Don't drop it!

In sixteen years of mobile phone use I have had five handsets in total. I have only ever bought three of my own free will as the first two were cast offs, so I have effectively had one phone every 3.2 years.

I can't remember buying the first one, but I quickly discovered that unless my phone was of a clam shell design I would be making all sorts of transgressional phone calls from my back pocket, so avoided the traditional shape from a fairly early stage. My second phone purchase was natty silver clam and when you opened it, it emitted a "swoosh" sound just like the communicators used in retro star trek shows - a la Captain Kirk and Sulu.

When that one finally died, I opted for a VGA camera phone in metallic pink and although the pictures were rubbish - I've had no real complaints about the rest of the phone's features.

Then, yesterday, I had a little accident. Suffice it to say that mobile phones and water don't mix and my little mishap means I am very likely to need a new one.

As it is Christmas, I decided to look for a new model on the internet to avoid the mobile phone shop madness that ensues during the festive build up. I thought it might make things a bit easier, but lo and behold after only five minutes of searching, my brain was fried and I now have no idea whether I want 3G with a qwerty keypad or a touch screen with stylus. Do I need expandable memory and is it important for me to be able to Tweet at all times - well I just don't know!

I found a phone I liked the look of and mistakenly then looked at the reviews - the various disgruntled customers swiftly informed me that it didn't come with a USB cable and what was the point of expandable storage if you couldn't store MP3s anyway. And one reviewer even proffered that it was cheap and plasticky - well of all things to be that's pretty despicable, I'd say.

The upshot of my surfing is that I don't know what to do. Shall I wait to see if my doused phone dries out and will go on to give me another 18 months of use, or should I just cut my 'pay as you go' losses and opt for a monthly tariff with a free top spec phone? If only you could help me out of this dilemma, dear reader I would be so grateful. Now, if my phone were working you could text me, couldn't you!

Image © barnoid via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence