Like many of the mobile-toting 21st Century Indian Yuppies, I too had a strong inclination towards mobile phones. I try to forget the countless thousands of rupees which I spent to quench this thirst of mine of owning the best and brightest of phones. Sadly, I never for once tried to fathom what I actually wanted from my cell, till I had sunk a deep drain in my pocket and got wiser with experience.
I sought a phone which have the following features, in the list of priorities that they appear:
Crystal clear voice reception and transmission.
Ability to operate on the very distant fringes of my service operator’s boundaries.
At least 2 days of battery power before rushing to re-charge. I usually talk about 45 minutes each day and send/receive more than 50-60 sms/ems, etc.
Ability to be attached to a PC/Laptop for data transfer.
Rugged body to withstand banging with keys and loose change in my pocket, and also the occasional 4 feet drops on rock hard asphalt while I am riding my bike !!!!
Sleek contours with decent style and ease of use.
Low cost.
The above were the absolute bare minimum of my requirements. And with such a list threaded into my hypothalamus, I headed to the nearest store selling electronics wares close to my office on Theatre Road, Kolkata.
The salespersons were actually quite cute and were gracious enough to allow me to sample, gaze and hold (not necessarily in that order) every model which lay ensconced in glass compartments. I poured through the manuals and specs sheets of every make and model which caught my fancy, till I stumbled across a 3 in. x 1.5 in. silver specimen of a Motorola C350. The sales people were quite obliged to answer in the affirmative to all my points which I have enumerated above. The bonus was the presence of a color display which was not a part of my wish list. Thus, happy and contented in my purchase, I was more than agreeable in parting with a round 5K for the phone and data cable accessories.
Owing to a strong addiction towards surfing the internet that I retain, my office and MD of my company made it a routine to complain about the high cost of telephone bills. I tried all forms of permutations and combinations in my surfing habits in synch with the reduced tariffs as posted by BSNL and the subscribed ISP. All these attempts still could not bring me succour from the continuous flak which I received from all concerned in my office :( To compound matters, even local voice calls were being passed off against my log of internet usage hours. This was the last straw and I was determined to do something about it.
Quite accidentally while browsing through the manual of my Motorola C350, I discovered that it had GPRS provisioning. This set off all the bells in my sluggish grey matter! Didnt I pay an amount of Rs. 99/- each month to Airtel for some obscure service which made no sense to me at all!
A single call to the helpful customer service folks of Airtel Kolkata settled matters in a few moments, leaving me absolutely delighted at watching and surfing internet on my PC through GPRS facility of my C350! My MD was positively enthralled too, and he was very kind enough to let me borrow his daughter’s old IBM ThinkPad for my home use so that I could fuel my internet surfing addiction.
It was a little satisfying too, to see the long faces of my colleagues who noticed that I was not using any of the landlines to connect to the Net; thus, depriving them of the opportunity to log their personal calls against my name! Technology certainly gives you the power to sway over any hurdles - this was the lesson that I learnt.
At the time of writing this article, I had been continuously connected to the Internet for more than 4 hours, courtesy Motorola C350 and Airtel. Even now as I write, I can still download songs from the internet and chat with my friends without having to raise a single eye brow in thought of having to explain my long internet usage hours! Even my MD now shares my addiction of surfing the Net at no cost at all to him! He just jostles his way into my cubicle with a bearer in tow carrying his favourite laptop.
All I have to do is to connect his laptop to my PC with a simple crossover cable and we can both independently use the internet on a single connection. Isnt that remarkable?
Feature-wise this model has got what it takes. Sound GPRS provisioning. Good color resolution. Ability to send EMS. Ability to retain the recepient’s contact details against outbound SMSs. More than average reception. Good voice quality and speech. Excellent ergonomics. Robust in construction. [You can change the covers; though the choice is limited when compared to some other brands.]
The only drawback which my handset has, is the limited amount of battery backup. A full battery will last you only 1 1/2 days maximum. Use of GPRS to connect to the internet via PC will drain out the battery in 6 hours of continuous usage. All these, however, are no deterrents to me as I carry the charger and data cable in a small pouch bag which is handy enough.
Life with just a smattering of internet is not enough for me. I need my Motorola C350!