Sunday, April 13

Gadget Lust Again!

It never fails- whenever I lose a gadget in some way, I suddenly get the craving to replace it with another- whether it's another of the same gadget or something totally different. As if there's a techno-void in me that demands to be filled. Long ago, it was the loss of a cellphone 'won' during a Christmas party that caused me to careen hopelessly and endlessly into mobile phone frenzy... and now, the loss of my digicam has me once again looking here and there at the gadget shelves.

Of course, I shouldn't buy a camera- my Mom will be getting a new Canon Ixus to use on her trip, and that will be mine to buy when she comes home. With this in mind, I shifted to looking about for other substitutes. A cellphone was out of the question- my iPhone is still hunky-dory, and my love for it has bloomed even more of late after an install of the awesome Genesis4iPhone app has turned my mobile into a portable 16-bit gaming system. It was fun though to hypothesize about the latest models on offer from the big brands. The Nokia N95 8GB model still remains the phone model I'd get if I didn't have an iPhone- the huge storage, Symbian OS, N-Gage gaming and best camera (still and video) around make it THE all-in-one device to have. Also catching my attention is the N82, the OTHER great Nokia camera phone with an OS, although the lack of big storage irks me.

On the Sony Ericsson side, I finally saw the W960i, and I have to say- I am underwhelmed by the plasticky, toy-like look of the actual device (which looked so slick and suave in online pics). The Nokia equivalent N95 8GB beats this one out.

Well, I'm still firmly entrenched with my Apple device, given how it still pretty much kicks every other phone's arse, including the ones mentioned above, in terms of video playing quality (Mpeg-4 video ROCKS), and the huge, hi-res screen still never fails to make my eyes shine. Sigh.

So I cast away any more thoughts of any big gadget acquisitions... for now. I just contented myself with a new Flash Drive- an 8-GIG Flash Drive- that should be great for ferrying files and other stuff here and there. Man, technology. You gotta love it.

Can't wait for what the future brings.
Ixus Mortus

During my stay in Boracay last week, I got to enjoy the white sands of the island getaway, the surprisingly very mainstream and commercial amenities of a beachfront hotel with grade-A facilities but below-par food (The Two Seasons), quite a few man-sized portions of Jonah's Shakes and, unfortunately, the experience of having my nice ol' digital camera take a dip in the salty water.

Yep, a stupid little mistake lost me my trusty Canon Digital Ixus 60, and for the rest of the stay I was bereft of a cam to chronicle the days of beach, booze and babes. Strange thing- for an island that expects tons of tourists, there's no place on Boracay to service your camera in case of trouble like this- for shame.

Anyway, I had the cam given over to the Canon service center, and hopefully we'll be able to resurrect the dead cam. It's really a waste if we couldn't. In any case, my Mom will be coming home with a new digicam most likely when she comes back from her current tour of the Holy Land. We'll see what comes first- a new old cam or a new totally new cam. Either way, I'll be sure to never have this happen again... or resolve to buy a waterproof case for the camera if I ever go back to Boracay or any other beach. Oh well.