things that might have been otherwise

A sad day recently as my super-simple phone breathed its last. It was annoying to replace it, from an environmental point of view. But I did manage to find a suitably simple replacement- the Motorola F3 (review).

Designed for so-called ’emerging’ markets, it deliberately skimps on features to save battery life and keep the cost down. The only drawback is that it’s super-simple display (think writing texts on a calculator screen) makes for a slightly maddening menu interface- this would drive many users up the wall, but I seem to be adapting OK. I think one reason for my acceptance of the rather duff interface is that the features are so few and far between, you don’t spend much time in the menus anyway…

This might sound like I’m reassuring myself that my ‘cheap as chips’ phone was actually a good buy. But I do feel that phones are particularly prone to ‘instant obsolescence’- a built-in camera goes from 1MP toy to 5MP ‘key feature’ in around 18 months. No such danger with the Motorola!