Eric's Beijing Diary

Stopped at a little cell phone store in Wudaokou right around the corner from the Bridge Cafe. I found a little Nokia that I really like, because it has a very good touch pad on it. You can use a stylus to write text messages in Chinese. I have always used my cell phone to help me study Chinese, because in China, all cell phones have special keys designated for each of the five basic strokes. You can use these keys to eliminate thousands of characters by putting in the correct sequence of strokes. First stroke eliminates a bunch of characters. First two stroke eliminates even more, and so on. If you can get through the first four or five strokes, you're usually down to a few characters. Not that many characters have exactly the same first five strokes.

But this phone lets you write the character with a stylus. The on board computer then guesses what you are trying to write, and gives you several characters to choose from. The lady said 2190 RMB, and I told her that was too much. She told me she would give it to me really cheap. 1900. I think she could tell I was unimpressed by her "bargain." I smiled politely, and told her I would be back. I wanted to walk away, but not completely away, because I really do want that phone.