Reclaim?

Well, I can't say I'm crazy about the name but I am super excited about my new cell phone, which I treated myself to today. I've been due for a new phone for a while, my little pink Samsung flip phone which I picked up in 2004 is quite out of date - I was talking to a Bell rep this morning and the tone of her voice when she said, "Your phone doesn't have a camera????" was quite funny. It was as if I'd said I was still tying tin cans together with string to have a conversation.

My new phone is called the Samsung Reclaim, because 80% of its parts are made of recyclable materials, so I can feel good about doing a little bit for the environment. It comes in a lovely forest green colour which looked good online but I decided when I saw it in person that I really needed to have the turquoise one - mostly because of the funky circle patterns, which the green didn't have. I know, I know, it was a difficult decision and I'm still not completely convinced but in the end, I've always had a thing for turquoise and the green wasn't the same colour as my glasses, so enough said.

It measures about 3.5 inches x 2.25 inches when closed, so fits quite comfortably in my hand, and extends to about 5 inches when opened. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, which I decided was a must after a long texting session on the weekend on my numerical keypad that was incredibly slow and frustrating, not to mention tiring for my hands!

The main reason for getting a new phone was the Bluetooth technology. Here in Ontario, if you want to use a phone while you're driving, it now has to be hands free. I had been putting off the trip to the phone store for several months now because let's face it, those places in the mall always seem to be staffed with 17 year olds who could care less what kind of phone the old lady wants (one of my friends said the person he had to deal with cracked her gum for 2 hours while he picked out a new phone - the horror!) and I just didn't have the mental wherewithal to go through all that before now.

But for some reason, today was the day. I started with a phone call to Bell Canada this morning to discuss how to lower my monthly phone bill, and although the call took up a good chunk of time (don't tell my boss), it worked out very well, to the tune of about $30 a month in savings going forward. That gave me the confidence to head to the mall at lunch where I'd noticed last week that the Bell kiosk was staffed with individuals who actually looked like they might be 30ish. I dealt with a lovely guy named Peter and he was fabulous, very helpful, very informative, gave me good advise and a 15% discount on the accessories - the ear piece for the car and the memory stick for the camera in the phone, which comes with a card reader to download my photos to the computer, which I'm delighted to report also fits the memory card for my camera - what can I say? It's all good!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go start reading the manual so I can pick my new ringtone!! :)