cell phone upgrade

Think of the oldest cell phone you can imagine. Candy bar style with the two color pixely screen. Thats what I've been using for the past 2 years until the "yes/delete" button broke and it had a finicky connection and would only charge at a very specific angle. (Mom, this is the phone you guys can use when your here....)

I really like my candy bar phone. It was simple, to-the-point and all I needed. I could drop it 20 times, toss it in my purse with melted candy bars and not have a worry. Timon finally convinced me to get a smart phone- with the advantages of a Chinese dictionary, map capability, and wifi for checking my email when traveling. Other pluses would be ability to read eBooks, listen to mp3s, and take photos, record voice (chinese lessons).

So after much research (Thanks Timon!) We found several phone available in China that had english interfaces available, android operating systems, and in our price range. I asked a partner-staff what she had, and HTC hero. It was slim, good looking and had all the  abilities I needed. But a bit out of our price range, even though an older model. We we headed to the used tech goods market off line 4. The first market was clean, like any mall. The second market was dingy and smokey- more like a flea market. Tarps and puddles of water. There were plenty of knock-off phones, plethora of Chinese brands, and several bedazzled Louis vuitton/Gucci-fied phones covered in glitters and gems like a Christmas tree ornament.

After asking around, we are introduced to a outdoor shop, under the freeway, off a small lane. Behind us there's street vendors BBQing and roasting Chestnuts. A lady is hawking fishing poles while chatting to another vendor selling mop-ringer-outers and multi screwdrivers. He's demonstrating every minute to a new person, who is also dodging the dangling fishing pole things. AND a motorcycle is trying to pass as an elderly man is being pushed by a wheelchair behind me, so I'm trying to make myself smaller and running out of space to put my feet. I'm grasping onto the cell phone table on my toes stepping around the wheels and holding my breath. (Am I holding my breath to make myself smaller or because all the BBQ smoke happens to be blowing in our direction??)

We were in local territory- Timon was the only white guy the whole time we were there, and people were starting to crowd around us to hear our conversation (both english and chinese) The cell phone salesman was really nice, and allowed us to try out different phones form inside his glass case. We deliberated between a really old chunky motorola, which I can only describe as resembling a rusty jeep and the Black HTC hero, whose interface was in english already. The Motorola had a slide out keyboard which is handy- since I mostly text with people. But the HTC hero was half as heavy. So we went with that.

So far, so good.