Today’s fancy phones: They all came from somewhere

Every mobile phone we use today, from basic handsets to the most advanced computer-in-your-pocket, wasn’t created in a vacuum. Instead, they were built using the parts of many groundbreaking phones that came before them. Even if they don’t look like much now, those pioneer devices set the stage for all the mobile development to come.

What follows are 11 handsets that changed the planet forever, either by introducing a new feature we now take for granted, or by making phones accessible to more people. By no means is this meant to be a completely comprehensive list, but each of the phones listed here was a “first” in a very important way. So, next time you’re checking Facebook on a phone, or even (gasp) making a call, remember the phones that made it possible.

The flip phone: Motorola Startac

When? 1996

The company that created the cell phone as we know it, Motorola, broke ground on many fronts. In 1983, the company introduced the first commercially available cell phone, the Dynatac 8000x. Yet it wasn’t until the early 1990s when phones become cheap enough, and small enough (the Dynatac weighed 2.5 pounds/1.13 kilograms and cost $3,995), to make them anything more than a luxury item.

Enter the StarTac. The original “It phone,” it revolutionized handset design by giving us the flip phone. Sure, the MicroTac preceded the StarTac by seven years, but it had just a flip-down mouthpiece rather than truly folding in half. The StarTac was smaller than any previous handset (just 3.1 ounces) with features like a 99-contact phone book and four hours of battery life.

The “everyone had one” phone: Nokia 5110

When? 1998

Nokia’s 5110 (also called the 5190) used to be everywhere. It was my first phone, and Roger Cheng alsowore one proudly. It remains a classic Nokia device: almost indestructible, deadly simple to use, and the battery lasted forever.

Yet, it’s not on this list because of an innovative feature (as cool as Snake was). Rather, it’s here because it exemplifies the concept of a cheap, mass-produced widely-available phone. If you didn’t have the Nokia 3210 (a Luke Westaway favorite), then you had a 5110 (or so it seemed at the time).

The camera phone: Sharp J-SH04

When? 2000

Selfies owe their existence to this unassuming Japan-only phone. It took 0.1-megapixel photos and you could share them with a friend electronically. New cameras weren’t far behind, and shooter resolution quickly multiplied with the first megapixel camera phones coming just three years later.

Still, it’s important to note that though the camera-equipped Sanyo SCH-V200 was born before the J-SH04, it wasn’t a camera phone as we think of today. The V200 had a camera, but you couldn’t do anything with the photos except download them to a computer. So, essentially the V200 was just a phone with a camera attached.

The thin phone: Motorola Razr V3

When? 2003

Years before people camped in line to buy the iPhone, they camped in line to buy this. It launched a thousand imitators, and Moto brought thin to a huge family of handsets, from the Slvr to the Rizr to the the Q. Admittedly, I completely underestimated the appeal of the Razr when Moto first announced it. And how wrong I was.

It wasn’t big on features, but the Razr’s trim profile was more than enough to ensure its wild success. Many, many color variations (including four shades of pink and a Dolce & Gabbana version) followed. The thin phone trend didn’t die out until the iPhone. But in a way, it never really died out at all.

The non-BlackBerry smartphone: Palm Treo 650

When? 2004

By the time Palm sold its Treo 650, BlackBerry (or RIM as it was known back then) had already cornered the corporate market. It took other devices, though, to put the smartphone in the hands of everyday consumers. The Treo 650 is one of the best examples.

First developed by Handspring, which Palm later acquired, the Treo line had email and all of the work-focused features, but also a decent Web browser, a camera, and a music and video player. Naturally, it ran on the Palm OS, but later models had Windows Mobile.

The touchscreen phone: LG KE850 Prada

When? 2006

The Prada bit was just a nice touch; LG KE850 is notable for being the first phone with a capacitive touchscreen. Yes, many other touchscreen phones preceded it, but capacitive display technology meant that we didn’t use a stylus (something that amazed us in our review).

Capacitive touchscreens also are brighter than resistive screens and they support multi-touch gestures. Though the iPhone would later popularize the latter concept, LG’s handset did sneak onto the market first.

The everyday smartphone: Apple iPhone

When? 2007

It wasn’t the first smartphone, the first glass rectangle, or the first handset to deliver most of its hyped features, but the original iPhone packaged all of those points in a new way. Though rather dull and even ugly by today’s standards, that first model did more than any other earlier phone to make the smartphone mainstream. And that was true even for the few months it existed in only one country (finally, the US got a phone first) and on only one carrier.

It wasn’t what the iPhone did, but how it did them. Lines formed and new models steadily arrived in annual intervals. And while Apple continued to follow behind its rivals in introducing basic features like photo messaging and 3G, the iPhone family’s ginormous appeal and innovation in other areas (like the App Store) were more than enough to make those rivals scramble.

The Android phone: T-Mobile G1

When? 2008

When you look back, it’s hard to believe that the T-Mobile G1 (made by HTC) was the first Android phone. With that boxy design and limited feature set, it wasn’t the most auspicious debut for Google’s OS. But after some time, Android was charging ahead leaving the G1 as barely a blip. And so, the two-OS horse race that rules us today was born.

Scores of devices followed, giving Android as equal an important role as Apple in making the smartphone an affordable and everyday device. And considering that Android devices were available on more carriers in more countries, it probably did more. Much Android-inspired innovation came as well, much more than I have room for here.

The LTE phone: Samsung SCH-R900

When? 2010

You probably haven’t heard of her, but the Samsung SCH-R900 holds the honor of being the first phone with LTE. Sure, other 4G-like technologies such as Sprint’s WiMax existed at the time, but LTE is the high-speed standard now spreading around the world.

Sales of the SCH-R900 never took off, mostly because it was available only with the regional US carrier MetroPCS. It also wasn’t a smartphone and the processor was achingly slow. That said, a first is a first.

The other everyday smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S3

When? 2012

Of the many Galaxy models that Samsung made, the Galaxy S3 ends this list for a few reasons. A powerful phone crammed with every feature available, it (and the later GS4 and GS5) became the iPhone’s strongest foe and it remains a prime (though maybe not the best) example of Android’s potential. Also, its widespread availability, global launch, and Samsung’s marketing muscle introduced even more people to their first smartphone.

But just as important, it sparked the long legal battle between Apple and Samsung that (hopefully) just came to an end.

 

Author: Kent German
Source: Cnet