Neon

I am now the proud owner of the Naoto Fukasawa-designed Neon, part of the AU Design Project. It actually wasn’t that easy getting my hands on one. My close to 2-year-old previous phone was dying a slow death this past month (the spin wheel wouldn’t work for days at a time, meaning I had no access to my menus, so couldn’t make calls or send messages) and so figured I was due for an upgrade, and really wanted a Neon. But trips to different Bic Camera stores, as well as the AU shops, always had the same result: the phone was only available for new contracts (and I didn’t want to change my number). Finally, not able to stand it anymore, I went to the AU store earlier today to get my old one fixed, and as I was talking and joking a bit with the staff there (you know, expressing my absolute joy if ever I could get my hands on a Neon), the person I was dealing with relented. At first she said I could only get a blue one, but only white would do (that’s just how I roll), so she went looking for 5-10 minutes, and finally came up with the one white Neon they had in stock. On top of that, I had enough AU points saved up (points I didn’t even know I had) to get the phone at half the price!

I haven’t played around with it much yet, but it does sadden me that even now, in 2006, all the software that comes with the phone (to support the USB cable) works only in Windows. I mean, come on, it’s the AU Design Project, and they don’t even include one driver for Macs!?! I should be able to transfer music files (the phone also acts as a music player) through a miniSD memory card, which I’ll have to buy, but it would have been nice (and easier) to just plug it in my Mac.