Dearly Departed 6230i

Condensation from the humid, cold mornings, or a faulty Ziploc? We'll never know..

Dearly departed 6230i, I know it's only been 9 months since I've had you. You were the phone in my mind even before I ORDed. You had all the features I wanted in a phone. A card expansion slot, PC interface and a camera. It's not often that Nokia comes up with such a functional phone. And with a reasonable price too.

For 9 months, you kept me company on long bus journies, boring afternoons spent ironing clothes, or even when I had a few minutes to burn. I never knew the convenience of a portable music player. Short messages were a joy to type. Long messages didn't get chopped up. The calender kept all my important notes, or simply satiated my sudden panic urges to lead a more organised life. The camera, though only managing to capture grainy images, was functional and did provide some entertainment.

Oh, how you must have choked on all the water up on that mountain. Oh, how that Ziploc failed you. Oh, how the cold on the mountain ruined your insides with the condensation. Now you are nothing but expensive plastic and silicon and liquid crystal. Maybe I should have placed you in a valuables bag, to be kept safe by my side. Maybe I should have double, triple wrapped you, since Ziplocs are cheap and just a few extra ziplocs wouldn't hurt the environment that much. Maybe I should have just brought a lousy phone up to such a hard place.

Your replacement is functional, but old. In the age when new phones fly off the production lines, it is a relic. Who remembers the "butterfly" buttons, so funky barely 5 years ago? Who remembers the blue light, a "quantum leap in backlighting technology"? What is painfully obvious is the lack of long message support, the inability to store more than 30 messages, the interface which was way ahead back then, but comparatively clumsy now.

Oh, I missed the times I could just switch over to speakerphone mode. Oh, I missed the ease of adding a calender note. Most of all, I miss the music.

It'll be at least another 6 months before a worthy replacement is feasible. You, who has survived 2 terms in SMU, been through countless outdoor activities and been up Gunung Panti, rest now. Until Nokia removes condensation damage from its warranty exemption, there is nothing that can bring you back to life. You are missed, and will be remembered. -Jimmy