I have to say, after several months of living in Singapore my family and myself are loving it. The country is extremely convenient on every front, travel is straight forwards, the people are friendly and we love the wide array of dining options. 
I have one problem though… technology, gizmos and gadgets are just too easy to come by. I’m addicted to gadgets and I have very little self control when it comes to buying something new that I stumble across on the web or in a store.
In the countries where I have been living for the last ten years or so this really has not been an issue. Using handphones as an example, my handset provider would tie me into a two year contract and only allow me to upgrade my handset once every contract period. While I could buy a new handset of an online auction site, there was never really an option to walk down the high street and get a new phone on a Saturday morning.
Here in Singapore there is no such tie, I can walk into Funan Digitalife Mall or Sim Lim Square any day of the week (or everyday of the week) and pick up a great new handset.
While browsing the regular list of news stories this morning I was somewhat er… upset (actually rather excited, but I have to pretend not to be to sustain my ongoing denial issues) to see that HTC are shipping an new version of the Touch, this time with HSDPA support, GPS(!) and a slide out numeric keypad.
You can read a little more more about it on unwiredview.com, and from the notes there it seems that this new device will be available in September, although it isn’t clear which markets will get it first. So far I have seen it refered to as the HTC Touch II, the HTC P5500 and the HTC Nike.
So, it seems that a new handphone is on the horizon for me. My friends in the USA and in Europe will remain jealous of the amount of access we have to new technology here in Asia, my wife will be a little perplexed about why I need another new phone, and I’ll continue to live very happily and in complete denial of my addiction to new gadgets.
If anybody stumbles over a store that has one in stock please be sure to let me know!
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