Turn the other chic with the Nokia E63

In The Meaning of Sunglasses, Hadley Freeman’s tome on all things fashionable, she notes, “As probably even your former geography teacher knows, vintage is the most fashionable label to wear these days.”  Freeman has a point. Perhaps the only thing more impressive than a tweed Chanel jacket dripping in gold fringe and bronze oversize buttons is a vintage tweed Chanel jacket dripping in gold fringe and bronze oversize buttons. As though owning vintage adds a proprietary air of style.

“I inherited it from my grandmother,” you can say coolly, as though something as insignificant and fleeting as a trend wouldn’t affect your wardrobe decisions. Forget that you had to rummage through God knows how many bins at your neighborhood thrift shop to find just the right facsimile of a Chanel coat, or bargain with the nazi sales clerk who knows a good find when he sees one.

Fitting in in this industry hinges on looking effortlessly cool. As though you just threw on that ensemble before flying out to grab that triple-shot macchiato you so desperately need after a night of debauchery.

But when it comes to gadgets, fashion people are hardcore. Forget about looking chill. Cell phones (please change to mobile phone) so powerful they could operate a nuclear power plant with enough juice to light up a third world country pepper the front rows of fashion shows. On The Rachel Zoe Project, the reality TV show that follows the foibles of celebrity stylist Zoe and her flock of A-list clients (she plays red-carpet guru to the likes of Demi and Cameron), she spends most of her time on her phone rather than having face-to-face convos with her hapless assistants.

Size matters when it comes to gadgets. Although in this case, bigger is better: bigger memory, bigger screen and a keypad large enough to accommodate freshly-manicured fingertips.

That’s where the Nokia E63 comes in. With its Symbian S60 user interface and sleek tablet shape, the phone (which comes in three hues: red, blue and black) packs one potent punch. The tactile, dome-shaped keys make it easy to juggle tasks like, um, texting and getting a manicure at the same time. The QWERTY keypad makes for faster typing, so you can instantly e-mail your snarky gay best friend that you encountered a model hoovering a Quarter Pounder in under five minutes who then regurgitated said burger a few minutes later.

Snap pics of your must-haves with the two-megapixel camera so you can ponder whether that P50,000 purse will really change your life. Track down your favorite designer looks on Style.com in a flash. Update your Facebook status to “Married to Alber Elbaz.” Skype with your personal shopper to get the lowdown on what heel works best with that dress you have on layaway. Mix business with pleasure by surreptitiously playing Snake while pretending to absorb in an endless monologue during a conference meeting.

The Nokia E63 makes a compelling case for the new smartphone. Dedicated one-touch keys for home, calendar, contacts, and e-mail allows instant access, so you can bypass the menu. You can stay updated with the home screen’s active standby mode, which lists upcoming activities and notifies you with a pop-up message for incoming SMS, MMS and e-mail. E-mail set-up is a snap. For web-based e-mail, simply type in your info and password and you’re set.

The e-mail function was just perfect for me. On the day I took the E63 on a shopping spree it was also deadline day. But, not one to let a day at the mall pass me by, I was still able to edit an article I had written and e-mail it to my editor. Best part is, my editor got the e-mail and said my story was perfect.

The Nokia E63 makes the perfect shopping, styling, and writing companion for me — staying connected through e-mail when I want it at wherever I am makes my life so much more perfect.  

Personally, I’m a big fan of the smartphone. E-mail, online chat and web access are prerequisites when shopping for cell phones (please change to mobile phone). After taking Nokia’s E63 through the paces, I can honestly say it withstood the test: it is dummy-friendly. (Uh, I know this because I am a dummy.) The more affordable sibling of the much-lauded E71, the black plastic case survived several drops (I am also a klutz) and, most of all, looked stylish next to my black Balenciaga City. And at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.