If you are a Filipino, or has been with a Filipino for a considerable amount of time, chances are you have already heard of the term budol. Budol is a Filipino word which means you got influenced to buy something which is not necessary. (Source: urbandictionary.com)
There will be times when you would hear someone, "Nabudol na naman ako", which roughly translates to "I've been scammed." Or compelled to buy something impulsively. It happens to almost every one, I bet.
It all started when my sister sent me a link of the Samsung S23 series pre-registration to the launch. She was contemplating whether she would upgrade or not. I told her, if she can, and she really wants it, then why not. I, on the other hand, does not have any plans yet to change my four year old Huawei phone. I cannot even use the term upgrade. LOL.
Then she would just out of nowhere send me messages about the phone, that she impulsively registered to the pre-sale through her mobile carrier, and yes she got approved almost instantly. LOL.
Fast forward a week, I went to my carrier's office to purchase a prepaid sim card which I was supposed to put on my tablet so that there's a way to reach the kids at home whenever I am out. While waiting for the sim card to be registered and activated (about 5 minutes), I started fumbling through the flyers lying in front of me.
I messaged the husband where I was -- whose reply was, "Check if we can get a phone."
Ahhmmm, you're a minute too late, habibi I already am!
So I checked with the CS rep serving me if I can avail of the mobile phone units even if I do not have a credit card. He said yes, debit cards will do.
He then went though the system to check if I was eligible -- "Yes ma'am, you are eligible to avail three (3) units." Being a customer since they started in the UAE in 2007, I guess gave me an edge.
"Okay," I said. "Let me just get my debit card sorted." FACT: I actually do not have any more debit card too, since I closed my accounts when I left the workforce.
I finally got the debit card and off to the carrier's office we went. There is an option to order the phone online, but I prefer to personally go so that any concerns/questions that arise can be clarified straight away.
The budol begins.
So the new Samsung galaxy S23 series has three models - S23, S23+, and the S23 Ultra.
The husband and I both agreed to take the S23+, where we would have to pay AED 150 per month per unit. When we reached the store, the sales rep straight away asked, "Why not take the Ultra?" That's AED 50 ($13) more for each unit. We said, no need, but we'll stick with the S23+.
He went to the stock room to check if the units we wanted were available.
"Ma'am, the color you want in 256GB is not available right now. If you want, you can take the 512GB variant but you would need to pay extra AED 20 (bringing the total to AED 170)."
The same thing was the case for the husband's preferred color.
"You're hiding all the 256GB variants!" I joked to the CS rep. He just smiled.
Surprise, not surprise!
We ended up getting the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra linked to my plans, paying AED 200 per month plus the plan. And yes, we also had to buy separately the screen protectors and cases, plus the adaptor for the charger.
Impulsive buy? Yes, indeed. LOL. But then again, we are not the type who change phones with every release of new models. It takes 3 - 4 years before we change phones.
Are we happy with it? Yes. Very. It is reviewed as the best phone out there in the market right now.
I've taken lots of photos and videos with my old phone edited and shared them to Hive over the past years. Indeed, the old phone has been put into good use and that's the same plan for this new purchase.
The photos from the old phone are not as crisp and cannot keep up with the high quality mobile phone photos these days.
I started practicing how to maximize the 200mp camera of this phone -- and shared the first one yesterday - our new baby Tori's photos.
My jaw dropped when I tried a #moonshot (x100 zoom):
Some more zoom shots (1x, 3x, 10x, 100x) respectively:
That's the top of the tallest building in Abu Dhabi - taken with x100 zoom, about 5 kilometers from where I was standing.
Ahhh, this phone is really outstanding. Next up, learning how to maximize this lovely piece of tech.
Cover Image Credit: Canva
All images are owned by the author unless specified otherwise.
