What was your first mobile phone? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 06:17:31 am
content: My first ever phone was the Nokia 2110i in 1997 (I received it second-hand). This was followed soon after with a brand new Nokia 5110.My parents had an old Nokia 100 AMPS phone.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 07:06:05 am
content: Alpine 9542/9545

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 08:09:49 am
content: My first mobile phone was like this:

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 08:19:07 am
content: Mine was also Nokia 100 AMPS, in late 1994. I phoned my parents on Christmas day from a glider at 8000 ft or so over Mt Benmore (Omarama, NZ).My second was an Ericsson T10s GSM flip phone in 1999. That's when I stopped wearing my 20 year old Casio "Marlin" wristwatch.Then some kind of Siemens tri-band in 2005. Perhaps C60?. It looks right. C65 doesn't. I remember colour screen and WAP. And probably cheap because already superseded. I wrote some CGIs for it on my personal web server, most importantly one to look up things in whitepages.co.nz (long gone now) and return the results.Since October 2007, always iPhone.I also had some kind of cheap Sprint PCS phone when I spent a few months in the USA in 1998 -- maybe an early Qualcomm?

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 09:00:51 am
content: Motorola Micro Tac. I think it's still in a drawer somewhere.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 09:49:07 am
content: It was a Sagem phone, I think it was this one:https://www.gsmarena.com/sagem_my_x3_2-631.phpMy first smartphone was a Samsung Galaxy S4 which my brother gave to me:https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9500_galaxy_s4-5125.php

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 10:06:38 am
content: Quote from: oPossum on January 03, 2025, 07:06:05 amI have fond memories of my best friend in school; His dad had an NEC car phone in his Ford Falcon. Whenever you turned on the accessories, it would initialise with a very distinctive "bleep". I think it was a mix of a couple of DTMF tones.

author: indeterminate
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 10:28:55 am
content: Nokia 2110, it was when Telstra first started selling them.Im glad it was work paying the bills could be pretty horrendous.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 10:30:18 am
content: Ericsson A1018s. Used €30Second hand handy!X

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 10:34:40 am
content: The discrete construction of these early phones is absolutely insane compared to the single chipset and software defined parts of modern stuff. Back when RF men were men!

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 11:56:31 am
content: Mobira NMT-450 something, Talkman 510 style.Bottom side of a machine is L-shape, rest is battery.First with SIM-card was Nokia 1101 style.If memory serves the SIM-card was full size.Still have couple Communicators.Batteries are unknown and back covers are missing at least one metal claw.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 12:13:32 pm
content: No idea,what i do remember it was bright pink and soon covered in yellow dots and was known as the blobby phone.That was back 1996 and it was on the first payg schemes with vodaphone.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 12:16:43 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on January 03, 2025, 09:00:51 amIf you find it, check if the batteries are still good.Not kidding, I have one of those in the scrapped phones bag, and measured out of curiosity its battery (NiMH). Was still showing some voltage, so dismantled the battery and found 3 out of 5 cells still good.The pics are fromhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/using-li-ion-in-place-of-1-5v-batteries-sharing-my-few-successes/msg5752997/#msg5752997

author: krish2487
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 12:30:04 pm
content: Nokia 5110 in early 2000s..Hand me down from my father after he got a brand new samsung, I dont remember what particular model this one was..I still remember the ad of Bill Clinton playing snakes game on this phone with his feet in a pool..old times... :-)

author: eutectique
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 02:26:12 pm
content: Nokia 3310, got it new for ₤130 in 2001. Immediately programmed it with a pseudo-polyphonic tune from Monkey Island:

author: Postal2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 04:22:00 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 03, 2025, 06:17:31 amI have it safe (model 880).

author: pardo-bsso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 04:42:18 pm
content: Motorola C115, shared with my Mother.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 04:56:09 pm
content: I had work phones on and off in the 90s, but I know the exact day I actually paid for a phone for the first time. 25th September 1999. Its our son's birthday. He was born extremely premature, and we didn't know if he would live or die. I really wanted to not be out of touch, and that was the impetus I needed to finally buy something. You can try to justify purchases of flexible things based on all the various things they can do for you. However, when you get down to actually handing over cash, its usually for one specific quality you badly want or need.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 05:03:30 pm
content: Quote from: brucehoult on January 03, 2025, 08:19:07 amMine was a King radiotelephone (vintage about 1975) in 1983 at 10,000 ft over Nebraska to my wife Minnesota. It was operator assisted and a genuine party line as the channels were limited. That is, you could listen to whoever was on the air.

author: RAPo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 05:22:24 pm
content: The Nokia communicator 9000, because it had fax capabilities.

author: Postal2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 06:12:02 pm
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on January 03, 2025, 05:03:30 pmI have 2 (two) complete sets of Tamagawa SuperFone CT-3000N with big power amplifiers and big antennas, I don't even know what to say.

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2025, 08:33:40 pm
content: Motorola MCR9500 NMT450. Those were the days!

author: Faranight
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2025, 06:31:35 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on January 03, 2025, 08:09:49 amHaha, that was my first mobile phone as well, and it pretty much still is.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2025, 06:00:41 am
content: NEC P4 in 1993. I don't recall what I paid, but as an apprentice it was a lot.

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2025, 09:47:54 am
content: Motorola "Dignitary" (next to my first iPhone).But if we're discussing functionality, my first "mobile phone" was the autopatch in my local 2m amateur radio repeater

author: Thomas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2025, 12:31:10 pm
content: Ericsson GH337

author: rdenney
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2025, 05:20:04 pm
content: 1988, despite what this random photo says. I was employed by a local agency and was in charge of a substantial field infrastructure of programmable electronic equipment. We also had radios, but did not always have dispatchers listening to the radios.I graduate from that to one of these:Rick "then came the Nokia flip phone" Denney