Phone sizes

[VWD]

Any one remember the phones of a few years ago. My first one was an Alcatel, not too big.Then came my anti theft phone- an Ericson, a massive brick. Then after that phones became smaller. I've got a couple of old Nokia fold ones which are shorter than a credit card. NOW- they're getting big again. My smartphone ( Nokia) is almost as large as my old Ericson brick, with my son's & daughters ones a lot bigger.

[GentleGiant]

My first mobile was the first phone offered by Orange - called the Nokia Orange; built like a brick hits house and capable of surviving the Christmas holidays left in a puddle by the siade of my car.

[octyal]

My first mobile was the first phone offered by Orange - called the Nokia Orange; built like a brick hits house and capable of surviving the Christmas holidays left in a puddle by the siade of my car.

 

Sounds like the Orange version of the 5110 (although I think it was a colour version - one of the first with a colour screen - and I think I still have both )

 

I remember one of my old phones from years ago was a Sony J6 - weighed about as much as a sparrow

[PetrolDave]

I was one of the design team for the first TACS (i.e. analog) Technophone PC-105 mobile phone back in the mid-1980's - it was literally the size of half a house brick (and weighed almost as much!), but at least it was slightly(!) smaller than the only competition which was a Motorola phone.

 

Several years later in the early 2000's I worked for part of the AT&T empire which then developed the microchips for Samsung, who produced what was possibly the smallest yet (ever?) folding flip phone using our microchips.

 

Now I'm retired and have become an Apple phone user - originally an iPhone 5 but I found the on-screen keyboard too small for my (now chunky) fingers so via an iPhone 6|+ I now have an iPhone 7+. Compared to the PC-105 it's smaller in all dimensions, much lighter, has a much longer battery life, works just about anywhere on the world (not just the UK) and does so much more.

[Chris]

My first was a Motorola M3788 which ran on a battery pack essentially made up of 4 AA batteries wrapped in plastic.

I then went ultra high tech and had a O2 XDA. Then an XDA II and then the Vodafone version of the XDA exec. A proper mini smartphone running windows with a flip screen and proper keyboard. Sometimes I wish there was something like that now. It was a brick but so so useful!

I'm now running a Nexus 6 which is massive but functional and a Samsung S7 Edge which is pretty to look at but I dont get the curved screen!

I'd say my Nexus is a similar size to my XDA, maybe even a bit bigger!

[sigarland1987]

First phone was a Phillips Savvy Bt Cellnet thing...

 

Had a multitude of phones over the year, have just ordered a ulefone, on recommendation from a friend.

[Aspman]

I can remember the fashion with phones going small and everyone being envious of a guy's Motorola StarTAC.

 

Now we've got phablets etc which are about 4x the size.

[gadgetman]

My first was also the 1st Nokia on Orange.

Iirc it's proper name was the Nokia 101

[Jim H]

Our First phone (shared with family) I think was a Nokia 5110 or something simular. It was certainly had a stumpy external aerial and using BTCellnet.  I have the box for a Nokia 3310, but think there was a few before that. My First was a 2nd Hand (Brothers Nokia 3510i).I

 

I made a big switch this year. From a small Nokia 6303 to a Smart Phone (Moto G 3gen). I liked the fact you could put the Nokia in your pocket, even back pocket and forget it's in there, being so small and light. You can't with the Moto, although having a wallet type case doesn't help.

[Jim H]

Mine has a 5 inch screen and the new version has a 5.5 one. You can buy phones that have 6 inch or even bigger, however these are called 'phablets' (tablets with a phone). I just wonder if in a few years time we will all have a Dom Jolly Phone!

 

[VWD]

I remember the First mobile phone, as issued to GPO external staff, back in the mid 70's. The battery was in brick terms, 1.5 bricks long, 1 brick high and 1 brick wide. The control unit was about that ,with a handset on top. It had three channels, in use indicated with a red light, but still not private. Any one else remember this one ?- but whilst not of this size, I suspect phones are heading this way .

Edited 23 November, 2016 by VWD

[swedishskoda]

My first not-so-mobile Storno Explorer, aka Motorola Associate:

 

A bargain at £400 back in '92

[Aspman]

I remember the First mobile phone, as issued to GPO external staff, back in the mid 70's. The battery was in brick terms, 1.5 bricks long, 1 brick high and 1 brick wide. The control unit was about that ,with a handset on top. It had three channels, in use indicated with a red light, but still not private. Any one else remember this one ?- but whilst not of this size, I suspect phones are heading this way .

Vodafone VT1?

 

https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/britains-first-mobile-phone-call-was-made-30-years-ago/

 

[PetrolDave]

Vodafone VT1?

 

https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/britains-first-mobile-phone-call-was-made-30-years-ago/

 

At least they were usually referred to as "transportable"!

[cheezemonkhai]

http://www.mobilephonehistory.co.uk/nokia/nokia_8110.php

Had a few to use before, but this was the first one I had with a full contract in my name. 8110i

These days it's silly the size of some phones.

Edited 23 November, 2016 by cheezemonkhai

[VWD]

At least they were usually referred to as "transportable"!

AH ,the good old GPO term ( as borrowed from the forces). And portable, as in battery 24v portable= 2x 12v high capacity  & large lead acid car /truck batteries in a heavy wooden case. Generally used as a float battery for island radio links & telephone exchanges in the Western isles. Problem was that the radio shack was always at the top of some steep track, more suited to goats than humans.

[Wet Kipper]

at one point, I had a sony w880 - i had to use my fingernails to press the buttons if i didn't want to press 3 at the same time:

Edited 24 November, 2016 by Wet Kipper

[Jim H]

I've just found this cartoon which seams to sum up everything.

 

 

Found Here: http://chillfy.org/15-Cartoons-That-Seem-To-Pretty-Much-Sum-Up-Human-Evolution

[JohnMcL7]

Amusingly, it does look like my very first phone (the Philips Diga on BT Cellnet) is a very similar size and weight to my current Galaxy Note 4:

 

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=145&idPhone2=6434&idPhone3=1681

 

Of course there is a massive difference in performance and functionality with the Diga only really being usable for calls, its one line text display made text messaging something of a chore for both reading and writing.  The Note 4 (and any current high end phone) is quite ridiculous in its capability as its performance and capabilities are well beyond many full blown computers I've had in the past.

 

I also added the Samsung X830 to the comparison as that was the smallest phone I ever owned when I had to carry a work and personal phone, the work phone was purely for taking calls so went for the tiny Samsung to easily carry it around in addition to my normal phone.  It wasn't much bigger than a USB memory stick and rather impressively I've never seen a phone which had better reception.

 

John

[@Lee]

Siemens C25 (1999)

Ericsson A1018 (2000)

Motorola Talkabout T2288 (still in a draw 2001)

Nokia 5210 (Best phone EVA! 2002)

Nokia 5230 (still in a draw 2010)

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (in a draw 2012)

Sony Xperia (in a draw 2014)

Samsung Galaxy S6 (2016)

 

Yep, I really did keep the 5210 for about 8 years it was THAT good. Bounced, thrown, dropped etc etc it would NOT die. Plus battery life of well over six months