Remember when the only bathroom game you could play on your cell phone was Snake?
I feel old.
When I was in high school, cell phones lasted for weeks on standby and the only real games we played were on our TI-89 calculators. Things have certainly changed a lot since then.
I decided to put together a list of all the cell phones I’ve used in the past 10 years, starting with my very first:
Qualcomm QCP-860
I got this phone primarily to use only for notifying my mom when I was to be picked up from school. Back then, not many kids had cell phones yet, so it was still cool to have one regardless.
Nokia 8290
By mid-2000, EVERYONE had this phone (or one of the other 8210-series variants). It lasted for days, danced in circles on the table when stood up and set to “Mariachi”, and was iconic for keeping people entertained on the potty with Nokia’s infamous “Snake” game.
Sony Ericsson t68i
Though the resolution on this thing was only 101×80 with a max of 256 colors, it was COLOR!! There was a flashing blue light to indicate when your bluetooth mode was on, and it was just really ergonomically friendly. The worst part about this thing was all the pocket lint that would get trapped in the joystick area.
Sony Ericsson t616
The t616 and t610 is, in my humble opinion, one of the sleekest designed feature phones (along with the Motorola RAZR). The clean, rounded lines and balance of glossy black plastic with brushed aluminum is just beautiful. It was a dramatic upgrade over my previous t68i with the 288×352 pixel camera alone. In fact, I coaxed my mom into getting the phone for me by telling her how I’d be able to SMS her pictures of groceries from the store. Additionally polyphonic ringtones! I could Google up the latest and greatest MIDI’s and bluetooth file transfer them over with my 12″ Powerbook G4. Amazing!!
Motorola e389
First, yes, this is the one that Motorola rebranded as the first “iTunes phone” aka the “Motorola ROKR E1” in 2005. Aside from that fact, this was actually a great phone. It modded really nicely with the help from the members on howardforums.com. It had cool color changing LEDs on the side that would flash when receiving calls, and a nice rubberized feel for a manly grip. But most of all, there was an amazing loudspeaker which exuded as much bass as you could get from a cell phone. And this was ideal because this phone jumped the gun of polymorphic and went straight to MP3 ringtones. With my trusty USB cable, I loaded on all the freshest K-POP music.
Sony Ericsson k750i
While I liked the capability of modding my e389, it lacked the same kind of elegant finesse that my t616 had. To be quite frank, it was very much like how Android and iOS is now. So I secretly pined to get my paws back on a Sony Ericsson. The k700 was great phone, but honestly it looked like shit with the bulky profile and huge buttons. Seriously, look at it. I waited and waited, and finally its successor was unveiled–the k750i. Back in black and updated with a very minimalist design, the k750i rocked. The most notable feature was the 2.0 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, which was activated by sliding a protective cover and pushing the shutter button located on the side of the phone. Built-in flash too. A real camera.
Sony Ericsson k800i
The k800i was a nice evolutionary step for the k750i. While the phone itself was updated with a cleaner design, the lens cover in the back grew more cumbersome and in-the-way. Nonetheless, this was James Bond’s phone in Casino Royale (which was in silver). The 3.2 megapixels of course meant better pictures and more leniency toward shaky-hand-syndrome. It was fun.
Apple iPhone (2g)
3AM. June 29th, 2007. South Coast Mall. What is there to say? Steve tells it best.
Apple iPhone 3G
One year later. July 11, 2008. Same mall, same line. But now we have APPS!!
Apple iPhone 4
I skipped getting the 3GS because of my AT&T contract. You know how it is. But the iPhone 4 was worth the wait. Retina display, 5.0 megapixel camera, new beautiful design. Multitasking, FaceTime, Game Center. It’s wonderful.
Did you notice that every phone I’ve ever owned has been a candybar form factor? I hated clamshells, which is why I skipped the RAZR fad.
One phone I missed out on was the Nokia 7610. I must have almost purchased it a dozen times, but the $500 price tag was too hefty for my 2004 jobless ass.
Anyway…
That’s it. 10 phones in 10 years. It’s no wonder that Apple has been developing a new phone every year. I can’t wait for the next one.
Joseph Rosario 