New Day, New Phone
Posted in Modern Technology and tagged with Phone, Technology on August 7, 2009I’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?
August 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
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…
Twitter: One_Mom
Says:
August 7th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
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!
August 7th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
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!
August 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
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
August 7th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
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…
August 7th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
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.
August 7th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
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. :(
Twitter: caitysparkles
Says:
August 7th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
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. :)
August 7th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
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!
August 7th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
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!
August 7th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
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.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:03 am
[...] stop playing with my phone! Share and [...]
August 8th, 2009 at 2:29 am
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’!
August 9th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
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?
August 11th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I’d like to see a wasing-mahine-safe as that has been the demise of my past cell phones!
January 19th, 2011 at 12:36 am
[...] I got my last new phone a year and a half ago (I had to get another so soon as I’m switching back to AT&T for work…4th company [...]