When did you first get a cell phone?

[ONE-TEN]

Think about how the last 2.5 decades have unfolded. There really isn’t a person alive today who doesn’t have access to a mobile/cell phone. Look on the news! Even in Third World countries, you see the majority of people with IPhones, Galaxies, Google phones… everyone! But think about this, back in 2002, only about HALF of consumers owned a mobile phone.

I was married in 1998, and we got 1 mobile phone that year. A Nokia non-camera mobile phone. It was “hers”, but I used it from time to time. I think I got my first in 2000. But then we both got the Nokia camera phones when they first came out. I was a hold out for smart phones though. Didn’t get my first IPhone”smart phone” until 2012. It was a Nokia Lumia 810. I liked that phone. However, the screen cracked after just a few months and I needed replacement. And of course, the 810 was no longer available. I had to the Lumia 920. As much as I liked the 810, was the same amount I HATED the 920! It was Huge! Even by today’s standard! And heavy! Heaviest phone I’ve ever felt. I used it (actually still have it!), until 2016 when I got my first IPhone. Now my wife had been using IPhones from the beginning! She had the IPhone 1 when it was released in 2007! And she continued upgrading with every new one. Not me though. I kept my phones until they broke or wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. That first one I got in 2012 was the IPhone SE. (sane as the IPhone 5) Funny thing: I got the SE at the same time my son got the IPhone 5 & my wife got the IPhone 6! LOL! I kept my SE for a long time, then got a 5. And had the IPhone 5 until like 4 years ago I think, it finally died & I needed a new one. I was a dismayed to find there are no small phones anymore. I got the IPhone 12 mini then, which I still have today. I’m dreading having to get another though. Because as of now, there are no phones this size. They are ALL considerably larger. I hate this! Remember back in the early 2000’s, when it was about making phones SMALLER? How’d it shift to now, people want to walk around with LAP TOP size PHONES!!? Ah well.

What’s your story? When was your first? MOBILE PHONE, that is And when did you break down and get your first smart phone? Are you an IOS or Android user?

 

[Fjold]

In 1994 my company bought me a cell phone and backpack battery. I hated that thing. In 1995, we were issued the Motorola flip phones.

 

[CFJunkie]

I too was issued a Blackberry and then a Flip phone by my company when they first came out. My first smartphone was an Apple 4 and have had both Android and Apple phones since. My wife seemed to prefer the Samsung androids so I got one too so I could help her use hers. When she died in 2019, I switched back to Apple because both of my son's families used them. Been with Apples ever since and share lots of stuff with them and all my grandkids.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

2000 or so i think.

 

[chronoblip]

Was given basic cellphone to use by my parents when I had my own car ~2002. Didn't get a "smart phone" till late 2012, right before I got married.

Started on a Galaxy Note 2, and ran that sucker for almost 10 years, then got a Moto G Power in 2020, which I am still running today. Battery life and a big screen were always the priorities.

Android can be cheap and doesn't hold my hand, for better and worse. Wife has always been Apple, but has become wary of late since prices keep going up and I don't make as much as I used to since resetting career about 5 years ago.

In the meantime, I've showed her how I can emulate ROMs from SNES/GB through N64/3DS on an Android tablet that cost maybe $100, didn't even need to root it either.

 

[american_fusilier]

My first one was probably around 2005ish

 

[HuntFishDrink]

I had a bag phone back in the mid 90's. Reception was amazing. It was so good up in the Turtle Mtns. along the Canadian border while moose hunting. Signal was pinging off the Saskatel towers up in Canada and I received a $400.00 dollar phone bill from Verizon for the month. I did get my moose, hence all the phone calls!!!

 

[Txhillbilly]

My first car phone was in the mid 80's. It was just like a house phone that was mounted in my 84 Crew cab dually work truck. It cost around $4 a minute to talk on the thing, great tax write off!
The first mobile phone I had was a Motorola bag phone, it was like carrying a car battery, then we got the one that was like a big walkie talkie. That phone worked great, but weighed a ton.
My favorite cell phone was a Motorola Flip phone, those were the toughest damn cell phones ever made.

 

[ONE-TEN]

Traditionally, the toughest phone was the Nokia 3310. Reason it was known as the Nokia Brick! Definitely was my toughest phone. I still had the Nokia when I finally broke down & got my first Smart Phone in 2012. (Also a Nokia) I skipped the whole Motorola Razr phenom. That wad 2004/2005. All my friends had those. I wanted one, but never did get it. But that Nokia 3310 was insane. I used to throw it against walls, dropped it in water, nothin’!

 

[Alan]

I remember going with my parents to Circuit City and getting the bagged phones. Then Dad wired up the Ford Aerostar van to have an antenna while driving. Mom would call from the car phone instead of the school house when we were leaving as she worked there. Thought it was rather silly looking back, but it was a new time, with being a status symbol I guess.

Now Apple is bringing us new phones that fold. Wonder if they will do origami tricks soon enough!

 

[ONE-TEN]

Actually, it’s Samsung doing the new flip phones mostly. Apple hasn’t released one yet, but is planning to late this year. I’m not sold on these new flippers. The use this UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) as the screen, which is a Glass/Polymer hybrid. It uses a polymer film over a a layer of glass on 30 microns thick. Just seems super fragile. And can’t put a case on it. We’ll see.

 

[Barrelnut]

Got a Motorola analog car phone installed in my truck back in 88. Coverage was amazing in rural and mountainous areas in the Pacific NW. Wife loved to order takeout pizza on it when we were driving down the mountain after a day of skiing. It was almost a luxury item back then.

 

[Alan]

I heard the latest Samsung foldable phones are great. They're getting thinner. I wonder how iPhone will look like. Yeah, on a certain angle, you see the crease where the fold is. Well see how they make it better.

 

[SevenFan]

Still carrying a Kyocera DuraXV flip phone, call and text only, don't need, nor want, anything else.

 

[John Henry]

When my father-in-law passed away years ago. One penny apiece (2), Gray Motorola’s with the pull out antenna.

 

[John Henry]

Still carrying a Kyocera DuraXV flip phone, call and text only, don't need, nor want, anything else.

I wish I still had mine. Possibly the best cell phone ever made.

 

[Frontiersman]

I dragged my feet quite a while. Around 2007 or so.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

1994 had a corporate pager. Had to stop and find a pay phone when paged. Then in 95 they gave us a cell phone to answer more quickly and a laptop. Every company after that new phones were issued. The Blackberry phones w/fold out keyboard was terrible. The last few years the phones they gave us were meant to replace a lot of the laptop/tablet use. I'm glad I retired last week.....not sure what was going to come next......getting "beamed" to and from cities/meetings?

I'm a basic guy.....Miller High Life, Wild Turkey, 308, etc......

 

[SevenFan]

1994 had a corporate pager. Had to stop and find a pay phone when paged. Then in 95 they gave us a cell phone to answer more quickly and a laptop. Every company after that new phones were issued. The Blackberry phones w/fold out keyboard was terrible. The last few years the phones they gave us were meant to replace a lot of the laptop/tablet use. I'm glad I retired last week.....not sure what was going to come next......getting "beamed" to and from cities/meetings?

I'm a basic guy.....Miller High Life, Wild Turkey, 308, etc......

That reminded me of the first pager I used. Newly graduated electronics tech sent to my first duty station at Malmstrom AFB MT fall of 1977. We had a 20min response time after hours since we were responsible for ground based navigational systems that directly affected flight safety. I was a dorm rat, no phone in my room, which meant I could not go anywhere when on call in the event the CQ got a call. There were 3 of us who pulled on call duty, two were married and lived in base housing but they still had to be accessible by phone. We pitched in together to rent a pager, at least I could go to chow without fear.

Next duty station same deal but we had a mobile radio we could take home. Wasn't until my 3rd assignment in the early 80s that our shops were issued a pager. Cell phones were in their infancy at my last duty station in '94, my supervisor had one and it was huge, standard handset and a portable base.

My how times have changed.