I’ve been waiting for today for a long time. Today’s the day when I got to switch my phone service BACK to Verizon (for those who are keeping count, this is now my 3rd switch in 4 years).
Though I’m not much of a phone talker, it’s a bit frusterating to have to stand in one place in my apartment to have a conversation, and even then it can cut out on you. Every time I switch providers, it’s to get better service in my apartment, and then something happens within a few months, and it’s no longer the best provider for my apartment (a cell tower is taken down, a fire happens and we have to move…).
But this switch (and quite the upgrade to a better phone), has me thinking of how much phones have improved in a relatively short amount of time. I received my first cell phone for my 19th birthday (I actually went a whole semester of college without a cell phone…that would have been weird even a couple of years later!). That first phone was one of these (because really, what other phone was there to have?):
I thought it was so cool, with my 100 minutes/month, in Kansas/Oklahoma/Missouri/Illinois only (yeah, I don’t get why those 4 states were in a regional plan together, either).
A couple of years later, I upgraded to a flip phone, because of course that was cool. Then to a color flip phone, and then to a flip phone with camera.
And now, I have the enV Touch, with touch screen, flash camera, and QWERTY keyboard. (sorry, no picture, but it’s a little difficult to take a picture of a phone when the camera’s IN the phone!) These were three things that would have seemed so crazy back in 2001 when I got that first phone. Makes me wonder what phones will look like in another 8 years!
What futuristic features would you like to see phones have?
Hey FGD…I can remeber when they rang the handle on the wall to get the operator so she could ring the number you wanted…way beyond me now…
I went 4 years of college (undergrad) without a computer – because there was no such thing as a personal computer. I did have a pretty cool typewriter though!
Hey, I have a touchscreen phone too, with a QWERTY keyboard. I’m so used to it now, I pick up someone else’s phone and try to operate it as if it has a touchscreen. It throws me off. LOL!
I don’t know what a qwerty is, but I’ll take your word its great.
I think they should have a mirror on the phone somewhere to check your teeth and your makeup.
♥
Joy
I’m with OneMom, except that I didn’t have a typewriter either. I had to go to a lab to use one when I needed it.
Phones are so advanced now and above anything I ever imagined that I can’t even anticipate a feature I would want in the future. Sleep and eat for me? Drive for me…oh, there are cars that practically do that now according to the commercials! I thought Knight Rider was all in our imagination…
Oh, and my first phone…bag phone that only worked when plugged in the lighter socket in the car. It was for emergency only when I first had kids and lived in Baton Rouge, LA, mid-90′s.
I had that same phone! I think everyone had that phone. I would love an iPhone. Except that Google and Blogger is having problems right now. :(
Hahaha I had that phone too.
Right now I have a Pantech Matrix. It has a qwerty keyboard and I have good service and like it. :)
When I was in college I didn’t even have an answering machine. Of course, there were no cell phones then and PCs were few and far between (this was 1982-1986).
Anyway, my ideal phone of the future will put the clean laundry away, empty the dishwasher and put the groceries away. I may die before they come up with a phone that does all that!
We must be about the same age. I got my first phone at 19 too. I remember there were only 2 girls in my whole dorm hall who had a cell phone during my freshman year. And like you pointed out, I’m amazed at how quickly that statistic changed!
i went through 5 years of college without a cell phone because of the cost. By the way, i just got that phone yesterday and L.O.V.E. it.
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Hi Ronnica,
I just had to tell you a cute story about old cell phones. The other day I came across a phone that a friend had given my oldest daughter when hers broke. It was a nice newer one, but she ended up not needing it. So my 8 yr old asked if she could have it to play with since hers was “so old”. I laughed at her and asked, since she was only 8, how the heck would she know anything about cell phones? Then she pulls out a silver version of the first phone you showed up there. I got tickled ’cause it really was ‘old’!
I have serious phone envy. I can’t even begin to predict where phones will go. I would never have thought they would do all the things they do now. I mean a camera in your phone, that’s crazy talk, right?
I’d like to see a wasing-mahine-safe as that has been the demise of my past cell phones!
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