I can’t remember where this post idea came from, maybe it was an episode of Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata where they talked about the phones they had in the past? In any event, I’ve had this blog idea languishing on my Notes app for a while, and I’m glad to finally get a chance to write this post! It was fun to think back about all the different phones I’ve had throughout my life. Cell phones became a “thing” in high school for me. I started high school in 2002, graduating in 2006, and by the end of high school, it was something everyone seemed to have. It was really fun to think back on all the different phones I’ve had and the memories they evoked. 🙂
Nokia 3310 (the old-school brick phone)
This was the first phone I ever had, but I shared it with my mom so I don’t know if I can actually consider it my first phone. I think we got this phone in either my sophomore or junior year of high school (2004 or 2005). Probably my junior year because I think my mom wanted me to bring it with me to school, as I was going to be on a college campus. (I attended a collegiate high school for my last two years, where we attended college classes alongside finishing our high school requirements, allowing us to graduate with our high school diploma and Associates of Arts degree simultaneously). I still think fondly of that little brick phone, especially because we had this really fun hard-shell flowery case for it!
Samsung flip phone
In my senior year of high school (2005-2006), I got my own phone! This Samsung flip phone was my pride and joy, but I remember that it didn’t have a camera on it and that was so annoying because all of my other friends with camera phones could upload pictures to their MySpace accounts, haha. I just wanted a photo for social media! I remember my old high school best friend bringing in her mom’s digital camera to take a picture of me so I would have something for MySpace. How old school is that?!
Motorola RAZR
Oh yeahhhh! I was so proud of my Motorola RAZR. I really thought I was hot shit with this phone. Maybe it was because I was never the kid who got the latest and greatest tech products, but damn, I was so happy to have this cool phone that everyone else had. I loved my little RAZR. I can’t exactly remember when I got it—maybe before going off to college in 2006? Probably sometime around then.
Samsung Instinct
Dang, even looking at the photo of this phone brings back so many fond memories. It was my first touchscreen phone and I loved it so, so, so, so much. I loved the camera, the touchscreen elements (a new technology for phones!), and being able to use the Internet so easily! And then, one day while on my college campus, I left the phone in a public bathroom. And someone, of course, stole it. I was so annoyed with myself and a little scared to tell my mom what had happened. (She was very forgiving, as I wasn’t a kid who constantly lost or broke phones.) I was so sad to lose that phone, though.
Blackberry Curve
My next phone was a Blackberry Curve, which I think I got because all of the healthy living bloggers I followed had these phones. (Maybe?) I really liked it! I got it sometime in 2010 or 2011 when I was finishing up my college degree. It served me well, as it was easy to use Twitter and Facebook on it (I don’t think Instagram was around just yet, or if it was, I wasn’t using it). I could check email easily (the only emails I got were blog comments, but I was obsessed with checking them and responding quickly!). And it had a fairly good camera.
iPhone
And here we come to the end of our phone journey, as I went to iPhone in 2012 and never looked back! My first-ever iPhone was the 4S and I’ve steadily upgraded it every 1-2 years. (I’m using the iPhone 11 right now, and will likely upgrade to the 13 soon.) I was so happy to get my first iPhone—it was such a step up from my Blackberry. There were more apps, a better camera, and a more user-friendly interface. The screen was bigger and brighter. It was everything I wanted!
What was your first phone? How old were you when you got it?