HTC Touch = dumb blonde

My HTC Touch has started to annoy me.
Yesterday I set all alarms to ring at 8am – my standard alarm clock, my iPod (which sits in my Bose Soundock), and my HTC Touch. It was very important that I wasn’t late for my operation, but I also wanted to maximise the amount of sleep I could get before this.

Re-enactment of how alarm was setThe silly HTC Touch rang at 7.15am instead, which was the original setting I use on working days. But I had changed the alarm time to 8am!! There was no setting anywhere in my alarm or Calendar modes that directed it to ring at 7.15am anymore. The alarm clock and iPod sounded dutifully at 8am but I was already semi awake, no thanks to that new phone of mine. Grr!
Today, I went for my LASIK post-operation checkup and the last girl who attended to me said all was well and I could go back home. So I did. However that was the wrong instructions as I was supposed to collect more items at the counter. The staff tried to call me back but my handphone was apparently off. In the end they called my home and a family member got the impression that I was simply ignoring people’s calls.

Re-enactment of how the phone signal
looked like, when it was actually off!
I was quite baffled as my HTC Touch was with me all this while, and it showed that it had 2-3 bars of phone signal strength. Typically, when the phone’s turned off, there’s a cross on top of the phone icon, and no bars at all.
I called my mobile number using my land line, and was told that I was unavailable, ie my phone function was really off! I did turn the phone off during my surgery yesterday, but it switched back to phone mode later. (I can’t recall if I had re-activated the phone feature, or I had rebooted the whole device and it went back to receiving calls)
If the HTC Touch didn’t look so good, I’d be really pissed off with it. Right now I’d compare it to a dumb blonde. Something you can parade about, with its sleek looks and TouchFLO technology which is only skin deep, while ignoring the fact that it’s got a slower processor and a growing number of quirks that could cause misunderstandings, like what just happened this morning.
I want a phone that tells me that it is off when it is really off. And when it says it is on, it is really on. Is that too difficult to ask for?
If I could talk to it, it would go like this…
Me: HTC Touch, you were supposed to wake me yesterday at 8am, not at the usual 7.15am.
Dumb blonde: Ooh! I forgot! I’m so used to the routine…
Me: Mr Alarm Clock and Mr iPod didn’t forget the new instructions.
Dumb blonde: Oops! Teehee, anyway I still look slim and shiny, so please forgive me.
Me: HTC Touch, I turned your phone off during my operation but later you said the phone feature was back on again. When someone tried to reach me urgently this morning, you refused to respond!
Dumb blonde: Ooh, er, was I on? Oh yeah I was! Well it looked like I was, anyway –
Me: Now my mum thinks I am a tao queen! Never pick up my handphone!
Dumb blonde: Ooh! You’re a queen? That’s so nice. I think I’m a queen too. Maybe I should marry Mr iPhone, people say he’s the King …
Me: Darn well he should be!