My hand-me-down mobile phone is reaching the end of its life. The screen is deteriorating to the point where the scratches interfere, and, worst of all, it switches to camera mode whenever it feels like it, draining the battery very quickly.

I have made a cursory search for its replacement, and have been captured by a relatively unknown model (in Sweden, anyway): the ZTE Blade. As mobiles go, it has relatively high end specs, but only costs 1300 crowns (currently about 150 Euros). Which got me thinking.

This is an absurd amount of money when I think about it. I am a lite user, having maybe four or five people whom I regularly text or speak to; I do not have enough alone time to listen to music, and when I do I take my iPod shuffle for its ease of use; And we bought a compact camera recently to take with us on outings. So, is it really worth the money?

It probably will be. There are many apps and some interesting games to download. We invested in a DS lite a few months ago, after Jo’s DS finally gave up the ghost, and I don’t play that as frequently as I would like. The prices of the DS and the ZTE are similar, with the ZTE being more than a gaming machine. Plus, it’s a new area of technology I have yet to explore, which arouses my curiousity no end.

The only real problem is, as always, money. Currently we do not have the funds for me to splash out on a new mobile, regardless the condition of my ageing mobile. Maybe I will be lucky, and this year’s commision for the books that I have co-written will be enough to allow me the luxury of a new purchase.