Koel Cheng Shuk-man has spent quite a while searching for her perfect partner. The 19-year-old's persistence has been rewarded recently after switching through a dozen. Her dream choice is tiny and lightweight with countless functions.
Men should not worry that these are criteria in a young Hong Kong woman's quest for the perfect boyfriend. This is about Ms Cheng's craze for mobile phones.
The Form Seven student who works as a part-time marketing researcher has three mobile phones - a metallic blue Nokia 3210 with a pastel coloured key pad and a Bruce Lee key-ring, a light silver Panasonic GD90 and a plum red Ericsson T18.
She has just sold her fourth and former favourite one, a 'remote control-looking' Sony C8 model for $930, at a loss of $200, after using it for three weeks. Despite its style, her interest waned because it lacked functions. The T18 she gave to her mother after a fortnight. In terms of functions only, her pick would be Nokia's 153-gram antenna-less 3210.
'It has a lot of options - eight ringing tunes to choose from, an alarm, a vibration alert, and you can switch between phone covers with a wide range of colours, but it is too bulky,' she explains.
Yet, for the past six weeks - almost an eternity in her transient cellular world - the smart-looking 88-gram GD90 which strikes a delicate balance between weight, style and functions has gripped her attention enough that she does not plan to switch - well, for the time being.