A 64GB Phone for $349?

Like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

A few months ago, before my transformation to Loonie IT Guy, I read about an awesome phone from a new start up called One Plus. Their main selling feature for their phones was the price. Their 16GB model was selling for $299 and their 64GB model was selling for $349. Compared to iPhone 5S, where the 64GB model sells for a cool $919!

Of course, being a start up, they didn't have many phones available for sale. This meant being put on a list to get invited to buy one. I signed up eagerly. I even scoured the Internet for ways to get an invite sooner. Seeing no other way, I started a process of convincing myself I didn't really need this new toy.

First, the phone is massive. I took the specifications from the website and drew the rectangle on a scrap piece of paper. Holy cow! This phone is bigger than wifey's Nexus 5! I already thought her phone was excessively huge. This one is just monstrous.

Second, at the time I was with Wind Mobile*. Even though the phone would have been faster to use than my Nexus S, Wind Mobile's lack of network coverage meant I'd need to use the Internet and data related features from work or home. Both are places I have access to a computer anyway.

Third, I would need to spend $349 (+ duty and possibly shipping and handling) to purchase the phone. Did I really want to spend more money on another phone? I purchased the Nexus S a few years ago for $349.99 + tax ($395.49 in total). In December 2006, I purchased the Motorola ROKR E6 for approximately $400**.

Adding the amount of money wifey and I spent on phones over the past 7 years, I came to a total of around $1,500!

This is not including the free BlackBerry I received in 2009. Nor does it include the $50 I spent to unlock the BlackBerry to use on the Rogers network.

Eventually, I convinced myself I didn't want the phone anymore and that was that.

At least until yesterday when I received my invitation to purchase the One Plus One.

I read the email and poked around the site. I was tempted again, but now I had only 24 hours to decide.

I went through my list of cons for the device.

1. It was massive. 
2. Well, now I don't even have data since I moved to Fido Prepaid.
3. I would need to spend $349 + $11.99 for shipping. Not to mention duty since it was shipping from overseas.
4. I'd regret the purchase after a month (or less).

My list of pros wasn't as extensive.

1. I'd have a shiny new phone.

Hmmm... yay?

Not a persuasive argument.

In the end, I decided it was best to let the invitation expire.

Which is funny, because if I received this invitation 6 weeks ago, I'd already have this phone beside me as I am typing this blog post and I likely would not have switched to Fido. Okay, maybe that last part is a stretch. Wind Mobile's network coverage is terrible.

Don't get me wrong, I like new stuff. I'm just not a fan of using my money to get new stuff. When I'm at home, I have my blazing fast computer (spent a lot more than $1,500 to build this thing) with two monitors***. What would I do with a smart phone that I can't do on my computer? When I'm outside of the house, I wouldn't have data with my prepaid plan, so it's just an expensive texting machine. I'd rather use my BlackBerry for that. At least it has a keyboard instead of the typo enhancing, hair pulling touchscreen. (No, I didn't want to write abacus!). Speaking of keyboards, I found myself using my email more on my computer (because of the keyboard) than on a smartphone.

Just 3 hours to go.

Hope the fanboys don't lynch me for waste this invite.

*I think they call this company Wind Mobile because you are essentially blowing your money.

**This was before the iPhone was announced. I'm referring to the first iPhone.

***At first glance, you'd think this is excessive. But I promise you as a Loonie IT Guy, once you start using two monitors, you'd wonder how you managed with one for all these years.