Irina seems to be happy with her new mobile phone, a Motorola Razr2 v8 (I better go and check that I have actually got that model name right 🙂 ). It was a delayed anniversary present; the reason for the delay is that you can not yet buy it here in Kazakhstan. I could have ordered it and had it posted to our flat here in Astana, however using the normal post system involves long delays and visiting the Post Office to pick it up – assuming the postal workers do not ‘accidentally’ mislay it. That said, I have not heard stories of birthday cards arriving, with the money missing, as used to happen. So, when I visited Britain I picked on up there, and gave it to Ira on my return to Kazakhstan.
The phone does not have a memory card slot, but given that it has almost 1/2 gig of internal memory, Ira decided that this was one feature she could live without, for the sake of the sleekness of the phone. As she does not store multiple movies or a large collection of programs on her phones, the lack of expandable memory was not a problem. I remember when phones had external slots for an SD card. This meant changing from one card to another was fast and easy. The first phone I had with a memory card was my current one – a Orange C550 (actually a rebadged HTEC Hurricane), but as with most similar phones now, you have to remove the battery to gain access. This phone took mini-SD cards, which use the same electronics as their bigger and older brother, a normal SD card. However, phones have since moved on, and many now sport a micro sd slot. Again, the card is simply a smaller version of a mini SD card, and you can use adaptors to insert it into a standard USB card reader, or into a PDA. Personally, I prefer memory cards that are not smaller than my thumb nail, but that is more due to my tendency of losing things – the smaller the object, the less easy it is to find. I suppose if the memory capacities continue to increase, and the price premium is not too great for physically smaller cards, there is no real loss.
Oct 25 2007
Ira’s New Phone
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May 16 2007
Sunstorm (A Time Odyssey)
Sunstorm (A Time Odyssey) – Arthur C. Clarke
Again also featuring the writing talents of Stephen Baxter, this book carries on with the story from Time’s Eye. It is actually quite difficult to talk about this book without giving away the ending of the first in the series.
Suffice to say, there wouldn’t be a second in the series if the first ended in the death of too many main characters or the end of the world 🙂
This time around, there is a threat to Earth from the Sun, and leaders of all the nations must work hard to come up with a plan to avoid annihilation. Unfortunately, it turns out the Sun’s massive solar flares aren’t natural – someone or something wants Earth to be void of humans, the first strike effects electronics, the next one could mean the downfall of the human race!
Although it makes sense to read Time’s Eye before reading this novel, if you can only find Sunstorm in your local book store, things are explained well enough that you won’t be left feeling like there major unexplained holes in the logic of the plot here.
Again, I liked this novel quite a lot, it was responsible for quite a few late nights.
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