Observation of the moment

The prerecorded "Thank you for waiting, we are sorry for the delay and will assist you as soon as possible" message on Telstra Mobile's customer service line has realistic call-centre sounds in the background, for that extra degree of authenticity. Presumably that's to subconsciously make customers feel less like they're being handballed around between machines or something.

Futurephone

I've now got a Nokia 3200 futurephone. It's a bit smaller and lighter than my old 3310, and has lots more features. (It's a fairly cheap Series 40 Nokia; more a phone application with Java embedded in it than an OS like Symbian or such, so it doesn't get me many technofetishist points.) It looks as if it was designed for a younger crowd; it came with a choice of 3 or 4 pieces of colour-printed plastic that fit inside the translucent case, a stack of blank inlays for your own artwork, and a booklet touting "Channel V" wallpapers (that's some kind of commercial pop/reality-TV thing for those who find Rage too alternative, I think), Java games (including arcade classics like Elevator Action and Arkanoid), and ringtones ranging from the classics (including Belinda Carlile, Madonna and Men At Work) to country (Kasey Chambers and Leann Rimes) and an extensive pop section. I think I'll give them a miss, thanks.

With any luck, MMS and GPRS will be enabled shortly. And then to find a way to make it talk to my Linux box and/or PowerBook, and to get my own MIDI files (and ultimately Java applets) onto it.

I bought it from Discount Mobiles, whom I'd recommend. It was cheap, and arrived by courier within two working days of my ordering it (and the shipping was free). If you're in Australia and looking to buy a phone or a PDA cheaply,