I was upset but I was also delighted. I love my Omnia 2. It's gotta be my favourite phone thus far. Feature-filled. Good specs. A real pleasure to use. Lots of fond memories with it. Lots of stuff done with it.

But it was old. One year on, it is already a dinosaur in the land of the iPhones and Androids. In fact, I remembered that shortly after I got this phone on Take3, M1 and Starhub began selling iPhones. My timing is always bad. Reminds me of how the Pulsar 200 came out around 2 weeks after I got my bike.

Anyways I had my eyes on HTC Desire HD. HTC is a brand I've long wanted to try out. I've had Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Siemens, Samsung.. but not HTC yet. The Desire HD seems like a good option to try out.. and succeed my beloved Omnia 2.

As I mentioned I was on the M1 Take 3 plan. I decided to try exchange my Omnia 2 in for the Desire HD plus recontracting my line. It ended up being a huge hassle. Firstly I knew that I had to return the phone in a good working condition. I went to Samsung Service Centre at Century Square where I was informed a new battery was all I needed for my phone to be operational again. Happily procuring a new battery, I decided to still try and get the Desire HD. So I queued at M1.

The way the counter staff scrutinised my phone.. I felt like I was being interrogated. Why is the battery flat? Why is it hard to power on? Why is there a scratch here and a chip there? It was getting frustrated. In the end the phone was deemed unacceptable. So I was given a choice - go ahead with the recontract and pay $535 for the new phone or repair my Omnia 2 and then exchange it and pay only $267.50 (on top of whatever repair charges I have to pay for).

No brainer. Off to Plaza Singapura 2 days later.

Fast forward to.. yesterday. Tuesday. Could have collected it sooner but I was occupied. Changed my Omnia 2's motherboard, buttons and LCD screen. Total of $157 and a few cents. Reasonable enough for me.

What was a pleasant surprise for me was when I powered up the phone, the start up screen was different from before. They've upgraded my Omnia 2!! It was previously Windows Mobile 6.1. I never bothered to do the upgrades earlier because after reviewing my friend's WM6.5 Omnia 2 I did not think the changes were worth the hassle and charges.

It's like I just got a new phone! Needless to say I've been tweaking with my phone a lot today, making my mark and personalising it. It really feels like a new phone. Seems a lot faster than before (but then I've already filled it up to the max by then). Lots of new features. Even though the quantity and quality is miserable compared to iPhone's and Android's, can actually download apps from Marketplace and Samsung Apps Store.

I'm a happy bloke. ^_^

I've got 7 months before I can trade this phone in for a new one for free under Take 3. Or pay $217 and keep this phone as well as get a new one. The way my Omnia 2 is going now, I may pay that fee. This phone feels like a keeper (once more :))