You’re officially old if you remember these 7 phones

It’s always fun to track the progress of phone technology because the changes don’t seem too drastic when experiencing them.

However, zooming out reveals just how far we’ve come in the last three decades. Here are 7 devices you (or a friend) most likely carried in your pocket at some point in your life, and a look back at how incredibly cool they were.

7

Motorola StarTAC

Motorola brings style to cellular phones

If you’ve never heard the phrase ‘you had to be there,’ you can now say you have. It’s hard to describe the Motorola StarTAC’s impact on cell phones. Before the StarTAC, cell phones were massive, heavy bricks with bulky batteries strapped to their backs. Motorola added style, making the StarTAC a sleek, futuristic-looking device with a durable clamshell design. It was lighter and thinner than the competition, and if you were cool in 1996, you wanted a StarTAC. It’s widely recognized as the first true flip phone, and if you’ve ever slammed a flip phone shut to end a conversation dramatically, you can thank Motorola.

Of course, the StarTAC wasn’t just a pretty face. The launch model used the older AMPS technology, connecting users like a sophisticated walkie-talkie network. However, variants that used the newer CDMA and GSM digital networks for clearer voice calls followed. Motorola also switched the StarTAC to lithium-ion batteries to make the phones lighter and have better battery life. An external LED indicator informed you if you missed a call without opening your phone and when the StarTAC was charging. There’s no doubting the influence the StarTAC had on the history of cellular phones, and if you remember having one or wanting one, you’re officially old.

6

Nokia 8265

Two things will survive the end of the world

Whether it was the Nokia 8265 or another similar variant, you or someone you knew owned a Nokia brick at some point. People say only cockroaches would survive an apocalyptic event, but they had better add the Nokia 8265 to that list. It was a small but mighty device weighing only 96g. You could drop one out of a window, run it over with a car, and pick it up to make a phone call as if nothing had happened. It was also compact, fitting perfectly into jeans pockets.

Although small, its lithium-ion battery was effective. It could offer up to six days of standby time or 3.5 hours of talk time with a single charge. We didn’t measure battery life in screen-on time 25 years ago, but those tiny monochrome LEDs didn’t take much power. It was all about how long you could talk on it, which was important since its primary function was actually calling people.

It’s also difficult to recreate the excitement of finding the perfect interchangeable faceplate for your Nokia 8265 at a local mall kiosk. If you remember the Nokia 8265, we’re already friends.

5

T-Mobile Sidekick

When T9 texting wouldn’t cut it

I can’t accurately describe my jealousy of T-Mobile users in the early 2000s. I wanted a Sidekick in the worst way, but I was still on my AT&T plan (before the Cingular merger), using a Motorola V60i and drooling whenever I’d meet someone pounding out texts on a Sidekick. If you’re not a child of the late 80s or early 90s, I have no frame of reference for how painful T9 texting was. Imagine hitting the same button 3 or 4 times to type out one letter. It was a tedious process, although it taught us to be concise.

The Sidekick changed that, giving lucky T-Mobile users a full QWERTY keyboard once the screen was flipped out. It was a bit bulky for the time, but the trade-off was worth it. You could pound out messages to your heart’s content and be the envy of every person you met without one — including me.

4

Motorola Razr V3

When thin wasn’t thin enough

Smartphone manufacturers obsess over making devices thinner yearly, but they can’t replicate the feeling of picking up a Motorola Razr V3 for the first time. In an era of bulky cellular phones, it was just 13.9 mm thick. Motorola fitted the original Razr with an aluminum body, another contrast to its primarily plastic contemporaries.

Like the StarTAC, the Razr became a status symbol as celebrities adopted it as their phone of choice. By the time it was over, Motorola had sold over 130 million Razrs, leaving such an impression that the company was able to launch a nostalgia-fueled revival with the newer, folding Razr phones. You remember the first time you picked up a Razr, and I doubt any smartphone manufacturer will be able to duplicate that excitement anytime soon.

3

LG Chocolate

Mobile music before the iPhone

I don’t need more reasons to mourn the loss of LG phones, but the Chocolate deserves a spot on this list. If you liked listening to music on the go, you were tempted by its multimedia capabilities in the mid-2000s. While other phones struggled with music, forcing us to buy and download music from carrier digital stores, LG included the software to play your own tracks. Load up a MicroSD card, pop it into the LG Chocolate, and pull up the included MP3 software, and you were listening to music.

The LG Chocolate also features a stylish design, touch-sensitive buttons, and a vivid display. LG offered the Chocolate in various colors, adding to its cool factor. I had a later model, but despite carrying around an iPod, there was something fun about using an LG Chocolate.

2

Samsung Galaxy S

Android takes shape

The Samsung Galaxy S, released in 2010, set us on a trajectory toward the Galaxy devices we have today. It sported a brilliant 4-inch Super AMOLED display when the iPhone used smaller LCD panels. It also included 512MB of RAM and a 1,500mAh removable battery. I never had a Galaxy S, but I knew someone who did, and I was always jealous that whenever he got low on battery, he could pop off the backplate and slap in another one. Granted, he had to do that a lot since battery drain was an issue on those early Galaxy devices, but the option was fantastic.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S with Android 2.1 and its TouchWiz 3.0 skin. If you’ve never used TouchWiz, consider yourself lucky. Samsung’s software lagged horribly, and even though One UI 7 is considered among the best Android software today, the company had some growing pains. No one shed a tear when TouchWiz went away, and the Galaxy S is better known for what it spawned rather than its performance.

1

HTC Evo 4G

HTC proved nothing lasts forever

For the first part of the 2010s, the HTC Evo was synonymous with Android. At that time, you couldn’t turn on a television and not see multiple ads for Sprint featuring the HTC Evo 4G. It was a popular phone, and for good reason. The HTC Evo had a gorgeous 4.3-inch LCD panel — a large display for the time. I remember loving its built-in metal kickstand, ideal for watching videos with the phone propped up on my desk.

Of course, the Evo had staying power because of its software. It launched with Android 2.1 and HTC Sense UI, the company’s iconic Android skin. I could show anyone the HTC clock widget, and they’d know what I was talking about. Sense UI was a dream for customizers, as you could use themes and skins, not to mention HTC’s fun weather widget. It also just worked better than competing skins at the time, with other Android phones suffering from lag with basic animations, while the HTC Evo was silky smooth. The HTC Evo 4G was an experience; if you were around to own one, you’d agree.

Phones used to be a lot of fun

I’m not someone who claims smartphones are boring. I love technology, and each phone brings some excitement in its own way. However, it’s hard to deny phones used to differ much more than they do today. The variety made them fun, and that’s what I miss most. Companies are too focused on boiling down a phone to offend the least number of people instead of trying to dazzle us with bold and interesting designs. Sure, even today’s budget smartphones are significantly more powerful than phones of yesteryear, but that doesn’t make them better.