Recently, the hallways at PCMag got a makeover, and one surface was replaced with cell phones of yoreâfrom flip phones with massive battery packs and silver BlackBerrys to a first-gen iPhone and a T-Mobile Sidekick.
These days, the PCMag staff carries around the latest and greatest in smartphone chic. At any given time, one of us is wandering around with our nose stuck in an iPhone 6 Plus, a Nexus 6, Galaxy S6 Edge, HTC One M9, or other popular gadget. The thought of having a phone without instant access to email, maps, Facebook, Instagram, and texts is a foreign concept, and a day without a phone is like a day without air.
But it wasn't always this way, of course. In the 90s and early aughts, all we wanted was a mobile phone with acceptable voice quality that didn't weigh 5 pounds or cost $4 per minute. It was an amazing time to be alive.
I asked the PCMag staff to take a trip down memory lane and tell me about their first cell phones. Check out their responses in the slideshow, and tell us about your first adventures in mobile in the comments below.
Chloe Albanesius, Exec. Editor, News & Features
In May 2001, I'd returned from a semester abroad in London, where everyone was using flimsy, plastic cell phones to send these magical things called text messages. I dropped by the Cingular Wireless store in my Washington, D.C. neighborhood, where they hooked me up with a heavy, analog phone that was ugly but got service EVERYWHERE, from cavernous Capitol Hill buildings to the deepest D.C. Metro station. I can't recall the exact make and model (it resembled the one above), but when I traded up to a prettier and more advanced (ringtones!) digital phone a year later, I missed my clunky gadget's ability to connect anywhere.
Service plans, however, were still archaic. My cell phone provided free "long distance" calls in the Northeast, so calls to that D.C. friend with a Texas phone number had to be short and sweet.
Service plans, however, were still archaic. My cell phone provided free "long distance" calls in the Northeast, so calls to that D.C. friend with a Texas phone number had to be short and sweet.
Sascha Segan, Lead Mobile Analyst
My first cell phone was the Qualcomm QCP860 Thin Phone. It was 1999. I had just returned from Europe, and I hit New York with no job and no fixed address. I picked up a QCP860 with a data kit at Bell Atlantic Wireless and spent three weeks living at the YMCA in Greenpoint, connecting to the Internet using its 9600bps CDMA link to look for jobs.
The QCP860's slim design was perfect for a back pocket, and it really stood out—but that mobile Internet connection was what really attracted me.
Bonus nerdery: My first wireless modem was a Ricochet modem which I used to help cover Clinton's first inauguration in Washington in 1997. Ricochet was a pre-cellular data service which used a mesh network of little radios attached to light poles around a city. I reviewed the system in 2000 for ABCNews. It cost $80 a month, but there was nothing really like it in the 20th Century for mobile Internet access. It went out of business in 2001.
The QCP860's slim design was perfect for a back pocket, and it really stood out—but that mobile Internet connection was what really attracted me.
Bonus nerdery: My first wireless modem was a Ricochet modem which I used to help cover Clinton's first inauguration in Washington in 1997. Ricochet was a pre-cellular data service which used a mesh network of little radios attached to light poles around a city. I reviewed the system in 2000 for ABCNews. It cost $80 a month, but there was nothing really like it in the 20th Century for mobile Internet access. It went out of business in 2001.
Chandra Steele, Senior Features Writer
When I finally turned in this Audiovox MVX401A, the guy behind the AT&T counter said, “We call this a weapon, not a phone.” I got it because everyone had a phone and as a student it was what I could afford (free). I saved up and traded it in for what was, for me, a super-expensive Motorola StarTAC 130. The StarTAC started my love of flip phones that reached its peak with the LG Lotus LX600, a phone that I very, very reluctantly gave up late into the iPhone era.
Joel Santo Domingo, Lead Analyst, Desktops & Laptops
My first work phone was the Motorola MicroTac 650e (pictured), which I got on a temporary assignment while covering the 1996 Democratic National Convention. I remember this strictly analog phone having a spare battery because the included one didn’t last too long.
My first personal phone I bought with my own money was a Nokia 2190 GSM phone on Omnipoint/Voicestream. I remember that it didn’t work very well outside the city, but since I was living in Manhattan, it didn’t matter. This was my first phone that let me send SMS messages, a whole 160 characters at a time! It was built like a tank, and was almost as bulky as one.
My first personal phone I bought with my own money was a Nokia 2190 GSM phone on Omnipoint/Voicestream. I remember that it didn’t work very well outside the city, but since I was living in Manhattan, it didn’t matter. This was my first phone that let me send SMS messages, a whole 160 characters at a time! It was built like a tank, and was almost as bulky as one.
M. David Stone, Lead Analyst, Printers & Scanners
My wife and I got this in the early 90s. Her work required driving through long stretches of desolate roads late at night. So she needed it to make sure she didn't get stranded between towns without any way to call for help, and I occasionally found it useful to bring with me when she wasn't using it. Smaller phones were already available, but we chose this bag phone, with its humungous battery, because it had the best chance of getting a connection even in remote areas.
Wendy Sheehan Donnell, Exec. Editor, Reviews
Back in the year 2000, after a strong reluctance to cell phone adoption, I caved and picked up the Motorola V2288 on Cingular (remember Cingular?!) mostly for its cute, curvy design and colorful rubber covers—I think it came with two. I don't remember feeling like it was huge when I was carrying it, but I'm pretty sure it was about the size of your average cordless phone. The marquee feature was integrated FM radio, and the included horrible-sounding earbuds acted as an antenna—a straight-up cutting-edge feature. When I got the first iPhone six years later, I remember thinking how the call quality on the V2288 was so much better. Ironically, these days I don't use my phone for talking. Text or email only, please!
Jim Fisher, Lead Analyst, Cameras
The Samsung SPH-A660 was a completely utilitarian choice on my part. It was 2005, I felt that I should probably have a cell phone, and this small flip phone was inexpensive on contract. No frills, no real tech to speak of, but for a few dollars you could download the Magnum, p.i. theme song as a ringtone, which, of course, I did.
Jamie Lendino, ExtremeTech Editor
I'm pretty sure my first cell phone was an Ericsson GH688 for MCI Wireless in 1997. I had it for a year when I worked for Merrill Lynch in IT (I paid for it, though. It was my personal phone). It lasted like two hours on a charge, and it had a NiMH battery, so I had to do the battery rundown-and-recharge thing periodically to preserve its precious shitty charge capacity.
Then I went cell phone-less for a year and a half, before buying a Motorola Timeport like half the people I know seemed to have.
Brian Westover, Hardware Analyst
I had a navy blue Nokia 5160, which I didn't get until I was in college. It had an 84-by-48-pixel monochrome LCD, and the fact that the screen also had a backlight for reading it in the dark was a pretty big deal. It had both Tetris and Snake on it, which was the height of phone-based gaming at the time. I may have had it through T-Mobile (or was it AT&T?), but I remember that I got a sweet deal on it thanks to a AAA discount. It also lasted more than week on a single charge (only a couple hours of actual call time), but only charging it once a week was awesome.
James Jacobsen, Designer
The Ericsson GA 628 had replaceable faceplates and was prepaid on Omnipoint. I remember buying it at a stationary store on 99th and Broadway. Every week I would use my check from working at McDonalds to go back and buy a new card that had the code on it to add minutes. It had a built-in clip that I used to secure it on my belt next to my beeper. I would use the gray faceplate in regular situations and the royal blue one when I wanted to impress girls.
Jose Ruiz, Designer
I purchased the Nextel i530 right after I graduated from high school in 2003. All my friends had Nextels during this time. We would chirp each other over the walkie-talkie feature, because unlike talking minutes and text messages, there was no monthly limit.
Alex Colon, Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics
I inherited a Kyocera KWC 2235 from my parents toward the tail end of high school, but the first phone that I actually owned was the Motorola T720c flip phone, which I got as a graduation gift. The 12-bit color screen blew me away, as did the downloadable Brew-based apps. I can still hear the ringtone (a ring, followed by an extremely robotic voice saying, "You have an incoming call") like it was yesterday. I liked the phone so much that I got another after I dropped and broke the first one. It probably would've lasted me all the way through college if I didn't leave the second one in a cab. I would've replaced it again, but Motorola had moved on to the Razr by that point.
Tony Hoffman, Analyst, Printers & Scanners
My first cell phone was a Cingular (now AT&T Mobility) Motorola V3 Razr, which I bought from RadioShack in 2006. I got it a few days after my mother’s death. I’d been considering getting a cell phone; people had urged me to, saying how useful they could be, particularly in an emergency. And then I had a real emergency, and no phone. It wouldn’t have changed anything, but it would have made communication a lot easier in that time.
I liked the Razr for its pressure-sensitive metal keypad and backlit [aqua] keys, its small form, and how you could flip it open like Kirk calling the Enterprise. Although it had email and basic Web access, I just used it as a phone. I had it for two years until my contract ran out, and I replaced it with an iPhone.
I liked the Razr for its pressure-sensitive metal keypad and backlit [aqua] keys, its small form, and how you could flip it open like Kirk calling the Enterprise. Although it had email and basic Web access, I just used it as a phone. I had it for two years until my contract ran out, and I replaced it with an iPhone.
Chris Radtke, Director of Content Strategy
Mine was the Motorola Star TAC. It was so much like a Star Trek communicator. I remember two things vividly. It had a bulbous battery. Not long after it was released I was able to buy a "slim" battery that I thought was so sleek.
Second, MCI was my service provider. One month I got a bill for over $1,000 that was utter BS. I refused to pay it and quit using a cell phone for a couple of years. I was invited to take place in the class-action lawsuit and years later I received a check. I don't remember for how much, but I think it was a couple hundred bucks.
Second, MCI was my service provider. One month I got a bill for over $1,000 that was utter BS. I refused to pay it and quit using a cell phone for a couple of years. I was invited to take place in the class-action lawsuit and years later I received a check. I don't remember for how much, but I think it was a couple hundred bucks.