My personal smartphone history – Every smartphone I’ve owned since 2009

With the COVID-19 pandemic, it continues to amaze how technology is impacting our lives. The economy is certainly affected by the pandemic, but thanks to technology, in fact, my personal view is that society is still productive and evolving. Individuals and companies are relying more on technology as well in order to communicate with each other: video conferencing apps as Zoom, Apple Facetime or Whatsapp video calling are very popular. And that bring me to this blog post: smartphones are still one of the key hardware devices that are used by people to communicate, and in particular to do video calling.

Owning a smartphone is, for the masses, something ‘new’ still. It may seem like everyone has a smartphone these days, but only 10-15 years ago the world looked very different and very smartphone-less. Only when the first iPhone was introduced, people started to adopt this type of device. Companies too started more and more to industralise the use of smartphones to digitise their workforce. Some may disagree, and indeed: perhaps Blackberry phones were the first true smartphones, but only the iPhone succeeded in continuously enhancing amongst – other things – the features, security and usability of their devices (and ditto operating system). By doing so, they still stay relevant today and can be positioned as a leading smartphone maker.

So the smartphone landscape has been evolving massively in a very short amount of time. And as such for me it’s a fun excercise to take a trip down memory lane and list the smartphones I’ve owned so far. Maybe you will recognise some of them: you owned that particular smartphone yourself or a friend did.

Owned smartphone history (2009-2020)

• 2004-2009: Nokia 3310
• 2009: BlackBerry Curve 8520
• 2009-2013: Apple iPhone 3GS
• 2013: Nokia E6
• 2013-2014: Motorola Moto G
• 2014: LG Google Nexus 5
• 2015: OnePlus One
• 2015: Sony Xperia Z2
• 2016-2017: Motorola Moto G4
• 2017-2019: Apple iPhone 7
• 2020-now: Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Nokia 3310

BlackBerry Curve 8520

Apple iPhone 3GS

Nokia E6

Motorola Moto G

LG Google Nexus 5

OnePlus One

Sony Xperia Z2

Motorola Moto G4

Apple iPhone 7

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

The original iPhone 2g

The list above doesn’t contain the original iPhone. I didn’t own that phone, as it was way over my budget at the time. But when this phone was released, there was a lot of rumour about it and hype, so it was certainly something that caught my attention when it was launched. Instead, I owned an iPod Touch (I think it had 8GB storage!) which was much cheaper.

So many years later, the launch of that particular smartphone still is a magical moment that many will remember. And so I wanted to own the original iPhone and bought one online. Great nostalgia, and what a great piece of technology!

And you? Share it in the comments

Would be great that you – yes you the reader – would also share a bit of nostalgia! Suggested format:

• What’s the best phone you ever had?
• What’s the worst?
• Current phone you’re using?