A History of Cell Phones...

Qualcomm QCP-1960. July 1998.
This is where it all started. I was 18 years old, and cell phones were NOT the "hip" thing yet, but I still wanted one. I was at the Indiana State Fair, and got flagged down by a salesman. I eventually applied and got approved for a phone, and walked out with it that day. "That was so easy!" I thought. Late 1998 was probably the real "BOOM" in cell phones, and by 1999, most people were beginning to carry them. I still feel that I was one of the first "common-folk" to carry a cell phone, and I needed it, because I was never at home, and always out and about. I did also have a pager at the time, but it was annoying attempting to find a payphone anytime someone paged me. So, I took the step up and got a cell phone. I've been hooked ever since. I was with Ameritech on this phone, they later became another company, who later because Cingular. When I moved to California, I left the phone with my brother, and he finished out the last 6 monthes on my plan.

Samsung SCH-3500. March 2001.
While living in Cali, I made the bold move to buy a new cell phone, and this time I got on Sprint, and I've been with them ever since March of 2001. I'll be going on five years, in just a couple of months. This was a cheap phone, I think around $100. I liked it at the time, because of display being visable all the time, and the angle when it was open seemed to fit well with my head. It was also rather funny, because when I moved back to Indy, I learned a friend of mine here had the same phone, and later that year when Sergio (from Cali) got on Sprint, he told me he got the same phone as I had. It seems that was a popular phone at the time!

LG TP1100. February 2002.
Eventually, I got tired of how BIG the SCH-3500 was. In early 2002, smaller seemed be the "in" thing, and lots of really small phones were being released. So, I went to Best Buy and picked up the TP1100, because of its size. It was nice and small, a little thick, but still didn't carry the heft and bulk of the SCH-3500. I also liked the 4-way navigation bar, as opposed to the 2-way of my previous phone.


LG 5350. December 2002.
Yep, the TP1100 only last 10 months. In December, I was asked to be a part of a Christmas play at Kristen's church, and during the performance, someone snuck into the dressing room and stole a number of items from a number of people. Wallets, Cell Phones, etc... were taken. Luckily, my parents helped me out to quickly purchase a new phone and I picked the 5350. It was AWESOME! It was my first phone with a color display! The phone was blue! (My favorite color) The buttons had a blue glow, instead of a green. And the exterior Caller ID was also blue. It was COOL! Plus, this was the first phone I had that allowed me assign multiple phone numbers to one contact. Previously, every number I entered had to have a different name attached to it. Now, I could have one contact, with a wokr number, a home number, a cell number, and even a pager number. All together. It was cool! MAJOR step up the cell phone ladder.

Sanyo 8100. June 2003.
So, the 5350 lasted even shorter than the TP1100. Kristen and I were in Florida, standing in the middle of the ocean, and I got the brilliant idea to call my parents. Pull the phone out of my pocket, flip it open with one hand, and... OH!!! The phone flies out of my hand, and lands in the middle of the ocean. Needless to say, it was dead. It was beyond dead. It wouldn't power up, it wouldn't do anything. It's life was gone. So, the next morning, Kristen and I spent 8 hours, driving ALL OVER Ft. Lauderdale looking for the BLUE version of the 8100. Most Radio Shacks, Sprint stores, and Circuit City stores had a ton of silvers, but I wanted the blue. Finally, at around 5pm, we were directed to a Circuit City, where a blue phone was on hold for me. They only had two left, and the gentlemen at the store we were at called them, they physically found the phone and put my name on it. Finally, I had the phone I searched all day for! It had some awesome features, and most importantly, it was my first camera phone. I loved taking pictures with it, and sending them to various people. Eventually, my parents, my brother and Kristen would all eventually get camera phones, so that we coule all send pictures to each other. This was also the first phone I had with full color exterior display, which would show pictures of people when they were calling. What a step up!
NOTE: Pictured above is the silver model of the phone, I actually had the blue model, but could not find any blue pictures.

Sanyo 5500/VM-4500. December 2004.
The 8100 was a good phone, and lasted a long time. However, around Christmas last year, the 8100 started to lose its mind. The vibration alert stopped. The ringer was whack, sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. The exterior display was on again/off again. So, for Christmas, Mom and Dad gave me some cash that I used to pick up the Sanyo 5500. It was basically an upgrade of the 8100. Matt, Kristen's brother, had this phone and I always liked it, so when the time came to get a new one, it's the one I picked. I stepped up from a camera phone to a video camera phone (although, I didn't get a lot of use out of the video camera, it was still fun to use...). I also got the blue keypad back, speakerphone, and a multi-colored LED alert. It had seven colors, that you could program for different things. Whe someone would call me - it would do a "rainbow" of the colors. When I got a voicemail/text message it would blink blue. When an unkown number called me, it would blink red. It was COOL. Plus, there were 5 LED lights used as the flash for the camera. It was some high-end equipment, and I loved the phone.

Samsung A-900. December 2005.
The new love of my life. Since 2003, I've been watching a Motorola RAZR phone. I can remember that first commercial for the phone, when it was falling through the sky, slicing through the words describing its features, then slamming straight up into the ground. It was SO COOL! And I wanted one SO BAD! A nice slim and trim phone. I even toyed with the notion of leaving Sprint, to get a RAZR phone. I'm glad I held out. I now own one of the COOLEST cell phones ever. It's insanely thin, and small (same dimensions as a credit card) and does things I never imagined a cell phone can do. It's got a small hard drive which stored music on it, and can be played through a media player on the phone. It streams video from the internet, including movie trailers. It has a 1.3 mega-pixel camera/videocamera with zoom. Speakerphone, advanced voice dialing, and a SHARP beautiful interior display, along with a very nice exterior display. It's REALLY the coolest and best phone I've ever owned. I'm happy I made the investment, and I'm happy that I waited it out, until Spring came through with such an amazing phone. It's REALLY COOL! And makes me a happy camper.