What the Reviews Don't Tell

Until recently I used to marvel at people who carried two mobiles and wondered how they managed to get through life juggling them. As usually happens to me when I wonder at some strange things a similar experience happened to me. For about a month I went around carrying two mobile phones (one personal and the other, official) feeling odd. I was in a dilemma- neither could I leave the personal phone at home nor could I burden y friends with the news that my mobile number had changed again. So I ended up carrying the burden of two chunky mobile phones a month before a solution suggested itself.

The solution was buying a dual SIM mobile phone. I spent weeks trying to decide which phone to buy since I wanted an MP3 player as well as a good camera in it. There were too many models with these features but I had my heart on the LG KS660 model. This model has Touch screen, a 5 MP camera, a ‘powerful’ MP 3 player and a host of other features. I was desperate for it but there was only one problem. I had no money to buy this model that costs over ten thousand rupees. It wasn’t worth spending so much on a mobile phone I was told repeatedly by those watching the stars in my eyes. I made a wise choice and snapped out of my dreams of sporting the LG KS660 mobile phone. Instead I decided to go in for another model. Sometime last week Motorala launched two dual SIM models but they too seemed way beyond my budget so I decided to for another model- the Samsung 2152.

I was told to go for a dual SIM phone in which the two SIMs were active so this model (the Samsung 2152) according to the reviews on the net, had that facility. I had planned to go with a friend to buy the phone because it makes me a bit nervous buying electronic stuff. But last Sunday I was passing through Punjagutta and dove into Hyderabad Central on an impulse. It was my intention only to check out other models and their features.

Going to Hyderabad Central was a minor revelation to me. Inside the lift, the attendant gave a strange look at a couple who said they had come to watch ‘Robot.’ He told them the tickets were sold out for weeks ahead. The whole mall was packed with people and there was no place to move around. People were waiting in the food courts watching others eat leisurely. People were trying out jeans, shirts and what not. There was a small crowd gathered to watch a handful of mobile phones displayed. I was one of them. It did not take me more than a minute to decide on the model I wanted to buy. I bought the Samsung 2152 for a little under four thousand rupees. I asked the salesman, as he put in my two SIMs, questions which I thought were the ones to ask. But I forgot a crucial one. Even the reviews did not have an answer to that problem that I discovered after I reached home.

The model had the feature of having both the SIMs active which meant that one could receive calls on either of the SIM. But if you had to make a call from the second SIM it would take no less than five minutes to do so. Only one SIM is a default one, I learnt, from which one can make calls easily. It was only when I tried to make a call from my second SIM I learnt about a new problem. I had to switch SIMs which involved pressing a lot of buttons for a long time. The phone reboots before it switches to the second SIM. This was one thing none of the reviews talked about, unfortunately. I was told that in the Chinese models one can make calls from both SIMs easily without switching.


Other features or non-features I discovered about my new mobile was that it had only one ringtone to choose from. 'Beyond Samsung' was the name of the ringtone which was so lousy that I doubt even the company people would use it on their own phones. It also did not have a memory card. I am sure there are a lot of surprises in store for me and I am eager to find them out. My phone has more 'non features' than 'features' in it that are useful.