almost 3 years ago, I bought my first iPhone. It was sort of an upgrade from my then nokia n73.

Which had, at that time, a better camera than the iPhone I bought

N73

iPhone 3G

In fact, at that point in time, there was a lot of things other phones on offer could do better than the iPhone 3G I had that made the phone sound technically stupid to buy for the price it was going to cost me eventually. On the one hand, I was incredibly more dexterous texting on a Nokia phone (after owning countless Nokia phones), not to mention that it had great phone quality with or without the headset. It wasn’t touch screen, so I couldn’t fuck up and accidentally call my doctor at various hours of the day (sorry doc!), and THERE’S A PLACE TO FUCKING HANG MY NETSUKE STUFF!!!!!!!!!!

The original iPhone came out and I was intrigued by the idea of the apps. By the time 3G was released internationally, and then add the 2 months before there was available stock for me to buy it, I have seen and heard of so many fun apps that I couldn’t stop myself from getting one – games, news apps, educational apps… the list goes on.

Not to mention, well, now I can have a phone with the capability to carry most of my music library around (although, most phones already has the capability to do so by then, it wasn’t the entire library and, at the point in time, was a little more cumbersome). no iPod + phone, just iPhone.

In the first 2 months of me getting the phone though, I had some problems. The shitty headset that comes with all iPods is now a headset + mic for an iPhone. It stopped working one day, as those type of headphones are wont to do, and then, the earpiece on the phone just doesn’t work so well. for the last 3 years, people, whenever I talk to you, I also have to deal with the white noise in the background. It doesn’t happen when I use the speakers, just from the ear piece.

Secondly, the camera was incredibly shittier than I expected a 2mp to be. Without auto-focus, I guess it made everything more “artsy” and “romantic” (yes, only I can reassure myself like that HAHAHAHA). Texting felt weird at first… but OH GAWD, EMAIL ON THE GO? SAFARI BROWSER?!?! WHATSAPP AND VIBER AND SKYPE?!?! hahahahaha! I loved it to death

and… I bloody dropped it. Had to bring it to shower with me (and I do that pretty often both before and after that incident, mind you), and it fell into a tiny puddle from the top of the shower. give or take, 2 meters. There was a slight ding on the corner, despite the silicone case, but most annoyingly, the home button was stuck. for a few hours after the incident, there was nothing I could do to get it to work. to get out of each app, I had to turn the phone off, then on again. about 3 days later, it right itself… but things weren’t the same again. it was harder to get the home button to work so “double clicking” for music was a pain in the arse.

I have been incredibly rough with it anyways, went through quite a few cases, breaking them all. In the last year and a half, as I was waiting to get a white iPhone 4, then 4s, it went without a case since I couldn’t be bothered anymore. Surprisingly, the darn thing held together quite well, although it accumulated quite a few more dings and scratches – and, sadly, it started cracking up from various sides.

My iPhone 3G, Suigintou, has become my best friend over the last 3 years. Wherever I went, it mostly went (in the last 6 months, I have lost it twice at home LOL, where I actually lived without it for a week each time). It took whatever photos it could, entertained my patients/residents in all of my jobs, assisted me in calming them down and getting them some peace, being my own peace, connection to the rest of the world, library of infinite knowledge and more. I cried with it, raged with it, light things with it, thought with it, talked to it…

In a place where most of my friends ain’t here, texting someone isn’t a priority, or even easy. Even messaging someone on MSN was a chore, since no one is glued to their computers all the time. Life gets stressful and lonely. Suigintou is a friend in many ways so I was happy. “She” also marked the first phone I ever owned for more than 12 months at a go. 3 years is a damn long time!

my dear friend, thank you for the wonderful 3 years you have given me and people that I have known and helped. In the last 12 months, you have been feeling your age and in the last 6 months, Apple has started considering you as obsolete/antique, there has been no further updates to you – for which I am glad. Your poor self could barely handle the operating system you were running on, and the apps too were getting more and more demanding on you.

It is time for you to rest from the abuse I regularly give you…. nice green pastures and rolling clouds for you crazy piece of imagination ^_^v

Everyone say hello to Mikuru!