Robb Knight
Maker of web things, blogger, podcaster, and pizzaiolo. Cat dad and human dad.
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By my count I've had 18 different phones since 2002. In my mind, there are three distinct eras in terms of the type of phones and where I was in my life. Sadly, I don't have any of these any more. Sounds like a fun project to track them all down though.
I got my first phone around 2002. A Motorola M3788 which belonged to my dad. It did even have the ability to send SMS and it was big. I don't even know who I was phoning, none of my friends had a phone that I recall.
Between then and somewhere around 2006 I had three different Nokias, the king of phones:
All three of these had changeable front covers and I was all over that shit. I can't find a picture of one but I had one for my 3210 that had a little flip-down cover on the keypad which I thought was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life.
And let's not forget the ringtones. There were websites dedicated to showing you the keys to press to get various songs. I would sit there for hours copying numbers into my phone just to get it to play the mission impossible theme.
The final hand-me-down phone I had was the Sony CMD J5 which was a weird phone with a scroll wheel on the side for navigation. I remember this looking cooler than it does.
As soon as I turned 18 and I could get a phone on contract I got myself the Sony Ericsson W800. It came with Sony headphones in the box which I remember being the best headphones I'd ever used up to that point. Still one of the best looking phones ever made.
A few years later I got the Nokia N95 which is the worst phone I've ever owned. I had it replaced three times in the first year because it would just turn off at random and couldn't be turned on again for an hour. Having said that, it was the first phone I used an app on: Google Reader, RIP.
Eventually I got the store to replace it completely with a Pink Motorola Razr V3. Best phone form factor ever. The phone was shit but I loved it anyway.
For a brief time in 2007, I had an LG Prada. All I remember about that was how bad the touchscreen was which will be important in the next section.
I miss the choice the pre-smartphone era afforded me. Now we just pick between different companies glass rectangles.
Late in 2007 the iPhone launched in the UK and I started saying this to anybody who would listen "touchscreens on phones are shit, it'll be rubbish" because all I'd used was the LG Prada. I didn't get to use an iPhone until just before the launch of the 3GS in 2009 where I was obviously proved wrong.
On the launch day of the iPhone 3GS I assumed I'd have no chance of getting one but I phoned around a few places, found one in stock, and picked it up that day. I then spent the rest of the day with a couple of friends who had also gotten one and all we did was download and try out apps. Good times.
I was on a two year contract with the 3GS and assumed, like most people did, that Apple would continue releasing phones in the summer but they had changed that with the 4S so I had to wait another couple of months before I could get it. Two years later I got the 5S, then the 6S two years after that.
In 2016, Apple got rid of the headphone jack, so I lost my mind and switched to Android: a OnePlus 3. It was good...for a few months. Then it started having issues with updating, taking photos, and some other things. So I swapped it out for a Google Pixel XL which was much better but ultimately I missed my Apple Watch, iMessage, and some other Apple-specific things.
My wife had a 6S Plus as the time which she'd bought and regretted so we bought her a 6S and I took the 6S Plus. Then my last three phones are what you'd expect:
What could come next? Who knows? Me, I know. It'll be a 16 Pro.
Every Phone I've Ever Owned https://rknight.me/blog/every-phone-ive-ever-owned/
Now I've written this I really want to try and buy them all again.