A Cell Phone Freak’s History

I was daydreaming about my upcoming iPhone purchase the other day and it really got me thinking about my cell phone history. Unsurprisingly, I’ve had quite a few cell phones.

My first cell phone was a Sony CM-H888 on the old AT&T Wireless I believe. I got that phone my junior year in high school. It was an analog phone; digital wasn’t widespread at that time. Wireless plans back then were expensive and didn’t contain many minutes, so I had pretty stern instructions from my parents to only use it for emergencies. If I went over on my minutes, it came out of my pocket. I still remember that phone number, but won’t repeat it here out of respect for its current owner (if there is one).

My next phone I got was a Nokia 6162. This one was on the old AT&T Wireless. I got this phone for Christmas of my freshman year at Tech if I remember correctly. Digital technology had become more mainstream, but AT&T Wireless didn’t service Lubbock digitally at that time. I loved this phone and it definitely served me well for a couple years.. until..

Nate and I were in Florida visiting Kim and her then-boyfriend now-husband Ryan over spring break. The night before we left, my truck was broken into and my cell phone, 300+ CDs, CB radio, and Minidisk player were stolen.

Upon my return to Lubbock, I decided to get a Lubbock phone number since that’s where I lived. AT&T Wireless still didn’t have digital service in Lubbock, and with that meant no caller ID. So I decided to give Sprint PCS a try since their plans were cheaper than Southwestern Bell’s. Both providers offered digital service in Lubbock, so that was already a step up for me. I went with the Nokia 6185 since I had fallen in love with my old Nokia. The phone was great; too bad I can’t say the same for the service. Sprint PCS’s coverage area is horrendous. They target major highway areas; traveling between Lubbock and Dallas meant very little coverage. That rather defeated one of the purposes of having a cell phone, so luckily Sprint took back the phone and canceled my plan.

Since I still wanted digital service, I went with Southwestern Bell and the Nokia 6161. That Nokia was very similar to my stolen 6162. It lasted for about a year and a half; it suddenly died on me and it couldn’t be fixed. Continuing my Nokia habit, I chose the Nokia 3360 based on its size. It was the most compact phone I’d owned. That phone allowed user-changeable color faceplates, and I loved that. This phone didn’t last very long though; I think the faceplate customization actually impacted the lifetime. I could be wrong though, but I think it did.

By now flip phones had become the rage, and Nokia took the stance to not jump on the flip phone bandwagon (which incidentally lasted until roughly 2005). Because of that, my Nokia streak ended. I had heard great reviews and comments about Motorola phones. After all, Motorola was responsible for starting the flip phone craze with their infamous Star-Trac phone. By now, Southwestern Bell Wireless had been spun off into Cingular; I went with the Motorola v60t. After using only Nokia’s phones for the past years, switching to a Motorola phone had a learning curve with different menus and such. This phone was exceptional; far better than any of the Nokias I’d owned over the years.

Around this time, a buddy of mine gave me a Samsung A460 to be used on Sprint’s network. It just so happened that I had been given a company cell phone for work and my company uses Sprint. So I switched out the company-owned phone for the Samsung. The phone had great ringtones but suffered from Sprint’s crappy coverage area. At some point, my company made some cost-cutting decisions and cut back on the number of people who had corporate cell phones. I had my corporate phone taken away, so I no longer needed to use the Samsung.

I began to notice that the antenna on the Motorola v60t was loose and breaking. Instead of replacing the antenna, naturally I bought a new phone. I liked the Motorola phone so much that I decided to go with another one: the Motorola T720. I absolutely loved this phone. Front caller ID display, great Motorola quality, etc. The antenna was more of a bud-style so therefore I wasn’t concerned it would suffer the same fate as my v60t. This phone lasted quite a while; I believe this is the longest-lasting phone I have ever owned.

Sticking with Motorola, my next and current cell phone is the Motorola RAZR. I have absolutely loved this phone. It’s thin, high quality, and doesn’t have an external antenna. I bought this phone in December 2005 and will stop using it next month (August 2007). By far, the RAZR is the favorite phone that I’ve owned so far.

In July 2006, I purchased a second cell phone but only used it for data service: a Sidekick 3 on T-Mobile. I loved having the SK3 at Tech basketball games and while traveling. Being able to check email and browse the web anywhere within T-Mobile’s coverage area was extremely convenient. However, it became annoying and inconvenient carrying two devices. My opinion changed from wanting a cell phone that was only a cell phone to wanting a cell phone/PDA/smartphone. I decided that I would upgrade to a smartphone when my Cingular/AT&T account was available for an upgrade. I sold my SK3 on eBay and was leaning towards the Samsung Blackjack running, gasp, Windows Mobile. But..

In January 2007 Apple finally announced, after two years of speculation and rumors, the iPhone. I watched Steve Jobs’ keynote and instantaneously knew that I had found my smartphone. It has email, Internet, phone, calendar, address book, and iPod – all in one device. It syncs with iTunes. It’s Apple quality, Apple design, Apple experience. I am extremely excited about this upcoming purchase and will naturally post a review once I get it.

So there it is – my entire cell phone history. This has got to be the longest blog post I’ve ever made, and it’s on a random, meaningless topic. Oh well. I doubt anyone will even make it this far, and that’s okay. It was fun going back down memory lane.