1995. My soon to be Ex Wife had to get a job in order for the court to consider her for joint custody, so she worked at Radio Shack. I bought it from her, it was a brick, possibly a Nokia. I still have the same number. Got my first iPhone in about 2008 or so? Really can't remember the date!

Answer to your first question: I'll let you know if and when it happens.
Answer to your second question: See above.
Rod

Yes, you wouldn't want to betray your lofty principles by being able to contact emergency services, anytime, anywhere.

I've had an emergency flip phone for about 15 years and my wife handles any smart phone business.

First cell phone was circa 2000. It was a few years old hand me down from my father, and so it probably was a model from 1997-1998 at that point. It was a black brick of a thing with a belt clip on the back. I don't remember the model. Maybe a Nokia 5110 since that one looks vaguely familiar.

First smartphone depends on what you mean by "smartphone". I had cell phones in the early to mid 2000s that technically were capable of going online, but to do so was expensive, and they weren't touchscreens so the interface was awkward and the screen was tiny. I think I used the internet on my cell phone once to look up the address of a place I was trying to find while on a road trip, and just dealt with the higher bill afterwards, but otherwise I didn't go online on my phone. Most of these phones could also play music or take rudimentary photos, though the quality sucked and transfer back and forth was done by plugging the phone into your PC via a cable. So I suppose these weren't true smartphones by the modern definition.

My first true smartphone was an iPhone (not the 1st generation but early so maybe a 2 or 3?) that I was issued by my agency in 2008ish.

First cell phone was fall of 2000, when I started college at GT. It was a Motorola of some kind. I think technically, my first smart phone was an LG Voyager in 2008-ish. It had a touch screen front but flipped open to reveal a full qwerty keyboard. After that, around 2011, I got an HTC Thunderbolt which was more like what we have now; touchscreen only with no physical keyboard. I finally switched from android to iPhone in 2025.

In 1985 I LEASED a mobile phone permanently installed in the car with the handset on a stalk bolted to the hump. Pigtail antenna stuck to the back window.I remember the year because it was a promo where the lease was also $19.85. And it came with ZERO minutes. Between the differential for peak minutes and the frequent roaming charges the monthly bill was pretty steep by 1985 standards. I can remember holding off on making a phone call until the clock struck the hour that started off-peak rates.

I can't remember the year for my first smartphone but ut was a Motorola Android that slid open to access the keyboard. Moved on to a cellular Crackberry.

quote:

I can't remember the year for my first smartphone but it was a Motorola Android that slid open to access the keyboard.

Motorola Droid 3...My wife had that phone. Technically we still have it

I got my first cell phone around 1999 or 2000. I don't remember what it was. I think I was one of the last people to get a smart phone, that was around 2016. It was a Samsung Galaxy S7. I think it got left sitting on a shelf at the grocery store.

Cant remember the year and exact model. First cel phone was a Nokia (the one you had to tap 3x to go to letter C to send a text message). First smart phone was an iPhone (not sure which model).

Something I also remember was the "Video Calls" or what we now call "Face Time" that I did back in the 90s. My young daughter was still in the Philippines in the early 90s. We have scheduled Video Calls once a month for few months, so that I can see her in real time. I would go to an AT&T office in Los Angeles, they would go to a PLDT office in Manila on a specified date and time. The video lags for few seconds, but the voice was real time. The technology surely had evolved.

First cell phone was a Motorola flip phone, I think it was 2003 or 2004.

First smartphone was a HTC phone. I don't remember the model, around 2012. That HTC only lasted about 6 months. After an update the phone went black.

Bought a LG after the HTC.

.

I had a Motorola phone wired into my 1991 Ford Explorer I got in August of 1990. I’ve had some sort of mobile device ever since. One year around 2010 I took all twelve months of my phone bills and added all the minutes used during the year. I’ll start with I travelled 50 weeks of the year and used my phone extensively for work. How extensively, my minutes equated to 24 hours a day for 28 and 1/2 days. So almost an entire month of 24/7 of talk time.

I had blackberry phones & palm pilot based phones but my first true smartphone was sometime in 2009.

I was late to the party because I just didn’t feel the need to keep in touch with anyone enough to justify one. My buddy had a Nokia mobile phone in his 5 Series BMW, and that was cool. However, a personal cellular phone just didn’t do it for me back then.

Around ‘98, I was carrying a Motorola brick around for work in a specialized unit, but I didn’t immediately feel the need to purchase my own until near the end of that duty. I began to see the utility, so I got me a Nokia 6110.

A little time went by, and I finished that contract. Not wanting tc continue being stuck in a contract, I got me a flip phone from a prepaid company. I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was Boost or something like that.

FF to ‘07/‘08, my UK buddy showed me his first gen “Silverback” iPhone at our weeklong star party, which we used to attend each year. I thought it was cool, but I just wasn’t an Apple guy. They were the Pepsi to my beloved Coca Cola, and the Mac to my beloved PC. I would have been more enthusiastic about it if it wasn’t an Apple product

At that time, I was big into MINI’s and my new ordered ‘07 MINI Clubman had a feature where an iPhone fit into and plugged into the vehicle’s center armrest in an adapter, connecting it to power and an antenna. I thought it was really cool MINI would design something integral from another company like that, and I also thought it cool the vehicle was an accessory to the iPhone - not the other way around. So, I had to have an iPhone for my new MINI, so my first iPhone was the first.

After that first iPhone and Windows 8 coming out, I went all in on Apple with more iPhones, Watch, iPads, iPods, and Mac minis. My latest is a 16 while my wife has a 17. BTW, I still have my old Silverback.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Yes, you wouldn't want to betray your lofty principles by being able to contact emergency services, anytime, anywhere.

I don't know about the lofty principles part, but I do know that if I had the money to do so I would have a number of things that I don't now have. I try not to let that be my focus, and be thankful for what I do have.
You do make a very good point about being able to contact emergency services anytime, anywhere. Wish I could.
Rod

quote:

Originally posted by sig sailor:
You do make a very good point about being able to contact emergency services anytime, anywhere. Wish I could.

Any operable cell phone, even without a phone plan, can still call 911.

So if a friend/family member has an old cell phone that still works but they no longer use and no longer have associated with a phone plan, you could use that for emergency purposes. Just remember to keep the battery charged.

Also, depending on your income level or other potential qualifier, you might qualify for a free cell phone with a limited talk/text plan through the federal government's Lifeline program.

https://www.lifelinesupport.org/

Thanks, RogueJSK. Hope I didn't give you all the impression that I destitute, I'm not. No need for a Go-Fund-Me. But I do need to watch where my money goes.
Rod

In 2000, I was assigned to the Coroners Office in Oakland. The radios we had were hand-me-downs from a decade earlier. They weighed 2 pounds, had a 4 hour battery life and only worked line of sight. We begged for new radios (and vests). No luck. Several of us on the swing shift bought Nextail flip phones that worked like walkie talkies. Worked great. I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S4 in 94 or so. Been a Samsung dude ever since. S25 now. Nothing against Apple I just don't want to learn a new operating system now.

1992 or 93 I bought a Nokia (I think) bag phone from a guy at work.
First smart phone was a Blackberry. My employer was issuing them to management and when the latest gen Blackberries were issued, the older ones rolled down to us in the lower ranks.

After the Blackberries, the company started issuing Samsung Galaxy phones. I had 2 or 3 of those through the years. When it was time to retire, I bought an iPhone X as my personal phone. Last year I upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro.

My first phone calls from my truck were on my fire dept radio. I had them put mobile phone freqs in it a long with our fire freqs.
I could call my mobile phone dispatcher make calls.

Nokia (I think) about 2002. I had held out on adopting the "new technology" until a work situation caused me to rethink it. I was in a very rural area and headed to an appointment with a client. I was running way early and wanted to contract them to see if they would be available earlier. Trouble was, I couldn't find a safe place to use a pay phone. The one pay phone I found was outside a C-Store with a bunch of thugs milling about.
First "Smart Phone" was a Blackberry supplied by work around 2006.
I also had a Palm Pilot in between the two.