My evolving lifestyle

For the last decade, I can attest that I've grown a lot, emotionally, mentally and physically. I went from a very shy girl to an assertive, reserve and determined woman. The most inspiring part of my growth has been my lifestyle, which has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I've experienced so much through that noun "lifestyle". If I was asked 7 years ago about my lifestyle, I would have mentioned music, television shows, the encyclopaedia, books, movies and food of course. Within the space of 6 years, gadgets became a concrete part of my lifestyle. I realised my laptop had become a part of me. I sat on a bus and tried to press the Windows start button. The vision in front of me was Windows XP. This really freaked me out. I thought I was going nuts or something. While I'm at work I try to mentally summon the undo shortkey to re-arrange clothes I've just finished arranging.

old, fat and ugly

I remember when I got my first mobile phone; I was almost 14 years old. I remember the first mobile phones I set my eyes on; they were huge, ugly and black. No personalisation and portability was not even considered at all. My mummy's old phone that she planned to give to me was a Motorola. Immediately I saw it, I rejected it. My uncle gave me my first phone and it was a Panasonic. It was nice and cuter than mum's old and fat Motorola. Mobile devices started getting smaller and elegant. I can recollect quite well, Ericsson, now known as Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Philips, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Motorola were contenders in the market then. Ericsson was the most expensive and attractive, design-wise.

my first phone

my first love

The antenna on my Panasonic came off yet I continued to use it. I didn't use it much though. I send texts with it sometimes and my parents were able to reach me on it, when I was at school or out of the house. After a year, mum bought an Ericsson phone for me. I loved his smell. He smelled brand new and yummy. His smell was very embracing. I used to smile just to wake up to him. He was short, light and cute. The colour of his screen was unique and captivating; his screen colour was cyan and translucent. I fell in love with him instantly I saw him. Not too long after I acquired him, the Nokia frenzy started. Everyone was carrying Nokia phones around. It was disgusting. Ringtones and wallpapers were introduced and everyone with Nokia mobile phones was purchasing ringtones like food. Nokia, wallpapers and ringtones became some sort of crowd mentality. I was excited about the introduction of personalisation. it meant i could now assign different ringtones for my received texts and my voice calls, but I was disgusted with the bandwagon effect that Nokia started.

"Nokia is a very powerful phone..." - Someone told me. "Yeah, sure! I never said it isn't."

Motorola always have edgy with innovative design

I would just rather have a phone that is different, compared to that of everyone in my class. I became a huge fan of Ericsson, my dad loved Motorola, whereas my uncle is a major Nokia groupie.

do u remember him?

I dumped the black and white Ericsson after two years and went for Motorola. I used the Christmas money I got from my uncles and dad to buy it. It was the very first gadget I saved up for. He was far better than Ericsson. He was colourful and interactive. He gave me more personalised content. He came with an integrated VGA camera; the picture quality wasn’t so great though. I loved his flip-style and his smell. I cherished him for a while. I used him to text a lot and reach friends. He was my first "cannot-do-without"; if I left him at home my day wouldnt be whole. I always had him with me. I let him hit the ground a couple of times. He had scars from his many falls. I cannot recollect exactly what happened to him. Maybe it is because it was too painful, so I erased it from my memory.

Nothing last forever

Dad gave me another Motorola; He was a lot sleeky but fragile. I had to handle him with care. He was sexy though. I must admit, although our relationship was a very short one, we had a wonderful time together; his camera quality was a bit better and he was more interactive. One day, I was in a rush to get to the train station and I was getting a lift from Mum. While I was trying to lock the house, because that ugly brother of mine refused to do it, my "hello Moto" dropped and split into two. The screen and the qwerty pad split and I couldn't revive him. It was not sad but just inconvenient. I had to get to an important lecture, I was in my final year and I could not miss that lecture. I wondered how I would reach people. Mum loaned me one of her phones for the day. It was a Samsung; I'm not a big fan of Samsung because I was biased. It's either Motorola or nothing.

a day wtih Samsung

music like I've heard it before

That same day I went to purchase a new phone after lectures. I bought a Sony Ericsson, I was so excited to be reunited with my first love. Even though he had a longer name now, he had gotten better. His screen reminded me of my first Ericsson; it was small, unique and vivid orange in colour. His screen colour blends with black and orange body exterior. A year later, I went to visit my cousin in the States and lost him somewhere between Michigan and Ohio. When I came back home my dad bought an exact replica of him for me. Yes, I chose him again and this time as my Christmas present. He's my pet; he's under my pillow right now. We've been together since 2007. He gives me music, pictures and a lot of interaction. I cannot say much about the camera, not up to bar. He's designed for music not for photography. He has some slight mental problems though, the software that came with Sony Ericsson phones around the time he was purchased has issues. He freezes and refuses to switch on sometimes. He's fine now though. I just don't trust him, he's unreliable. I might have to let go of him soon. He has competition.

Sleek

He messed up one time when I needed him the most. I was travelling back home and I needed a phone so I decided to be a bit more open-minded and change brand. I wanted HTC but HTC products were not available in stores, I had to buy it online. I had no time to wait on delivery so I settled for a Samsung Tocco which cost me almost 400euro. The Samsung is fanciful, light, portable and 3G. I had to let go of my 2.5G phone but I kept him as back up, like I mentioned previously, he's under my pillow right now. It's been a year now and Samsung Tocco is doing great; the camera is very nice. Sometimes it freezes because it's a touch-screen phone but it doesn't go crazy like iPhone. Samsung Omnia has wireless connectivity support but Tocco doesn't. Samsung Omnia is only available online, time really forced my hand when I was purchasing my Samsung phone.

Robust and ubiquitous

Anyway, I've got a Nokia now. YES, I've got a Nokia E71. My very first Nokia. He's lovely, robust and very useful for business. I'm more open-minded about brands now but I still dislike crowd mentality; that is why I don't own a Blackberry phone. I don't own an iPhone because I'm simply anti-Apple. I only use iTunes but someday I might buy a Mac Book Pro. Maybe!

disappearing computer

Mobile generations have come a long way; very soon we will be offered 4G, i.e., 4th generation of cellular phones. 4G will surpass 3G, 2.5G and below. Are you ready for what 4G brings? Don't wait and see, check out the trends. Apple is already talking about iPhone 4G. Mobile technologies have become a way of life for my generation and upcoming generation. Even the previous generation are learning to adapt. Technology is not just an innovation, it is a LIFESTYLE.


Latifa Ayoola