How old were you when you got your first mobile 📱 phone 📱?

[Awantika03]

[MrOracle]

I was 26 or 27. It was a Sony CM-H333 aka the "Mars Bar" analog ("1G") phone.

Exciting features include:

- Holds 13 saved phone numbers - 3 one-touch buttons and 10 2-button numbers.

- Small (for the time) form factor

- Answer calls by flipping up the grey ear piece, and hang up by flipping it down.

- Charging base

- Wrist strap

- Optional leather case (which I had).

Being an analog phone, there was no such thing as texting, no "contacts" (just a handful of phone numbers could be stored), and certainly no data capabilities of any kinds.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle How did you remember who was which Speed-Dial number? Did you just memorize them? Did you have any particular system?

[Jamie05rhs]

Also, which company provided the service? And how much did they charge? Was there a limit to the number of calls you could make?

And did it only work in certain areas?

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs GTE was the provider (which eventually combined with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon). I don't remember what the service cost, but there was definitely a calling limit - something like 300 minutes per month on my calling plan, and hefty overage fees per minute if you went over.

As far as the speed dials, you just had to remember - but most people had their frequently called numbers memorized because you normally called from a land line phone with no speed dials at all, so you had to memorize numbers or carry a personal phone book/note pad and look them up. It wasn't that hard when you could only store 13 numbers - most people had at least 20 phone numbers memorized. Business people often carried a daily planner - a paper-based calendar, to-do list, phone/address book, etc. Franklin Planners were a big deal in the business world for a couple of decades.

[MrOracle]

The paper planner eventually become the PDA (personal digital assistant), with the Palm Pilot being the most popular.



They had a monochrome screen and a plastic stylus and you had to use a simplified gesture alphabet to "write" on it, but they also had a dock you could hook to your computer, and if you had an electronic calendar (such as Microsoft Outlook), it could sync to that.



Eventually they came out with color screens, and Palm licensed out the OS to other companies (I had a Sony Clie), and then they finally started combining PDAs into 2G phones to become the first generation of smart phones.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle I remember GTE. I think they had phone booths.

Oh, so they had a minute meter. Gotcha. I had that with several of my first cell phones as well (before everyone went Unlimited.)

Okay; gotcha.
I remember some phones had a little sticker on the back or the inside of the receiver, with blank lines where you could fill in people's phone numbers with a pen. (Just 5 to 10, though. Because there was limited space, obviously.)

Yeah- I had several numbers memorized. My own house, my grandma, my school, church, and my friend's parents. And my favorite local radio stations. Lol.

I had a list of personal contacts, but I kept it at home; I didn't carry it around with me. That would have been too much of a hassle.

[Jamie05rhs]

I had planners like that for school.

[Jamie05rhs]

I never had a Palm Pilot, but I did have a Rolodex (the electronic kind.)

[MrOracle]

My second phone was another Sony analog phone, and it was the smallest phone in the world at the time - about the size of an Altoids mint tin. The microphone was on a stalk that flipped down. It also had a jog wheel to go through your stored numbers, but still only stored numbers.

I'd had it about 2 years on Sprint (which is not the same company that became the Sprint that T-Mobile bought a couple of years ago - mergers do strange things over the years) when the analog network was being phased out, and Sprint gave me a huge discount to move to the digital (2G) version of the same phone, the Sony CMD-Z1:



This was the first cell phone I owned that had an actual contact list - you could store a name with the phone number - and had a bigger screen so you could see both on the screen at the same time. This was a new feature that came out with 2G (i. e., digital) phones around 1998/1999.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle You mean when Sprint was still red (not yellow)?

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs Yes, good memory. It WAS red back then. LOL.

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That original Sprint cellular company ended up being merged into Verizon, and a few years later the former parent sold to another company which created a new Sprint Corporation - the yellow one.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle Yep- that one! 👍

But I thought they merged with NEXTEL.

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs The second Sprint bought Nextel and the iDen network, but like so many Sprint investments, they overpaid for a dying technology. They shut down the iDen network about 6 years later and lost several billion on the deal. They also bought into a competitor to LTE that was also essentially a failure and multi-billion-dollar write-off. That second iteration of Sprint seemed to always pick the losers rather than the winners in every technology decision they made, which ultimately led them to sell themselves to T-Mo.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle Oh; I see. That's unfortunate.

[Jamie05rhs]

So did NEXTEL help them at all? Or was it a complete bust?
(Besides the NASCAR deal.)

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs Not much. It got them a pool of customers they didn't have, but it's hard to say if they were able to keep those customers. If they left Sprint once their contract was up, then, no, that wouldn't really help them. I don't know what the figures were, but they definitely took a sizable write-down in value.

[Jamie05rhs]

Ah; I see. So maybe Mark Warner sold them a bill of goods.

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs Well, he sold them a dying technology. Nextel was already on a long downward slide when Sprint bought them, and no one else was interested, for good reason. Would you invest in ICE (internal combustion engine) cars today? Probably not, given that they're quickly going away. But that's what Sprint did.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle Okay. Well, he always has been a slick salesman.

But I would still invest in internal combustion engines, because it's being shown now that electric car batteries are both unreliable and unsafe, and people are becoming more and more aware of that.

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs Poor engineering is unsafe. But if you haven't been paying attention, EV adoption has been accelerating every year, and 5 years from now, it will be over 50% of the market. As it is, ICE vehicle makers are all having trouble selling their inventory.

It's true that the legacy auto makers thought they could use 3-generation-old battery technology (because it was cheap) for electric cars, and it turns out that it doesn't work. But Tesla has shown that it absolutely can be done - you just need to use the right engineering. Legacy auto just isn't used to having to work that hard. I guess that's why the Tesla Model Y is going to be the best selling car on the planet this year.

[Jamie05rhs]

@MrOracle They're having trouble selling their inventory because everything has been inflated due to the supply chain issues. Nobody wants to pay $30,000 for a car. That's ridiculous.

[Jamie05rhs]

What about all of the Teslas catching on fire and blowing up?

[MrOracle]

@Jamie05rhs Tesla has sold 4M+ EVs, more than half of those in the last 2 years. Tesla's catch on fire at a rate of 1/18th as often as ICE cars do. Of the three news reports I've read about "Teslas" catching on fire in the mainstream news, one was a PoleStar and one was a Hyundai Ionic 5. The third was a Tesla Model 7 that got rear-ended by a big truck at an intersection and hit the divider, where the crosswalk post dug into the battery pack from the severe impact.

Now, if you want to talk about all the Chevy Bolt fires, that's another story. Pouch cells are not appropriate for EVs. That's why they had to recall all of them, and why they're discontinuing the Bolt this year.

[humanearth]

I never had one, never seen a point to owning one when my house phone is way cheaper. I think I paid 5 bucks for my telephone in 1990s and its still works today.
Don't have to worry about drop calls, voice mail, and so on

Plus I don't have to carry it with me. I think cellphones are stupid

[humanearth]

And a waste of money

[19magic]

Damn I think I'm the youngest lol, I got mine at six dad had made me memorise his number as my mother was off her rockers a bit and liked to go gallivanting across the country and block his visiting attempts. He wanted me to always be able to contact him in case anything toobad happens, I still remember calling the police on her a few times... Such fun memories lol

[Anemone978]

My first mobile phone I got at 15 but when it got shut off I never hooked it up again just used it to take pictures of me and my friends.. my next cellphone I got just to make international calls to my boyfriend and other online friends when I was 21 then I always had a cellphone but almost never use it for calls lol.

[Likes2drive]

It wasn’t a thing when I got one, they were very expensive to even have a service for much less buy and I bought it myself at 25 and the only thing the with the use for was voice calls since there was no texting or such thing as a smart phone

[razelove]

I think I was 15 or 16 and got the nokia brick phone, it was such a thing of beauty, not having to be next to the land line anymore when I wanted to get laid... or have someone else pick up and listen, truly a paradigm shift.

Back in my day, this was high tech!

[FreyaRed]

I had just a dumb phone until I was 16. I bought a smartphone for first money I earned. It wasn't because of money and it was a little bit embarrassing being among kids with Iphones and Galaxies which cost more than a used car. However it didn't kill me.

[Anonymous]

I think 12, so not too soon after starting high school. It was not a smartphone and it was really just for safety reasons although I had some music downloaded.

I know you didn’t ask but when I have children I feel like I want to give them phones at the same age but I don’t want their phones/devices to be able to access the internet until like 14/15. I know that might seem strict but I feel like I was exposed to some things too early lol.

[D_Bone_Steak]

20 to 22, somewhere in that. I was already in Japan living there and they were ahead of us at the time... that stupid slide-out keyboard was so futuristic back then. Last I was in Japan... the technology evened out... as far as phones go.

[Lliam]

I'm not sure. The company I worked for gave all it's field agents flip phones soon after they came out, probably around 1996 or7.
I must have gotten my own around 2010 when I retired after 30 years at age 56. It was an iPhone.

[OfMiceandMen]

I was 27, it was one of those brick phones for in the car. I also had a satellite phone. It was a work phone because I would be dropped off in the middle of Northern, Ontario to do mine claim work, and had to check in.

[Anonymous]

Late 20's maybe. I fought it as long as I could. People kept getting mad at me because they couldn't get ahold of me. I used to piss them off because when they said "how am I supposed to get ahold of you"? I'd tell them, "stick your head out the window and yell".

[Sour-rose]

16. or 13. It was in middle school, aaand it was a trash phone but it was the beginning. No internet, pay per text and was a cheese block. (not like a brick)

[Static_In_The_Attic]

Thanks to you I took a trip back in cellphone land & I rounded up my first phones.

[menina]

I was 8 years old. Now I know it was too early but at that time I was crazy about mobile phones, so I really wanted to have one.

[exitseven]

I was 42. It was one of these

[The_Shadow_Dweller]

Honestly, it looks way better than the smartphones we have today. If this comes in the market again, I will surely but it again. Anything to get away from this darn thing😤😸

I also wish to have a landline phone. Those were the days. I still remember them.

[exitseven]

@The_Shadow_Dweller I kept this for years. I went back to the Verizon store to get a new battery for it and the kid laughed a little bit. I figured it was time to retire it

[Unit1]

18 - first cellphone. Bought with my hard earned money doing unofficial back-breaking manual labor.

22 - first smartphone. Also bought with my hard earned money but with a employment contract this time.

[Lionman95]

I was 16 or 17. Funnily back then I always feared clicking on the internet button since it was very expensive.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

Got a flip phone in the 4th grade. My parents were adamant that it was only for them to call me lol

[Aiko_E_Lara]

12 and it was some sort of a slide phone kinda like this but neon green. I'm not sure of it's specific model tho.

[Apple1996]

I was 10 but I had to share it with two of my brothers 🙄

[gayesblog]

I got my first mobile phone when I was 10 or 11 years old :)

[NathanDavis]

I was 20 years old... lol

[Apulu_Imback]

When I was 12 but it was taken away after 2 years. I have a tablet now.

[pervertedjester]

Somewhere in my mid 20s. I remember not wanting one for the longest time because of the sketchy phone plans back in the day.

[SeriouslyFunny00]

I got mine when I was 9 years old, it was a gift from my dad.

[Nikki1989]

I was 29 and that was only because it was a work requirement.

[DizzyDesii]

I was in 5th or 6th grade somewhere between 10-12

[PBandJ_Nerd]

I got mine at 20 years. old. We kept having to get new phones though.

[talka20]

The first that i bought ummm 19... but before that i had other phones that were not being used by any of my femily members

[DermalPunch]

I was 16. It was one of those brick Nokias. I was loyal to them then they just fell off.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

I was in my 20s when I got my first cell phone.

[Jazzy54]

If memory serves me right, 14? 🤔 I was to use it for emergencies only, though.

[art84]

24 years old or 25 years old can't really remember though. I remember having a flip phone as it was cheaper.

[Pudsmucker]

50.

I hate Mobile phones I do not like mobile phones but my employment requires me to have a mobile phone.

[Redstang88]

Umm 14 I think? Didn’t want it, mom got it so I wasn’t completely off the grid all the time

[bolverk]

30 years old, in 1992, a plastic brick called a Phillips Diga.

[najekim]

Early 40's, if I remember correctly. Didn't have a need for one until I opened my own business.

[Anonymous]

probably 14. or at least 13 almost 14. i think when i started high school.

[altaboy]

I think I was in my mid twenties. Motorola MicroTac!

[Sparkie460]

I think I was in my 30's when I got my first cell phone. I had a beeper first

[CB-Raido-Time]

I was in my mid 30's and now I wish they never existed.

[roy_ricky09]

How old you {WERE} when you get your first mobile 📱 phone 📱?

[Paul09]

18 , bought if myself. Like everyone should. Kids with smartphones, not so smart

[AdithyaR]

Unfortunately some of us needed one at a much younger age since we'd go to coaching classes and stuff and needed to be able to contact our parents.

[Paul09]

@AdithyaR well then they should have a flip phone. Or a phone only for calling and texting

[AdithyaR]

With the current times considering how obsolete flip phones are, I see no problem with a parent giving their child a smartphone provided they teach them how to use it responsibly

[Paul09]

@AdithyaR Well smart phones turn everyone into screen zombies.

[AdithyaR]

Only if the kid isn't taught to manage their screen time. Depends on the individual and their parents.

[digitalguy01]

I got a phone for myself when I was 21 or 22. It was a Nokia 3315

[ItsZaman]

ma jado apna pehla phone lya si odo ma 16 saal da si. tusi?

[karekaaaa]

When i was 15 years old
There was nokia and samsung only 😂 then blackberry came i think🤔

[Genie23]

I was 14, I think. I can't remember, lol

[electromagnetic]

I was 19 and it was an HTC slide up phone.

[The_Shadow_Dweller]

I was in 6th standard.

[Guardian45]

Pardone?

[Astarlessnightsky]

somewhat between 14~16, around 2000

[DancingQueen16]

I got my first phone on my 10th birthday

[worldscolide]

I was 18, back in 2001

[DaddyDiablo]

Probably like 13/14 maybe 15 lol

[AdithyaR]

My first one was at the age of 15.

[Anonymous]

I got my 1st phone at 16

[Babygirl_S]

A dumb phone at 14 and smartphone at 17.

[Arik_jade]

I was 16 years old when I got first phone.

[Rizwan_khan]

I got my mobile phone when i was 18 years old.

[Anonymous]

I was in 8th standard.

[dragoblack]

17 and a brick track phone

[Luckycharms12]

11 when got my first one

[nawtee_me]

In my thirties when the first came out.

[Guardian45]

What year did mobiles become available?