Vodafone put on a very nice spread of beer, wine and nibbles. As I am always super organised, I had consumed some sushi at work before driving into the city. But I had some wine. Seriously, whens the last time you got something for free from Vodafone? I had a lovely chat with Hamish. We discussed awesomeness like 14.4k modems and the days where the BBS was better than the internet. It was. Once upon a time, in the early 1990s.

We were moved into a room off the Vodafone foyer. There we were given colored dots and broken up into groups of 5.  But before it all got kicked off, we were introduced to the Data Demons. These five boys/men are located at Vodafone owned stores in the central city and north shore and are experts in all things smart phone related. This is a new concept by Vodafone Retail to have these Data Demons accessible in store, 7 days a week. Not a silly idea in my book. I can think of at least one occasion where I have dished out smartphone advice to a Vodafone retail employee.

Sorry about the angle of the photo, but I’m sure you get the idea. Daniel and his crew of Data Demons did a presentation that in the past, you would have carried around 7kg of “crap” whereas this now fits into an approx 120gm smartphone. You can now have your GPS, Phone, Calendar, Documents, Notes etc in the one device and not spread across many. He showed a few slides of smartphone market growth etc and then told us how the evening would work. We were split up into our coloured dot groups and sent to various corners of the V’Nue suite. He also proved that Data Demons are human and had some issues with his laptop. C’est la vie.

First up for our Green Group was the Blackberry Bold. This told me nothing I didn’t already know about Research in Motion and the Blackberry Bold as a device. I’ve come across Blackberrys and I know people who love and people who hate them. But the gentleman who did this presentation did a very good job and covered everything one would expect in a first meeting with the Blackberry.

We then moved on to the Nokia E71. This was the phone I was going to get before I found out how much I loved the iPhone. Again, a really nice presentation of slides and excellent MS Paint skills for this presenter. For the other people there, I think they got this phone more that the BB Bold. Instead of someone holding up a phone going blah blah, we had slides, and I’m a visual learner. I admit I may have learnt a wee bit about the operational side of this phone.

By the time we got to the Mobile Broadband display, the whole group thing had kind of disintegrated. I learnt that the white/black vodems are different, and well the netbook, I had one of those.

At the end of the evening, with half the people left, they had a draw for the HTC Magic. I was pleased that the guy who won the phone did in honesty. It would have been better going to me, but he had this horrible, bulking winmo phone and the HTC with its static-glass touch thing will change his life.

My highlights of the evening were photographing Paul Brislen’s desk, Hamish explaining the magnetic floors and an old lady announcing that she had only come to get a battery for her trusty Nokia 3320. WTF!?!? But these things happen.

Congratulations to Vodafone on a good evening. Sorry I didn’t learn much, but considering you had the Amway function next door, and congratulations on that too, but you did an excellent job and overall I rate the Data Demons 4.5 out of 5. They’re all nice young men, well spoken and knowledgeable. I would love to chat to them in a store any time about mobile data.

1. Ericsson Model Unknown (Telecom Prepay)

Purchased 1999.

I bought this when I bought my first car sometime in. Kept 10 numbers in memory. Stolen in 2000.

2. Alcatel 301 (Vodafone Prepay)

Insurance Supplied 2000

The Y2k bug came and went. My insurance company gave me this phone to replace the above phone. I had it a month or so and then it met a watery grave in the carpark, MIT Arts Faculty building.

3. Nokia 5110i (Telecom Prepay)

Purchased 2000

Back in the day when I got this, only Telecom could text Telecom and Vodafone could only text Vodafone. Dark days indeed. All my friends at polytech had Telecom phones, so this was the only way to keep in touch.

4. Nokia 3315 (Vodafone Prepay / Vodafone Contract)

Purchased 2002

My brother worked at Bond & Bond Manukau and got me this phone on his staff discount. It was well travelled, including a trip to Bathurst in 2004.

5. Motorola Model Unknown (Similar to C118) (Vodafone Contract)

Purchased October 2004

Chinatown, Sydney in 2004. Was tiny. Still is compared to most phones around. But it always sounded like you were talking to people from a toilet cubicle.

6. Sharp GX30i (Vodafone Contract)

Purchased 2005

Yes I forked out the $1000 asking price. It was an awesome phone and I wish I still had it. It met its fate in the toilet one evening after I had been out for a walk. I forgot it was in my back pocket. Woops.

7. Sony Ericsson V800 (Vodafone Contract)

Insurance Supplied 2006

The Vodafone 3G network had just been released and this is the phone my insurance company gave me. I hated it. It always clicked when you opened it and was no better in size than my original brick phone in 1999. Last seen heading on a courier to Christchurch where my brother uses it as a spare phone. Maybe.

8. Motorola V3x (Vodafone Contract)

Purchased March 2007

Vodafone were doing a contract deal to get this phone for free. Compared to my V800, this was a nice phone. And it was a nice phone. Until a month out of warranty it started making a very weird, loud, beeping noise from all the speakers. Worried that it was going to blow up, I sold it to a co-worker for $50. He threw it at someone and broke it. Life goes on.

9. Nokia 6121 (Vodafone Contract)

Purchased April 2008

This is an excellent phone and I still own it. I just use it as a broadband modem now. But its with this phone, I learnt so much about mobile Internet and playing with phones beyond the calling/txting/pxting boundaries. I am very attached and have fond memories with this awesome, tiny phone. its a smart phone in disguise!

10. Apple iPhone 3G 8GB (Vodafone Contract – but for how long?)

Purchased June 2009

My current cellphone and I am in love with it. It is totally awesome and I wouldn’t be without it. Its the best phone I’ve ever purchased by a long shot. And you will hear me say that so many times on this blog.

So there you have it. My complete cellphone history. 10 Phones in 10 Years. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Sure there are some dubious choices in there, but hindsight in 20/20 and knowledge is power. I think I just set a record for cliches. But cliches aside, If I could change some of what I’ve bought and the decisions about telcos, maybe things would be different.