I got a new phone. At least, that’s how it feels after updating the firmware. One of Wil Shipley’s assertions is that Mac users like to stay current with system updates. Now, I am a mac user. And good god DAMN, do I like to stay current with my updates.

Unfortunately, my eur/asian Nokia phone doesn’t support OTA updates (that is, wireless) and the system software updater only runs on PCs, so I let myself get very far behind in my updates. Problems began to crop up: awkward pauses, contacts out of order, strange smells from the music player, words disappearing from the dictionary, black circles under the eyes. Something was rotten in there. The update (v 3.0704.1.0.1, 1/19/2007) fixed everything that was ailing my poor mobile device, including:

1. Contacts now correctly sort in either First, Last or Last, First order
2. up to 20-second pause when sending text messages — gone
3. T9 dictionary now correctly saves added words across sessions

So make like a mac user and stay updated. If you don’t, you’re not getting the full value out of your device.