Despite my moaning about the SO902i, yesterday I went out and got one. My friend said she would buy my N902i from me so I don’t feel as guilty. I would have held out for the SO902i but originally they announced it didn’t support mobile suica so I went ahead and bought the N902i. Anyway, it went on sale yesterday, finally, and as usually all the keitai shops were sold out when they opened. Small keitai shops take orders in advance so their first shipments are spoken for. I, however, being a pro on how to get gadgets in demand knew exactly where to go. Yep, I went to the local Ito-yokado and sure enough they had a whole bunch. No one thinks about buying keitais at Ito-yokado, especially at 9am. I have to say that I am totally satisfied with this phone and it is just about the best phone that I’ve ever owned. I really like the well designed Sony interface and menu, this one is similar to my previous Sony SO505iS but unlike that one where the sound was absolutely crap, this is a FOMA so the speaker and microphone give crystal clear sound with no feedback or distortion. The camera is the easiest to use and the most intuitive compared to any other phone. And the display is incredibly bright and sharp. It has a 3 Megapixel camera that is only slightly improved from the camera in the SO505iS. I still think the camera in the Sharp phones are the best. Still I really like the flavor this mobile camera offers. There is A LOT of noise when taking lowlight photos in AUTO mode. Using the presets give you a nicer LOMO like saturated quality with less noise. I don’t look for a good camera in a keitai (I use the GR for that) but rather one that gives “interesting” results. Most keitai cameras are just dull, but I’m totally loving this phone so far.

Tonight, I went to where I always go with a new camera, Ginza and Yurakucho. There is a lot of neon and I can test out how well the camera performs at night. See below for samples. I did not retouch any of the photos, just resized them.

EDIT: Today at lunch, I pulled out my new phone to check the time and it slipped from my hand and headed to the ground. The guy I was with kicked it down the street (not on purpose I think) and it skidded and flipped and crashed all over the concrete. AAAARGH…I’m soo bummed out. It has 26 little scratches all over it. In the past, I have always dropped keitais that I really like a day or two after I get them. The ones I don’t like I never drop. I must be cursed with butterfingers.

EDIT: I called the Docomo Shop and apparently they replace keitai cases for a small fee of a few thousand yen. I did not know that!!!

First some rather boring daytime shots. Not bad when there is enough light.


And the night time shots taken in Yurakucho tonight.

And my panorama of Yurakucho, photos taken with SO902i. Original Size 3,510 X 684.

Now that I look at these photos again they are kind of just plain old keitai quality, aren’t they? I guess I’ve gotten used to looking at pictures taken with my GR so anything of lesser quality seems LOMO-esque.