A Long Weekend...

...and of course, I've come down with a stinker of a cold in the last two days. Just as well I had the 'Flu jab a fortnight ago, if this cold is anything to go by.

*Insert window rattling sneeze and obligatory "YeeeeeeUCH!"*

You see what I mean.

Anyhow, it's given me a chance to go over the on-line mobile phone deals again; you will recall a few months back, I was looking at a couple of phones, the HTC Sensation, and the now prize-awarded Samsung i9100 Galaxy S II (here's the award news: it got 'phone of the year').

Well, there are good deals on both at the moment from my preferred supplier, Mobile Phones Direct, so it appears that waiting a little while has earned me dividends, as all my previous calculations have been blown out of the water (in a rather excellent way) by mobile phones that have even more recently been released, will soon be, or may soon be, onto the market.

So, I have to decide which phone I want. the HTC, or the Samsung.

Decisions, decisions.

On the one hand, there's very little to choose between them; they have practically identical screens - the HTC one seems to score better on resolution, meaning smaller and thus more detailed inconography, text, and so on, on the screen, but with my aging eyes (hells bells, I'm only three years shy of the big Five-Oh, AAARGH!) that's not much of a worry. The HTC seems to promise the ability to take and process to storage rapid photographs, which would be nice for action shots on one's phone, and the resolution appears to be a damn sight better than my current offering (Touch Pro 2 at 3.15mp versus the Sensation and Galaxy both offering 8mp); the list goes on with similar features, or competing features. Read the technical comparison linked to above.

The things that appear to be over and above the other, in favour of the Samsung, would be that it's got Gorilla Glass (that's a toughened screen, more resistent to scratches and impacts), a higher on-board storage and RAM facility, and, the most important feature, a better battery life than the HTC offering; and that's the most important factor, when all is said and done. Yes, I want the features, yes, I want a smartphone that'll run Android, to replace my now aging and slightly faulty HTC Touch Pro 2 (which runs Windows Mobile 6.1) that's done me stirling service over the last two years, but if it's one thing I've learned, it's that these darn things are well battery-hungry.

So, it looks like my original choice, the Samsung, stays the same.

So, I'll be on the phone to MPD in the week ahead, to talk more my potentially free upgrade. And the beauty of this? It looks like I can upgrade the phone, AND reduce my monthly bill, from 31 quid a month down to 26 quid a month. OK, it's a two year contract, but it's even cheaper than I'd dared wish for a few months back, so here's hoping!

In the mean time, wrap up warm, and don't catch a cold. This seasons offerings are a real pain, as I can truly attest to, as I've been coughing and sneezing like a champion while I've been writing this.

So, I'm off to do my on-line Lotto lines, and then I'll relax for the rest of the day.

God knows I deserve a rest after doing a week of up-before-the-crack-of-sparrows-breaking-wind shifts!

Enjoy your weekend!