Hello, faithful readers. I bring you news from the World of Max.

My cell phone is in the process of breaking. I've had a Sony Ericsson Z520a phone once I accidentally washed my first cell phone (a very basic LG model) in the beginning of my junior year (just about three years ago). My Z520a was replaced several times throughout my time in high school due to the fact that it kept breaking (and the replacement phone I got shipped quickly became defective) but for the past two years I've had excellent luck with my phone--it's been dropped more times then I can count and stuffed into my pants pocket daily, and until now it's worked perfectly. But as of a few days ago, the main screen seems to have been damaged--sometimes when I open the phone it just displays as a blank white screen, other times it displays my screen at an "offset", which causes it to flicker rapidly like a bad TV signal, sometimes it works perfectly (especially if I don't open it all the way). The outer screen works, which makes the phone perfectly functional for receiving calls.

I decided, after talking to my parents, it was time for a new phone. I am extremely satisfied with my phone--its interface is decent, its Bluetooth connection (more rare in those days) allows me to sync my contacts and calendars through Apple's iSync software and transfer ringtones and pictures back and forth, and my phone did not try to be anything other then a phone. My phone is quad-band, meaning that I can use it in Europe, and was eventually unlocked, meaning I can put European SIM cards in it and get European phone numbers instead of paying AT&T outrageous rates.

I then started to look on AT&T's website for a new phone. These were my major criteria:

a) Must be a quad-band phone, as I will most likely use this abroad.
b) Must be able to sync with my computer via iSync, which basically requires that it have an uncrippled Bluetooth implementation and built-in support in iSync or a plug-in written that'll play it.
c) Must NOT have a keyboard. I want a phone, not a device to write text messages and emails.

The above criteria, especially the second, were surprisingly hard to meet. I made a list of the phones meeting criteria a and c, then checked the phones for iSync support on a series of four websites (the official Apple website, three iSync plugin websites). What I discovered was that all LG phones and Samsung phones were out of the running--none of them can be synced with iSync. (Technically, a few Samsung models can be synced, but no "A" model phones, which are all the AT&T phones), and newer Motorola phones were spotty.

I picked out the phones that seemed to meet my criteria--the Nokia 6085, the Nokia 6555, the Sony Ericsson W580i, the Sony Ericsson z750a, the MotoRAZR v3xx, and the MotoRAZR2 v9 Mahogany. (Note: yes, I'm a Mac fanboi, but the iPhone's required data plan is way too expensive, and I'm using my dad's iPod Touch here, and with the university's omnipresent wireless it's an excellent substitute)

Reading through the CNET reviews for the phones, I found myself pretty unimpressed with the phones. The 6085 seemed extremely basic and there were many complaints on Amazon about it, the 6555 apparently has next-to-nil battery life, the W580i focuses on being a music player (my iPod plays my music much better, thankyouverymuch), the z750a seems less functional then my current phone, and I was unimpressed by the MotoRAZR. The V9 Mahogany was okay, but expensive. There are only unofficial plug-ins to get it to work with iSync, and I'm a bit skeptical of the "slider" design.

So I tried a different tact--looking on CNET's site for their highest-rating phones, then seeing if they were available, and I stumbled upon the Nokia N95, an unlocked phone basically imported from Europe/Asia, where their phones are much more impressive. Since I want to remain with AT&T, a GSM network, I could buy an unlocked phone and put in my AT&T SIM card, instead of being stuck only with AT&T branded phones. The main disadvantage of this process, besides not getting all my support from AT&T, is that AT&T's phones are subsidized since I'd need to sign a new two-year agreement with them, so bascially unlocked phones are really expensive. The N95 has everything I'd ever want in a phone as well as a good camera, GPS, Wi-Fi access and media player, and costs just around five hundred dollars, if not more. I just want a *phone* that can work around the world and can connect to my computer--is that too much to ask? (Apparently if you ask Sony Ericsson, the answer is no. They make walkman-phones and still camera-phones and stylish-phones, but there's no replacement for my z520a).

I then surfed around on Amazon's cell phone store, in their selection of unlocked phones. Sorting by both "high reviews" and "best-selling" turned up another phone, the Nokia E51. As I looked more and more at the Nokia E51, it seemed like a good choice. It definitely has a lot of features--quad band, unlocked, Bluetooth, iSync, 2 MP camera, MP3/video player, expandable memory, and most interestingly Wi-Fi, but it's still very clearly a phone and not a phone-still camera or a phone-iPod or a Blackberry, like most of the other phones I was looking at. The reviews are extremely positive, and for a unlocked phone with that many features, it's pretty cheap (costs $260 at Amazon, which is after a 33% discount). The more I looked at the E51, the more I liked it. It has Wi-Fi, meaning that I can actually surf the web on my phone without paying through the nose to AT&T, and I could even download VoIP software so I can call via Skype / Wi-Fi, in cases when I don't have cell phone reception or internationally, where Skype is cheaper, and it seems like a solid, full-featured phone.

I wanted to show my findings to my dad and ask him for advice, but he hasn't been answering his cell phone. Thinking about it a bit more, I realize that the phone still is quite expensive (a holiday present, perhaps?), and that if I had to choose another phone, the Nokia 6085 would probably be it--it's a solid phone with the features I wanted, and it's free after signing a new contract (and we're not planning to move from AT&T anytime soon, everyone else in my family is on contract with them after getting new phones).

Perhaps I'm putting too much emphasis into those reviews and thinking of them too negatively, and perhaps having an expensive phone is a bad idea (in case I drop it and break it). Time will see, and I'm sure my dad will give me some good advice. Advice from you faithful readers is also welcome!

[edit: After discussing with my dad, I bought the E51 from Amazon. It's in the mail...]