One Ring To Rule Them All

The cellular phone could have only been a trend. I almost dismissed it as another marketing triumph in the same league as hand sanitizers and iced coffee, in terms of redefining necessity. Yet it stayed as a necessity, not only because of the marketing savvy of Globe and Smart. It took a while before PLDT fixed their backlog problems, and pagers were useful in certain circumstances, but obviously lacking in a lot of aspects.

Going digital was a major move for the two telecommunications companies to capture the market. There were cases before wherein a subscriber’s bill is multiplied five-fold or even more, because some other people can access their numbers for some reason (their phones were cloned, so to speak). Also, the phone companies that produced the units – with Nokia at the forefront (at least in the late 90’s) – manufactured classier versions of the bulky phone (remember the extendable antenna). The color, size, and weight became not only necessary but sufficient criteria for some middle-class buyers.

Features probably precede the physical appearance of a phone in what a customer wants. Nowadays, a cellular phone is also a digital camera, a personal computer, a media player, a radio, even television is now mobile. This is on top of what is in a “regular” cellular menu: clock, stopwatch, calendar, alarm, calculator (some even have foreign exchange) and games. I, however, am not one who wishes for a phone with the abovementioned packages. I only need to things: an expansive phonebook memory (with every new batch of students comes a new set of phonebook dwellers) and a lot of space for the messages (I have kept important and striking messages for years already). I do not need IR, or Bluetooth, or GPRS, or 3G, but it might be harder and harder to find a unit with not one of the unneeded features.

There was a time when changing phone casings, logos, ringtones, and even the backlight were a big deal. An Identity needs to be established, and the cellular phone is the outlet of choice (probably the reason why teenagers won’t let go of their phones even when eating). Greenhills was (still is?) the haven. Actually, the trend persists up to the present: the downloading of games, ringback tunes (wherein something aside from a ringing tone is heard by the caller) , and (polytone) ringtones continue. The fact is, the combinations of the line carrier, the phone unit, and all the hundreds of features is a lot, but still is countably many. Finite. With roughly 45 million subscribers from all the networks (figure has no basis and is just an estimate) in the country, a person cannot personalize a phone. Or still, if ever there is a unique phone, the owner is still part of a greater Identity: that of The Cellular Phone User, someone who follows the dictates of society. Why, some people really treat the cellular phone as a status symbol. No wonder the cellular phone is still the top graduation gift.

My ate was the first to have a cellular phone in the family; she had a Nokia 6150 if I remember correctly. The rest of us had to share when our tita from Melbourne sent us her Panasonic unit she wasn’t using anymore. This was about eight years ago. We were really excited; my brother used to have only a pager. They hurriedly bought a SIM card in a mall (how cheap these are nowadays) and activated the phone. Even if sharing a number with my two brothers was a hassle, we nevertheless enjoyed the idea of connecting with our friends via current technology. We used to drop calls to our contacts, and tried our best to answer theirs, which will cost them eight pesos. We were also addicted to forwarded messages. I recall that SMS messages were free before, and then the free messages were limited to 150 starting October 1999, until
Eventually it wasn’t offered.

I had my own cellular phone around September 2001. It was supposed to be a grad gift, but I had no qualms in receiving it semesters after my actual marching from high school. I was also not particular with the brand and model, so I was elated to receive a Nokia 6210 Cyber Silver edition. It looked very stylish and elegant, and it was capable of – gasp – sorting messages into folders, a feature that I really liked. Haha, I was also amused of playing snakes without the border and with special fruits for bonus.

I miss my first phone. I never had “cool” monotones, or any logo or wallpaper. I never wanted to replace it, even with the onset of color phones, and it was still with me even after graduation (March 2004). My number then was the contact number I wrote in my resumes for job applications. So I was both mad and sad when I lost my first phone. It was May when my mother-side lola slipped and broke her femur; I’m done with college, and all my siblings had either a job or summer classes, so I was her hospital companion. I really didn’t mind; I will just look for a replacement if I had to go to Makati if there was a scheduled job interview. One morning, my phone wasn’t on the table where I usually put it. Maybe it was a nurse or a maintenance crew who got my phone. I was at fault too; I became too comfortable in the hospital room designed to look like a normal room in the house. I then realized two things: my sorted message folders are gone, and, more importantly, my contacts. The incident just had to happen while I’m looking for a job. Fortunately, my mother lent me her phone for the moment, and I eventually formalized things with Pisay.

My second phone is another gift from my mother; probably a late graduation gift, but more of a replacement for my 6210 so that I can return her Nokia 1100 already. Again, I didn’t dictate which phone I should get. I received a Sony Ericsson T230 around August 2004, a classic phone in my opinion, and this one’s in color. It has more features that I never maximized, but it has less space for messages. Through my years of teaching, this is the only phone I used, while my coteachers and students upgrade once I a while (some even have multiple units). Maybe I’m being exponentially thrifty. There were actually a lot of times when I could (or should) have bought a new unit. Unlike with my first phone, I was less careful with the second one. I dropped it approximately 80 times already, thrice from a double-deck bed, with full speed. This T230 is very sturdy, to which I can attest. It never collapsed or disintegrated, but was of course subject to minor scratchings.

I once dropped this phone face first, and the screen popped out, but it was still intact. I was too lazy to glue the screen back, so there it was, unpermanent. I misplaced the screen, and for months it looked like my phone was skeletal. When I finally found the screen in a bag compartment, I made sure to use epoxy on it.

There was another instance when the phone wouldn’t function anymore after yet another drop. After turning it off and on again, I know the phone is still functioning, but the screen is black. I realized I can manage calling or sending text messages, since I can imagine the menu without the need of a visual. I wonder how long this will go one. The next day, the LCD was working again, only to find out that, among the around 250 contacts in the phonebook, only 40 were accessible (for Jasmin Hipons, only Daryll and Jio were). There was a way to see the other numbers, so I had to copy each number by hand, and type the numbers everytime I need to contact the invisible people. It took about a month before the other contacts were again accessible, and again, I hushed all the people persuading me to buy a new unit.

There were no unhurdled problems with the phone, but the accompanying charger isn’t as indestructible. Probably squished by the books inside my bag, one of the small metal rods (I don’t know how it’s called) broke and became unattached. Part of the charger is already exposed; you can already see the microtechnology. However, skilled (or kuripot) as I am, I managed to find a way to charge the phone by attaching the rod at a certain angle. It was actually very dangerous: sometimes, the outlet will spark. Still, the day came when the technique couldn’t charge the phone already. I knew I had to buy a new one.

Last September 3, after our classes an some other matters, I trooped to the Sony Ericsson store in Trinoma with Ma’am Joyce and Sir Edgar. I realized that this will be the first time that I will buy a phone for myself, with my unit of choice. I did not dwell too long in choosing which unit; as long as it’s basic and cheap, then it’s an option. Preparing the paperwork actually took longer. So here with me now is my third phone, a black K510i. (I’m still not ditching the second; I will still have the charger fixed by a professional)

I hope this phone lasts for years also, like the first two. I hope also that I would still not depend too much on it (except for time telling, since I do not sport a watch). I didn’t buy immediately because I have to, but because I need to. I have to be contacted by a lot of people, and I need to contact people in return.

I have witnessed people who just can’t survive without clutching their phones and texting the night away, or those dying in vain just to here the phone ring. This technology has already dictated our needs, but its benefits cannot be denied as well. I just hope that we will still have good sense no matter what new features will come about in the years to come. And may we always remember that it is just a tool to serve our more relevant functions.