Return of the brick?

Remember when phones were really massive devices that were nigh on indestructible? It looks like things have come full circle. Phones once again are brick sized objects due to their ‘tv replacement’ touch screens and the line between tablet and phone is being blurred by the phablet. I’m the proud owner of a slimmer brick which so far, has proved er, well, nigh on indestructible.

I refer to the Nokia Lumia 920, in black of course with gorilla glass screen. “Nokia who?” I hear you ask and you’ll be forgiven for thinking all phones are made in Cupertino or Seoul. Nokia have always made in my opinion some of the most user-friendly and durable mobile phones, they just didn’t see Apple in their rear view mirror. So if you thought music began with Britney Spears and didn’t know phones once had monochrome display with the game ‘snake’ being the ultimate in mobile gaming, Nokia might have been a bit before your time.

I’m always getting a telling off for not taking good care of my gadgets; scuffing, scratching and breaking them too often. What’s the point of spending so much money on an item if it can’t take a knock or two I say. How much is the real cost of a phone if you have to add the cost of a replacement screen after only 3 months use?

Back to the Nokia.

Why did I choose it? Well you obviously haven’t been following have you so I’ll reiterate then shall I?

Nokia make user-friendly phones which are easy to navigate, add Windows Phone 8 to the mix and you’ve got a brilliantly simple but highly sophisticated gadget. I’ve been a fan of mobile Windows devices since the Compaq IPAQ (oh, just look it up). When I say fan I mean the kind of fan who supports Arsenal or Queens Park Rangers – long suffering. Yes, the system was incredibly buggy and kept falling over but back then when Apple were thinking of making a phone without a camera, I had in my hands a phone, modem, universal remote, mp3 and video player which worked with any email provider.

The original brick

So now you can get a sense of why I think this phone really is the poodles privates, but what I love about it the most is the fact that I and my little’un have between us dropped it more than a dozen times from varying heights onto various surfaces without leaving a dent on scratch on it; the picture you’re looking at is the actual phone. I haven’t experienced the pleasure of picking up a phone I’ve dropped and realising it still works since I owned a Nokia 2210! Well actually I used to drop that phone just for fun and I still own it – that and the Nokia 7110.

If you have young ‘uns, the ‘Kid’s Corner’ feature in Windows 8 is another winner. It allows you to create an area of your phone with apps for your kids so they don’t get to access your emails or update your Facebook status. The result is you feel even more confident leaving them with a phone built like a Tonka toy and only the apps you want them to play with. If only Apple had thought of that when they built the iPad.

So the question you need to ask yourself is why wouldn’t you want a great phone that doesn’t mind if you drop it now and then?

Oops!