old phone because my real phone, the Sony Ericsson Z600, went zonkers a few weeks ago. Leigh’s was supposed to have been an interim phone while I looked for a replacement. Now that one is gone too.

Which got me thinking about my phones in the past. If guys have ex-boyfriends, I have ex-phones. Presenting my callboys:

My first one was a Motorola Microtac.

I got mine when they first came out. He was cute during his time. He was a lot less bulky than the first cellphones, those big unwieldy ones that couldn’t fit in your pocket. The Microtac could fit in your pants pocket—if you’re wearing loose slacks. Any pants tighter than those and you’d invite remarks like, “Is that a cellphone or are you happy to see me?” My Microtac lasted a little over a year. I remember I had to have my line cut because I couldn’t afford one anymore; I had resigned from my work and was planning to go full-time into theater.

My second phone was a Nokia 7110.

I wanted a phone with a sliding cover that protected the keys. I always preferred cellphones that kept the keys either hidden or protected. Plus I had just watched the very first Matrix movie and there Morpheus contacted Mr. Anderson a.k.a. Neo via a Nokia phone similar to the 7110 except it was black. (Thanks to that phone, the movie now appears so dated.) That one lasted longer, about 4 years.

My third phone was a Sony Ericsson Z600.

This one stayed with me the longest, around 6 years. And even then, it was only during its last year that it exhibited signs of old age; the phone would hang once in a while, and the audio would sometimes drop out. (It was the constant flipping of the clamshell that caused the contact to loosen up.) It was clearly my favorite; I collected about 12 different shell designs so I can mix-and-match my phone with my wardrobe, and for a while I actually did that every day—for a total of three days. By the fourth day I just got bored.

This is what Leigh’s Sony Ericsson T630 looks like.

But now it just hangs. Whenever you switch it on, it never gets pass the SE logo forming before it hangs. I swear it sucks.

So now I’m reduced to making do with my sister’s spare Nokia 3530.

I used to be ambidextrous when I had my personal SE and my office Nokia, but now I’ relearning the Nokia set-up. Besides, the 3530’s keys would test the patience of even a rabid Nokia user.

But what I really want now is another clamshell-type of phone, or one with a sliding cover that protects the keys. I dislike that extra step of switching on the “keys locked” pad. And since I’m more partial to Sony Ericsson, I’m now eyeing the Z610i. Me covet!