Nokia's first 3G; Nokia 6650

In the late months of 2002, Nokia, released their first ever 3G enabled phone; the Nokia 6650. The phone is a GSM dual band with WCDMA (3G) capabilities, compatible in the Europe and Asia, specifically in Japan, where 3G network is implemented.

Nokia 6650 in the flesh

When I was in college, I was able to have this kind of phone in a short time, although 3G is not yet supported in the Philippines. During that time, Nokia 6650 is not available in the Philippine market, but in luck, I found my first in second hand shops such as Greenhills in San Juan City. However, local telecoms such as Globe, have this as an exclusive service unit to those travelers going to Japan. This unit also available in Japan as well during its reign.

The battery still has the telecom's warranty sticker

Years after, I am eagerly searching for this phone again. Until one seller, posted the unit thru online shop and without doubt bought the phone for 2,000.00 pesos. When I saw the phone again, feeling of nostalgia suddenly emerged. I took pictures, made phone calls, play JAVA games, and send messages in a 9 keypad. I was surprise when the pictures I took when transferred to a smartphone gives a pretty good resolution in a very small kilobyte size in a VGA camera.

Although, old fashioned it still useful to me compare to the super smartphones of today. Right now, I am using the phone as a back up unit or rather a work phone so that they won't call me up often in my personal number. The phone's battery won't anyone last a day, but hey, a local shop still has the battery for sale.