Man On The Move. Review on Nokia 1100

NOKIA 1100

Frankly I was not much of a mobile phone man. Had a cell phone a year back, a Motorola handset, but chucked away the phone once the prepaid card exhausted itself.

Then recently I joined a new Shipping Company. After the interview, the Manager Personnel asked me what was my mobile number. I said I do not have a mobile. He was aghast! No mobile?? He said:

“Captain you need to have a mobile because we need to communicate with you when ever the ship is in Mumbai or any other port.”

I said “ You can always send me a telex or call me on the satellite phone available on the ship”

He said “No no no no…..Your appointment with us will be held in abeyance till such time you notify us your mobile number.” I did not have much of a choice, did I?

In the previous months, many folks had asked me for my mobile number. Most expressed their surprise or displeasure when I said I had none.

Finally, it dawned on me that it was okay to be deaf/dumb/blind/crippled, so long as you had a mobile phone.

I was told by friends that that even beggars send SMS’s on mobile phones asking for money and do not beg on street corners anymore. Just to be certain I looked at the street corner and sure enough did not see any beggars there.

NOKIA 1100

I was looking for a no nonsense, simple to use handset. My search ended with the Nokia 1100. I paid some Rs 4,900/- for this handset in March 04, which now sells for some Rs 4,500/- .

This handset has all the standard features of any cell phone. The USP of the 1100 are

 Battery charge holds for some 3 days.

 Very user friendly keys for navigation.

 Built in dictionary.

 Insurance against theft for 1 year and warranty for 2 years at no extra cost.

 Built in powerful flashlight which was a very useful feature on board a ship, when navigating at night. The ships Bridge is always darkened at night, so this was a nice way of looking around.

 Don’t bother to put this set in a cover, as it is dust free and rugged, made for India.

Besides there are plenty of useful add ON’s like Alarms, Reminders, Calculator, stop watch, and games.

The Nokia web site gives all the technical details.

WAY TO GO

I informed my cell number to the Manager Personnel, he was happy and called me to join the ship the week after. I practiced sending him a few SMS’s, got prompt replies too.

I loaded many cell nos of my friends and started to send them jokes, mostly of the type where one does not laugh. I also sent many irritating messages to many TV news channels.

I made many calls while roaming without a care for the bills. I even called people who barely knew me. I asked folks in the street for their cell phone numbers. A few who gave me, I saved them in my cell memory. I learned to send SMSs to “MANY”.

All in all, within the month I got back many angry replies. I kept the cell on in movie theatres, clubs, even the golf course. I made sure the cell always beeped coz I had subscribed to many free SMS services like NEWS, Jokes.

The Nokia 1100 never let me down. It has become a first class nuisance and a diversionary friend for me.

Now I rarely surf the net.

I am the new MOBILE MAN.

BTW, the NUMBER IS: 9890408878

Pssssst...What is your number?

SMS your comments please and make my Nokia 1100 rock!!