Comparing today’s mobiles with those of the past may seem absurd, but both types of phones are more similar to each other than it seems. Also differences; what they were solving smartphones, sometimes more effectively than others. We have gathered ten problems of old mobiles that contemporaries do not have.
Mobile phones have changed a lot since twenty years ago we carried phones like the Nokia 3310 in our pocket. Even so, some of the features remain the same; like being able to communicate with anyone or killing time digging through the setting menus. As well there were many problems of the “dumb” mobiles that the “smart” ones solvedlet’s look at some of the ones I suffered from when the T9 keyboard was as advanced as my phone would ever get.
Using the mobile was a ruin
It is true that there are current rates that are not exactly cheap, but what used to be was much worse: the most common was to tap (let a tone sound) in order to save as much as possible on the electricity bill. In addition, the contract rates were within the reach of those who used the mobile as a work tool since it was usual to have a card mobile.
Before, you used to call by mobile in very special circumstances and, in general, to a small group of contacts. I would have given anything to have unlimited rates, like now.
I wish I had instant messaging…
It has always been easy to communicate by text with any other mobile number and instantly, that’s what SMS was for. Of course, each message sent cost his money, and not a little: a WhatsApp conversation would have ruined more than one family. With one euro from now, approximately six text messages entered, normally…
Understanding some SMS was impossible
So much text was abbreviated in the SMS so that everything that was wanted to say could enter that, in the end, finding out what they said was more complicated than doing a handstand on a gravel road. With WhatsApp and the like we have gained a lot, imgn rcbir txd ls msgs like this. Although, in return, we have to suffer the voice notes.
Reading a long message was an ordeal
We continue with the mini traumas that text messages left me. because who remembers how complicated it was to read a long SMS on a screen with two lines of text? My first mobile had a two-line screen, the Alcatel One Touch Easy.
Little by little the panels grew to four and five lines, but the reading difficulty was still high. At least for those who didn’t spend the money sending a brief “ok” (they would be a millionaire, for sure).
As you forgot the charger you were sold
It is true that before mobile phones lasted quietly for two weeks on standby: with one charge you could be carefree for days. The problem arose if you ran out of battery away from home because there was very little chance that anyone had a charger like yours: each brand used a proprietary connector. Sometimes it even varied from one model to another, within the manufacturer itself!
Calls, SMS and… games?
A cell phone was for talking, texting and pinging, nothing more. At the time, perhaps we were content with these limitations, now it would be very difficult not to go to the phone to find out how to go somewhere or to while away the time playing, for example. However, the little extra pills they offered were enjoyed to a greater extent: the mythical Nokia Snake is the proof.
The mobiles were so small that it was easy to lose them
Nokia 8200
I still remember how fascinated I was by the Nokia 8200, an object of desire that dominated the high-end at the turn of the millennium and that also starred in a sales pitch that has been completely banished today: it was tiny.
Mobile phones were moving towards extreme miniaturization. So much so that putting the phone in the backpack entailed the risk of never finding it (cell phones still come out when I search through old backpacks, along with pesetas). At present we already know what happens: “small” mobiles hardly have a place in catalogs.
You had to pay even for the polytones
polytone propaganda
Who remembers the vast market that opened up when mobile phones allowed to download new ringtones? Manufacturers opened the door to customization. And the operators took the opportunity to charge for the already mythical “polytones”.
They were nothing more than midi melodies that lasted no more than fifteen seconds, but could cost more than fifteen SMS. A lot of dough that many did not hesitate to pay to wear the Macarena in the Casio version; it sounded like you were sitting on one of those keyboards.
The phone was ringing everywhere. and not a little
Today vibration seems like a basic component in a phone since there is no smartphone that starts without it. But, in the early days of mobile phones, only a very small number of them, almost always the most expensive ones, came with a vibrator. So, to know that a call or SMS was coming in, there was no choice but to have the sound activated. Normally high; with what it implied when ringing in places where stillness reigned.
Do you remember any other problem with mobiles from before that the current ones have solved?