At the risk of sounding like a total nerd, I just bought a new Nokia 6101 mobile ‘phone off eBay for under $120, and so far I’m really impressed with it. It’s small and light, it has the practical clamshell design I like (and which for some insane reason Nokia resisted for years), and it came unlocked, so it just started working as soon as I put my existing SIM card in it. Plus it reaffirms what I always suspected — that Nokia’s user interface is by far the most user-friendly and intuitive of any mobile ‘phone.

But perhaps the coolest part is that Nokia provides a free suite of PC connectivity software, and I just painlessly copied all of my personal information — contacts, calendar, to do’s etc. — from Lotus Organizer on my laptop onto the ‘phone. This might not sound like such a big deal, but I’ve been waiting for this kind of connectivity/interoperability for years.