It may be onerous to recollect a life earlier than smartphones, now that they’ve changed maps, watches, calendars and cameras, to call only a few.
However as soon as upon a time we had been all clicking buttons as an alternative of tapping screens, and furiously hitting ‘again’ after we unintentionally opened an web browser, simply in case it used up our credit score.
Cell phones have come a really good distance because the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X – the primary ever cordless handset which launched in 1983 and took ten hours to cost.
From the retro Nokia 3310 to the game-changing iPhone, MailOnline takes a take a look at on the high ten most iconic mobiles of all time.
What number of of those telephones do you recognise?: From the retro Nokia 3310 to the game-changing iPhone, MailOnline takes a take a look at on the high ten most iconic mobiles of all time
TOP TEN MOST ICONIC PHONES: HOW MANY DO YOU REMEMBER?
Nokia 3310Motorola RAZR V3iPhone 3GMotorola DynaTAC 8000XLG ChocolateBlackBerry Daring 9000Nokia 7280Sony Ericsson W800Nokia 9000Samsung Galaxy Observe
1. Nokia 3310
Nokia 3310 is arguably essentially the most recognisable of all cellphones that pre-date the touchscreen.
It made its debut within the yr 2000, with its most important new function being a ‘Chat’ perform with allowed for immediate messaging with SMS textual content messages.
A press launch on the time stated: ‘With this innovation, Web discussion groups will not be confined to the desktop.
‘The Nokia 3310 has been designed notably for younger folks and the younger at coronary heart, for whom the cell phone is a vital life-style accent and who’re already extensively utilizing numerous messaging companies.’
The perform additionally tripled the variety of characters a consumer might match into one message to at 459 characters.
The cellphone additionally boasted a calculator, stopwatch and reminder function, all of which had been uncommon on the time.
You could possibly additionally obtain new ringtones, though many had been happy with the inimitable ‘Grande Valse’.
It hosted the traditional shoot-em-up sport House Impression together with Snake II, which had been common on Nokia gadgets because the Nineteen Nineties.
Nokia 3310 made its debut within the yr 2000, with its most important new function being a ‘Chat’ perform with allowed for immediate messaging with SMS textual content messages
You could possibly even swap its cowl for a customized model, turning the cellular from only a purposeful gadget into the most recent vogue accent.
Nonetheless, the true cause this 133-gram gadget has stood the check of time is as a result of it was deemed close to indestructible.
Over time, many movies have been made showcasing what the gadget can survive, together with a 1,00 ft drop and being sliced by a Katana.
2. Motorola RAZR V3
Coming in second is the fashionable Motorola RAZR, which, at simply 13.9mm, was the thinnest cell phone available on the market when it launched in 2004.
Its modern design elevated it over the opposite flip telephones of the period, main it to promote over 130 million items and change into one of the best promoting clamshell cellphone up to now.
It singlehandedly put Motorola’s cellphone division again in revenue after gross sales stagnated main as much as its launch.
The V3 got here in a number of colors, together with a scorching pink, and Motorola even teamed up with Dolce and Gabbana to create a restricted version gold model.
Whereas its futuristic luminescent keypad did make it stand out, the gadget additionally acquired a leg-up by being featured in quite a few films and TV exhibits,
These included ”The Satan Wears Prada’ with Meryl Streep, ‘A Good Yr’ starring Russell Crowe, and season finales of ‘Jail Break’ and ‘Misplaced’.
These included ”The Satan Wears Prada’ with Meryl Streep (pictured), ‘A Good Yr’ starring Russell Crowe, ‘Jail Break’ and ‘Misplaced’
3. iPhone 3G
The primary iPhone was launched by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in January 2007 at MacWorld San Francisco, with the slogan ‘Apple reinvents the cellphone’.
That June, the 8 GB model was launched to the general public at $599 – or £269 on the time – and it grew to become Apple’s most profitable product, promoting over 6.1 million items.
Its iconic touchscreen and format of apps endlessly modified the smartphone trade, and was named the Time Journal Invention of the Yr in 2007.
The primary iPhone was launched by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in January 2007 at MacWorld San Francisco, with the slogan ‘Apple reinvents the cellphone’
The unique iPhone, referred to unofficially because the ‘iPhone 1’ or ‘iPhone 2G’, got here with both 4, 8 or 16 GB of storage and a 2 megapixel digital camera.
This can be a far cry from the 1 TB of storage and 48 megapixel digital camera provided by the most recent iPhone 14 Professional.
It additionally nonetheless had a headphone jack, residence button and huge borders round its comparatively tiny 3.5-inch show.
The gadget additionally pre-dated the front-facing ‘selfie’ digital camera, and had solely a single lens on the rear.
When it comes to performance, the iPhone couldn’t use 3G to entry the web or copy and paste, however its lack of any form of keyboard modified cellphones endlessly.
It was on January 9 2007 that late Apple founder, Steve Jobs, went on stage to announce it was about to disclose ‘an iPod, a cellphone and an web communicator’
4. Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the world’s first moveable cell phone, weighing a whopping 784 g (1.75 lbs), and was price £3,000 within the UK in 1985.
Whereas it sounds hefty, this was really slightly trim compared to different gadgets which had been normally put in in vehicles or briefcases.
The behemoth – affectionately dubbed the ‘brick cellphone’ – required ten hours to cost with a normal charger, and with that you might make a name of as much as an hour.
It largely grew to become related to younger folks with nicely paying company jobs, usually in promoting or the inventory market.
The cellphone was additionally featured in lots of films within the Eighties, together with ‘Wall Road’ and ‘American Psycho’.
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (pictured) was the world’s first moveable cell phone, weighing a whopping 784 g (1.75 lbs), and was price £3,000 within the UK in 1985. Now, it’s the most worthwhile handset to flog on-line, promoting for a mean value of £1,776.01
5. LG Chocolate
Just like the Motorola RAZR, the LG Chocolate shot to cell phone stardom in 2006 for being one thing that regarded cool in your hand.
Whereas variations of the primary design had been rolled out in numerous international locations, all of them featured pink, touch-sensitive buttons and modern curves.
The UK model, the KG800, was a slider design that exposed a keypad beneath, and doubled up as an MP3 participant.
Regardless of coming in a wide range of colors, It’s thought to have kicked off the craze of pink-coloured devices within the latter finish of the noughties.
It additionally got here in a singular chocolate smelling field, which can or might not have helped it change into the hottest cellphone in LG’s historical past.
Just like the Motorola RAZR, the LG Chocolate (pictured) shot to cell phone stardom for being one thing that regarded cool in your hand
6. BlackBerry Daring 9000
With a full QWERTY keyboard and a trackball controller, the BlackBerry handsets had been like no different once they got here into recognition.
Maybe essentially the most iconic of all of them was the BlackBerry Daring 9000, which helped take them from enterprise gadgets to the ‘it’ product for youngsters.
Who might neglect BlackBerry Messenger, or ‘BBM’, which was 2008’s reply to WhatsApp, accessible to an unique membership of BlackBerry customers.
Regardless of its classroom recognition, the Daring was marketed as a premium, black-and-chrome gadget that includes a leather-like backplate for ‘profitable professionals’ and ‘profession builders’.
With a full QWERTY keyboard and a trackball controller, the BlackBerry handsets had been like no different once they got here into recognition
7. Nokia 7280
Whereas the title ‘Nokia 7280’ might not ring a bell instantly, seeing an image of it would probably jog your reminiscence again to 2004.
Nicknamed the ‘Lipstick Cellphone’, this rectangular gadget was deliberately designed to appear like the beauty as a part of Nokia’s ‘Trend Cellphone’ line.
It had a slider finish that exposed a pink digital camera and emanated the movement of coming out a lipstick, in addition to a Navi-Spinner instead of a standard keypad.
Nokia 7280 was fabricated from plastic, metallic and leather-based, and even had a material ‘Nokia’ label protruding the aspect.
The display additionally pale right into a mirror when it was inactive, but when that wasn’t sufficient to enchantment to its youthful demographic, its options in music movies sealed the deal.
The cellphone made appearances within the movies for ‘Beep’ by the Pussycat Dolls, ‘Get Proper’ by Jennifer López and ‘Say I’ by Christina Milian.
The Nokia 7280 was referred to as the ‘lipstick’ cellphone and had a spinner as an alternative of a keypad
The cellphone made appearances within the movies for ‘Beep’ by the Pussycat Dolls (pictured), ‘Get Proper’ by Jennifer López and ‘Say I’ by Christina Milian
8. Sony Ericsson W800
The Sony Ericsson W800 was the primary cellphone to staff up with Walkman and actually market itself as a music participant first, communication gadget second.
This was pushed by the massive success of Apple’s iPod music participant, which had offered over 10 million items by 2005 when the W800 was launched.
The gadget got here with a 512MB Reminiscence Stick Duo card which might retailer 250 tracks that could possibly be downloaded from the pc as both MP3 or AAC recordsdata.
Its color scheme of white and orange and big 2MP digital camera lens additionally helped it stand out from the opposite handsets of the time.
The tiny joystick used to navigate the cellphone was a unusual addition too, nevertheless this generated some complaints because it was straightforward to break/
A full cost might help 30 hours of music playback when in Airplane Mode or 400 hours on standby – stats enviable to the smartphone giants of at present.
The Sony Ericsson W800 was the primary cellphone to staff up with Walkman and actually market itself as a music participant first, communication gadget second
The gadget got here with a 512MB Reminiscence Stick Duo card which might retailer 250 tracks that could possibly be downloaded from the pc as both MP3 or AAC recordsdata
9. Nokia 9000
The Nokia 9000 got here out in 1996 and shook the trade with its enormous 24MHz processor and 8MB of reminiscence.
From the surface, the 397 gram beast regarded like a daily cellphone, nevertheless it could possibly be flipped open to disclose an additional show and full QWERTY keyboard.
It boasted plenty of top-of-the-range options, together with a doc dealing with and enhancing instrument, alarm clock, calendar and composer to create your individual ringtones.
The gadget additionally had web connectivity, permitting the consumer to entry their emails in addition to faxes – a necessary perform within the 90s.
It featured within the 1997 movie ‘The Saint’, utilized by Val Kilmer’s tech thief character.
The Nokia 9000 got here out in 1996 and shook the trade with its enormous 24MHz processor and 8MB of reminiscence.
From the surface, the 397 gram beast regarded like a daily cellphone, nevertheless it could possibly be flipped open to disclose an additional show and full QWERTY keyboard
10. Samsung Galaxy Observe
When the primary Samsung Galaxy Observe arrived in 2011, its 5.3-inch (13.5 cm) display appeared ridiculous – who would wish a cellphone that giant?
It earned the model new classification of the ‘phablet’ – a cross between a cellphone and a pill – which was rapidly deserted as soon as different gadgets grew their screens to comparable sizes.
On the time of launch, Samsung stated the massive display allowed the consumer ‘to do extra duties to create and devour extra, with minimal scrolling and display transitions, whereas on the go’.
The gadget got here with an ‘S Pen’ stylus that allowed the consumer to faucet or draw on its vibrant HD Tremendous AMOLED show, which proved successful.
It’s extensively thought to be having paved the best way for the large smartphones available on the market at present, together with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 with its 7.6-inch (19 cm) show.
However as an alternative of utilizing a stylus to overcome a display this huge, we’ve reverted again to the traditional flip cellphone design.
The primary Samsung Galaxy Observe got here with an ‘S Pen’ stylus that allowed the consumer to faucet or draw on its vibrant HD Tremendous AMOLED show, which proved successful
TOP 20 MOST PROFITABLE RETRO PHONES ON EBAY
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X – £1,776.01HTC Contact Diamond2 – £542.90iPhone – £542.55iPhone 3G – £301.68Motorola RAZR2 – £239.25Motorola Microtac 9800X – £230.36Motorola Worldwide 3200 – £215.50Nokia 7280 – £180.44Nokia N79 – £171.62Ericsson T39 – £146.85Nokia E90 Communicator – £134.25Nokia N-Gage – £112.90Nokia 9000 Communicator – £112.52HTC Common – £104.25Nokia 9110I – £100.75Motorola RAZR2 V9 – £93.44Nokia 7600 – £86.69Nokia 2100 – £66.74Sidekick LX 2009 – £57.09Nokia 8110 – £56.70
