Hello, Iphone 6!

That “Macbook air” is actually a mirror. Cute, right?

Yes, I confess, despite all the bad press (bendgate, hairgate, etc), I went and got myself an iPhone 6. I couldn’t help it, I just fell in love with it!

It wasn’t in the plan.

A few months ago I started to get annoyed with my 3-year-old iPhone 4s’s faltering battery life (it would get drained within 4 hours), so I thought I’d wait for the iPhone 6 to get launched so that the iPhone 5s’s market value would fall and I could buy one at a much lower price. I planned to buy one in cash so I didn’t have to renew my Singtel contract. My contract ended in November 2013, actually, and I had no intentions of getting tied again so I could leave Singapore if I wanted to.

I know this may sound weird, but this is how I always think. Back in the Philippines I refused to get a car loan even though my former company had it as a benefit because I didn’t want to get tied to them. In the end I was right, because I would never have left the Philippines if I had gotten that loan then. But now I am beginning to wonder if I should be concerned that I have fear of getting tied down issues.

But I digress.

So anyway, when I saw the iPhone 6 for the first time, I thought it looked like a toy because it was too light and the graphics look too flat, like it was painted on a plastic toy. But I couldn’t get over its smooth beveled edges (which was what made me fall in love with the iPhone 3gs) and how thin it was. I mean yes, it’s a tad bigger than my old phone, but it wasn’t overly big unlike the iPhone 6 plus and other android devices. I was in love and I knew that my other idea of getting a 5s (which had never appealed to me when it first came out, unlike 6) or a cheaper Android (which, let’s face it, was never gonna happen because I am too much of an Apple fan girl). So I thought about buying one maybe sometime early next year when the hype had died down a bit.

But then last Friday, there was a telecom roadshow in our office. The three major telecoms – Singtel, Starhub, and M1 – went to our office to offer corporate contracts to us. So I decided to swing on by to just ask how much it would cost, etc, when somehow I ended up recontracting with Singtel and getting a 16gb gold iPhone 6 right on the spot. I suppose it was the S$100 discount on the handset (I paid S$238 instead of S$328) that made me do it. And also the fact that they did not ask me to pay a deposit even though I’m a foreigner (unlike Starhub and M1).

And so far I am loving it a lot. It is so pretty and light and so thin. It fits perfectly into my wristlet and is so unobtrusive that even though it’s in there, it doesn’t seem like it is and sometimes I panic, thinking that I had accidentally left it behind somewhere. It is so thin that it even fits into my zip-around wallet.

The fingerprint thing is pretty cool and convenient, but I keep forgetting about it and keep trying to unlock my phone using a 4-digit pass key. Old habits die hard.

Another thing I love is the camera, which takes better quality pictures than the 4s. The front-facing camera, which used to take low res pictures, has also improved. See exhibit A below.

I just accidentally bumped into my friends Jemma and Dred in the picture above while we were in the toilet. Dred had said earlier that she was probably going to get another phone which wasn’t an iPhone so she does not need to cash out or pay a deposit. But when they saw my phone, they both went: “Wow your phone looks so pretty! I want one too!” Then quickly went down to the roadshow and signed up for recontracts as well. LOL.

Then last Saturday, I walked into Nubox to buy a case for my new phone when who should I see there but another one of my office friends who had also gotten contracts for him and his wife at the roadshow. He was actually on leave but when I told him about the roadshow, he came to the office just for this. I am slightly ashamed to say that we spent a lot of time looking at all the different cases before finally deciding on what to buy. When I told our other friends about this, I said, “After 10 years, we decided on what to buy. By then, their little boy (who was with them) was already a teenager.”

The one I chose is a translucent gold hard case, which makes my phone look like it has nothing on. It’s pretty but honestly I wonder if it will protect it in the event of a fall. I have a feeling it won’t. Oops. Well at least it will protect it from scratches. By the way I found an instagram of an iPhone 6 and its case with this caption: “Use protection for safe six.” Haha, I love (almost) puns!

One negative thing I noticed, though – when someone calls, his voice sounds very soft. I have a hard time hearing callers which is kinda annoying. I will find a way to sort that out, though, but it’s not a deal breaker… yet.

So to conclude, I am not regretting my decision so far. If ever I need to leave Singapore before my 2-year contract is up, I’ll just pay any related contract termination charges, which should probably be less than the cost of actually buying a phone anyway!