Iqaluit (Feb 28/05) - When it comes to cellphones, Nunavut is the land of "Almost... but not quite." It's the only place in Nunavut you can use a cellphone.

Everywhere else, bring your satellite phone if you want the cellphone feeling.

Some people, like Don Pickle in Grise Fiord, Nunavut's most Northern community, like it that way.

"I don't want a cell phone. I like the quiet," he said.

In order for a cellphone to work in Iqaluit, it must be analog and digital, and it has to be CDMA.

Rogers and Telus phones do not work up here.

You can snap away with your camera cellphone. But guess what? You can't send those pictures to your friends and family right away like you can in every other part of the world. You'd have to find a computer and download them.

Text messaging? Sorry. Can't do that here either.

How about downloading the latest hot ringtones, such as Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot? Nope. In Nunavut you can't download ringtones, nor can you download screensavers.

Call display? Forget it. That service is not available here, yet.

About all you can count on with your cellphone in Iqaluit right now is making or receiving a phone call - not quite what the makers of these super-duper phones had in mind. But then again, Nunavut is a land all its own.

"Everything is digital down south," explained Paul Palubeskie, assistant manager of Radio Shack in Iqaluit.

Radio Shack in Arctic Ventures is the only store in Iqaluit that sells cellphones.

"We're an analog area. Batteries here only last a day. It's nothing like down south. There are not too many spots (like Nunavut) left on earth."

But that doesn't mean people in Nunavut aren't buying them. Arctic Ventures currently carries 10 different models ranging from $49 right on up to $200 depending on the kind of service you want. And they are selling pretty well.

The most popular model in Iqaluit these days is the Samsung 500.

It has a nifty colourful screen, but not a whole lot of bells and whistles. The key to this one seems to be that it doesn't konk out too much.

The cost is fairly reasonable too.

For a Samsung 500, with a two-year activation contract and a minimum of $30 per month, you get 150 minutes, long distance included. This deal has been the most popular. People are also really digging the camera phones, Palubeskie said.

But without the ability to send pictures yet, Nunavummiut aren't buying them as fast as people in southern Canada.

Although Nunavut is a cellphone backwater, people shouldn't lose heart. Palubeskie's small hometown in southern Ontario couldn't accommodate fancy cellphones until two years ago.

"As the population grows we'll get (the service)," he said.

"But it won't be for another few years."