crackling on and off

Life I have a new mobile phone. The earpiece on my sickly old Nokia finally stopped speaking in the middle of the week so though the rest of the phone still works it's of little use -- there's no point keeping it charged just for the calculator. I had got quite used to it crackling on and off, even the shouting to be heard even though the person on the other end could hear me just fine it seems. I'll miss its little clamshell design and smooth ZX80 style buttons.

In keeping with my commitment to technology that is just slightly out of date, the new phone is a Samsung SGH-E250 (and half the price Amazon are currently quoting). It has all the top of the range features which people were excited about a couple of years ago such as a camera, picture messaging, Bluetooth and FM radio, and well, I'm excited too, since I've not had all of those in one place before. I can even send emails. Watch the accompanying adverts for news of other exciting features.

It's certainly more flexible than the Nokia. You can use MP3s as a ringtone. I mean, like, wow. Currently, that's set to blare out Tom Lehrer's The Elements. I chose this because my first bricksized phone sang a tinny version of OMD's Enola Gay and the Nokia offered its rendition of the minute waltz and since the first is about one of the biggest expressions of elemental forces ever and the other was written for piano this seems to be the perfect mix of the two. MP3 ringtones. What will they think of next?