My sister's Motorola Handset has inevitably reached its lifetime. Aside from the actual adhesive tape that is holding the battery in place, I think it's time to declare it as 'technically resting in peace.' It was in that obvious state to give it a rest and give medals and gratification for its more than a year of use. Now is the perfect time to look for a more durable and relatively usable phone for her, without sacrificing the funky factor of course.

This country has established itself to be a favorable market for the mobile industry. With almost more than 85 million population, close to 40 million already have cellular phone. It's been a form necessity of communication that it goes even beyond the actual usage, but it goes with the actual normal human operations. Gone were the days of meeting through word of honor. People sometimes or most often than not panic when they don't have their cellular phones with them. It's like they've become and instant invalid. People change cellphones sometimes in a month's time. That is why mobile companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and now Apple have decided to target not only the Philippines, but the world. Now with all of the Apple products Hype up, which overwhelmed the whole market for their steady profitable increase especially during the Black Market season, it was damned obvious that people are excited to get their hands on the Apple's latest and most daring edition to the gadget product family, which is the IPHONE.

Now that Apple established its mark through the rising sales of IPODs and MACs, it's no wonder that they have decided to enter into a very lucrative market of Mobile Phones.

It was a pretty good strategy to begin with. When I hear of Apple it immediately projects the world of the Elite. Apple products, started by the IPODS, are funky, updated, simple, chic and very fashionable. People instantly loved it. It's like offering function like no other, packaged in a highly "ergonometric" state. Soon Macs have infiltrated the gadgeteers, and those who are far from being one. I remembered a person once who bought a Mac for the sake of the TREND and the status that says "I'm cool! I have a MAC!" It was amusing at it was annoying at the same time. You come to realize how Apple has slowly positioned itself. It has shook its hardware and OS competitors to double check their market stands, and now shaking up its Mobile Makers once-stable positioning.

Singling it on my sister though, it was not much of a shock to me when she was given an IPHONE. Relating it to me however, probably I'm one of the few who are not that tech-savvy. Which means I don't change phones every time a new batch appears. I don't change phones just to let people know I'm updated and savvy. I am quite a very loyal and practical buyer with technology consumer stuff just as long as it delivers its primary, promised important features of what a mobile phone should be, and some.

Here are things that I consider on choosing a particular phone, granted that the most justified reason to get one is present: note that it you may depict me as a Tech-simpleton:

1. KEYPADS - Yep, KEYPADS are at the top of my list. You see, I'm a big girl and I have relatively long and heavy set of fingers, but I generally type like a speeding bullet. Fast, yet strong. So I need a very durable, appropriately shaped keypads that doesn't hurt any pressure points in any of my fingers. I don't like the ballooned keypad 5110's and the like. It's much too elevated and ballooned that continuous texting ignites pain in some parts of my thumb. I also do not like the the small, congested keypad spaces found in small LG or Samsung units. Actually before actually considering a phone, I first have to feel the keypads. Usually the keypads I love are in those FLIP phones. They are flat with appropriate spaces and with the appropriate size to accommodate my fingers. I like my fingers to have a feel with every keypad edges and glide.

2. TEXT and CALL Features - The primary reasons for having cellular phones, right? They should have the basic, call forwarding, group call-text, dictionary etc. The text graphics and call graphics also matter.

3. ORGANIZER - It should have a good notes section / calendar features and calculator features. And the OS of the computer should be able to be flexible enough for the user to customize what they see in their main menu, just like what E61 does, it adds personality. If you like your contacts to be on the immediate menu, or games or whatever thingamajic program you have.

4. CONNECTIVITY - for the net. Wifi stuff is present to be accesible on the net. The triband-quadband are also present.

5. DESIGN - I really couldn't care much of the design as long as it it meets the top 4 critieria, because this design or brand is accommodated by its price.

I have to say the Apple IPHONE generated some mixed emotions and reviews.

Aside from it's a touch screen type of phone, the keypads are non-existent. I tried texting and it proved to be a mere inconvenience. One really has to look and make sure you're not mispelling any words. It's like texting in the dark, but imagine it without the basic feel of keypads to direct your spatial estimates. And another thing with texting, whenever you press any letter it has a graphic that makes it look bigger. It's a major distraction, not to mention the pesky dictionary feature that you have to repeatedly turn off.

Although the graphics and the design are sophisticated, funky and impressive, i couldn't really sacrifice the texting part. It has an MP3 player, a total ipod storage package. The camera captures great pictures by the way. But all of that combined, I just felt that the IPHONE is not for me. IT would not be for everybody, I presume, but my sister's doing quite well with it. She's loving every IPHONE moment, or maybe it's just a matter of getting used to.