I gotta say, it was a good day

[lproven]

Sometimes, things just work out right.

Was up early, because Somebody I Am Not Permitted To Mention On LJ came to see me yesterday evening, leading to an early night. So it appears I am not single again after all. That's good. Delayed a client visit slightly so that I could have lunch with her as well, in a little local pub near the Tube, the Victory. It's under new ownership - still distinctly rough around the edges, but I wouldn't have even considered eating in there before.

On my way up to my client, I popped into to Vodafone shop in Wimbledon. I asked a month ago when they might have the Nokia 7710 in stock - the newest Symbian smartphone and the first to have a bigger screen than my trusty Psion 5mx. (Well, strictly, drpete's old 5mx, which he gave me for Yule a couple of years ago. Thanks, Pete!) I knew they were coming but I was rather startled to discover on Tuesday, at the Croydon SF fan meet, that Simoné (jamesb's SO) had one. She told me that she got it in the Whitgift Centre for £80. When pressed, the Voda shop conceded that they wouldn't be getting them in, but that major stores and business specialists would - such as Croydon or Kingston. When I enquired about ones closer to town, I was told that Victoria Station & Liverpool St. had them in stock, or anywhere on Oxford St.

Off to the client, who after a few hours' work, are now happy enough to pay half of their substantial outstanding bill from last year. A little more polishing of the network and I should get the rest of it. Then I cycled off to Oxford St. where I dived into the first Vodafone store I passed, near Marble Arch. They had 1 left. My request to look at it very swiftly led to contracts being proffered; Shane, the salesman, was very smooth without being pushy.


I called T-Mobile and got a PAC number. They were sorry to lose me - I've been with them since about 1997 - but they don't and won't offer this phone. (Fools!)

I haggled the salesman down from £170 to £80 on the basis that Simoné told me she had paid that down in Croydon. I'm fairly poor at the moment but I can run to that: this device will be in use many times every day; my life revolves around my Psion and phone far too much.

But when he came to swipe my credit card, to his surprise, it said that I owed £0.00. He double-checked and asked a colleague, but no, for my circa £40/mth contract - about what I currently pay T-Mobile - I got the phone for free.

So I walked out, rather startled, with a £500+ smartphone in my pocket for nothing.

So on a value-for-money basis, I give the Nokia 7710 10 out of 10.

I've been playing with it ever since. Phone, Web-capable PDA/pocket computer, MP3 player with video and DivX support, FM radio, dictaphone and more. Potted mini-review coming soon, but so far, I'd say that anyone who used to use a Psion and liked it should strongly consider getting one of these, ASAP.


Then off to Skeptics in the Pub for an interesting and spirited debate on whether Islam is a significant cause of war and strife and if anything can be done about it if so. Got there early enough for the free pre-talk food, for once. Sat on the Tube home watching rock videos on my telephone - a truly C21st experience - and then met uon debarking.

All in all, most agreeable.

Today I didn't even have to use my AK.