About 4 or 5 months ago the charge port on my Sony Ericsson C902 began to fail. Initially I thought this to be a simple problem with the power adapter so I let it be and continued usage. Over time, the USB cable began to disconnect at its own will, and eventually the USB cable stopped connecting in anything but mass storage mode -- certainly getting worse. About 2 months ago the headset adapter stopped working as well, and it was at this point that it sunk in that there was indeed an issue with my handset.

Now, my frustrations with Sony products are well documented. I have had VCR's that ate tapes, buggy gaming consoles (though my original playstation is working to this day), and multiple pairs of Sony headphones that have fallen apart well within a year of purchase... And i can assure you, I am the furthest thing from hard on my technology.

Well, add another one to the list. This time a product from Sony Ericsson, but bearing the Sony name nonetheless. I have received an RMA# and tomorrow i will be making a trip to the purolator depot to send the handset back to Sony. A sad day indeed as, make no mistake about it, I do really love this handset.

In comes Nokia to the rescue! No, i don't mean a newfangled 2630, E71 or N95... No, I mean the 3590.



I went digging through some storage today, and at the bottom or a box, lay the dormant handset. I've had the phone since it launched in North America in 2002, and it has sat dormant since the later parts of 2003. I successfully dug out the charger, and next came the moment of truth. For a few seconds the screen sat blank, and then the familiar Nokia right hand charging icon began to blink.

2 hours later the phone was fully charged. I took the battery out, gave it a cleaning, and inserted my sim card. Tossed the battery back in and the phone booted. A friend of mine sent me a text message and sure enough, the handset is alive.

7 years old, closing in on 250 total voice hours and 11 hours of total data sent/received.... Yet the phone still shines where my current handset has failed me.

And if that's not reason enough to consider Nokia the next time you purchase a mobile phone, I'm not sure what would be.