Do you still remember your old mobile phones?

When you have a mobile phone or a smartphone, especially if you’ve had it for quite a while, surely there are plenty of times that you have thought of upgrading it. That’s normal, though, as mobile devices don’t last that long, and you’ll eventually have to upgrade to cater to your needs. We always look forward to the next. What we don’t do much, though, is look back, and remember our old devices from years ago.

This article is an update to the ones published in 2013 and 2017. I decided to revisit this and provide a bit of the backstory of these devices.

• Nokia 3310 (2000) – broke
• Nokia 8250 (2000) – stolen
• Nokia 2100 (2003) – handed down
• Sony Ericsson T230 (2003) – handed down
• Nokia 3650 (2003) – swapped
• Nokia 6610i (2004) – sold
• Nokia 6230i (2005) – passed down
• Nokia 5310 (2007) – passed down
• Nokia E51 (2007) – passed down
• Nokia 5310 (2008) – sold
• Nokia 5800 (2008) – sold
• Samsung M140 (2008) – handed down
• Motorola RAZR Maxx V6 Ferrari Edition (2009) – broke
• Samsung GT-E1080F (2010) – handed down
• BlackBerry Curve 9300 (2011) – handed down
• LG Optimus L3 (2012) – sold
• iPhone 4S (2012) – handed down
• HTC One X (2012) – stolen
• BlackBerry Torch 9860 (2013) – handed down
• Sony Xperia Z1 (2013) – handed down
• BlackBerry Z10 (2013) – handed down
• Cherry Mobile P1 (2014) – got lost
• Xiaomi Mi3 (2014) – handed down
• iPhone 5S (2015) – current phone
• ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser (2015) – handed down
• vivo V3 Max (2016) – temporary work phone, returned
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime (2017) – current phone
• Samsung Galaxy S8 (2018) – handed down
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro (2018) – handed down
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (2019) – handed down
• Apple iPhone XS (2021) – current
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (2022) – current

Had my first “cellphone” when I was in college. Back then, Nokia is still the top mobile phone manufacturer. Feature phones were the best then, they’re tough, very compact, and have crazy battery life. I continued the feature phones streak into my working days. By that time, Androids were already available but are extremely expensive. I remember seeing an HTC Hero being sold for around PHP 30K. My first Android phone came in 2012 in the form of the LG Optimus L3.

I didn’t stay with Android, though. That same year I got my first iPhone, the 4S, but eventually transitioned back to Android with the HTC One X. I also tried the BlackBerry Z10 in 2013, just to see how BB10 works. I eventually lost interest then continued to my path to Android. Smartphone brands like Xiaomi have already entered the market at this time, which has become game changers because of their affordability.

I continued to go with Android in the following years since I want something very customizable. I gravitated towards flagships for their cameras and extra productivity functions. However, in 2021 I went for an old iPhone XS (it’s second-hand and was sold for PHP20K) since I use a MacBook for work. Being in an ecosystem is great but not perfect and could also trap you in its walled garden. To remedy that, I got another Android to have the best of both worlds. One is for work, while one is for play. Older iPhones are still great options as they have long software support.

The good thing about flagship smartphones nowadays is that they’re built to be powerful that you don’t have to upgrade every year. I want to do that and increase my upgrade cycle to at least two years. This makes puts less pressure on my finances and can make future upgrades more worthwhile.