Damn you Sony Ericsson!

This is my mobile phone.

Or rather, this WAS my mobile phone.

The whole weekend long, the screen on this phone was playing hide and seek with me. At certain times, the internal screen would flicker, or it would just go blank to what is commonly referred to as “The White Screen of Death”. I would cajole it a bit, with promises of sweet nothings and it would come back to life, allowing me to send or read my text messages. The next time I open up the clamshell, BAM! Again we see the disastrous white screen.

As the weekend wore on, the white screen on the internal screen would come on more and more frequently. The external screen remained normal. Until Sunday afternoon when out of the blue, the external screen turned into a monochrome screen. Very odd.

By Sunday evening, the phone was as good as dead. The white screen on the internal screen was permanent and the external screen remained monochome. No amount of rebooting would jar the phone to life. Not much use to me, as I could not make phone calls or text messages – I could receive calls and text messages but it was hardly any use as I could not read anything!

This is not the first time it’s happened. The same problem occurred towards the end of last year just before the warranty period ended i.e. about 10 months into the warranty and 10 months from the date of purchase. When I checked with Sony Ericcson’s service centre I was told it was a “connection problem” and could be fixed for RM100. I did not have to pay then as it was under warranty. Now, approximately 6 months down the road, same problem again.

It made me think. If the phone failed 10 months after purchase and failed again 6 months after changing the part, what guarantee is there that it will not fail again in 6 months time if I decide to spend RM100 on repair costs?

So I had to resort to resurrecting my old faithful. This is a T68i Sony Ericsson phone. It is about 5 years old and going strong – relatively, except for a sticky keypad.

This has been used for a spare phone throughout my other phone’s hospital stays last year (there were many) and even for bro when his phone died.

This was my first Sony Ericsson phone and what made me decide to continue with SE as I liked the interface.

Well, after the latest debacle, I’m afraid its no more Sony Ericsson for me!

Someone told me this connection problem is common in clamshell/flip phones. But I’ve known people who’ve owned such phones for years without problems cropping up. In fact, my bro used to own a Samsung clamshell that only started having this “connection problem” that caused blank internal screens, after about 4 years of use. By contrast, my Sony Ericsson Z520i is only about 1 year 4 months old. Ridiculous? Yes.

I did a bit of research online and found that this white screen phenomenon seems quite common among Sony Ericsson phones. Even their candybar models are not immune. Mobile phones aren’t cheap. I’d hardly call them disposable after paying hundreds or even over RM1,000 for a phone. So, it looks like Sony Ericsson is now totally off my list of phones to look at, no matter how attractive or cheap they may be!

So, I’m in the market for a new phone. Possibly one of those slider types (Samsung does some cute ones) or candy-bar types. No more flip phones for a while. And, I’m on a tight budget, so only phones in the hundreds category may apply. I’m even ok with an older model so long as it doesn’t crash on me in a year!

Any recs?