please empty your brain below
I had a T68 and a K700i. Not without their flaws, but obviously decent enough to keep me loyal to [Sony] Ericsson for a few years beyond. Like you, I've kept the same mobile number since my first phone - probably 19 years now. I bet my mum still has the receipt. (It was a Nokia 3210, at a time when most of my friends at school had 5110s. The lack of stubby antenna was quite appealing)

martin | 28.05.18 - 7:27 a.m. | #

Cue lots of comments about everyone's own mobile phone timrline, and just a few about when they were a saviour.

What interests me most though is just how big, or compact, is your ephemera archive,impressive as it is?

Ken | 28.05.18 - 7:27 a.m. | #

Pedant mode. You don't have exactly the same mobile number so this time ... Twenty years ago it didn't begin with '07'
I also started on Orange. I'd forgotten how ahead of the game their branding was.

IslandDweller | 28.05.18 - 7:37 a.m. | #

I had a succession of Sony Ericssons - I loved them. They were well built, had good cameras and looked stylish. My last one, the C902, was really off putting: it felt cheaper and its interface just didn't work right. It made me switch to an iPhone and I've been stuck with Apple since. It's a shame Sony Ericsson got left behind.

Scott | Homepage | 28.05.18 - 7:49 a.m. | #

I hate the bloody things. My internet/landline package gives a marginal zero cost for landline calls and that, together with the saynoto0870 website, keeps me going ok. There is no peace anywhere these days and walking along a pavement is a risk because idiots insist on viewing their screen rather than looking where they are going. All medical reports link inability to concentrate and poor sleep to this techie obsession. Having said that, about 6 years ago, the other half insisted on buying me a very basic phone to keep in the car for an emergency. I have yet to get a sim card but a friend tells me that Asda do a very very cheap PAYG package so one day.....

Dinosaur | 28.05.18 - 8:17 a.m. | #

I think the only reason we still call them "phones" instead of PDAs or pocket computers is because the phone was the one device that *everyone* already had. Certainly the phone function is the least-used feature of them these days.

Chz | 28.05.18 - 8:23 a.m. | #

I got my 1st phone in 97 and it was a Motorola Memphis. Heavy brick of a thing compared to what I have Now!

Rachel | 28.05.18 - 8:23 a.m. | #

@IslandDweller 1998 was the year 07 numbers became the UK standard; I too got my first phone that year and have never changed my number.

One of the reasons you would have sent so few SMSs then is that until sometime in 1999, you could only send them to people on your own network.

Henry | 28.05.18 - 8:50 a.m. | #

dg, you forgot your Z470xi

Gordon | 28.05.18 - 9:13 a.m. | #

I also have the same mobile number as in 1997, my first handset was a Philips TCD308, I kept this for three years.
I then bought a NOKIA 3310, I got a great deal on this phone because of the provider wars, every week there was a better deal, this I kept for 4 years. I then bought a clamshell Samsung PN300, it was so small it would fit the in coin pocket of your jeans.
In 2008 I bought my first iPhone 8GB.

YDU | 28.05.18 - 9:16 a.m. | #

I found the most fascinating thing was the drive to Coulsdon to buy a TV. Then I remembered the incongruous small Bang & Olufsen shop we used to have.

So, in the time it was there, there must have been at least one customer.

Pedantic of Purley | 28.05.18 - 9:40 a.m. | #

Can't remember when I got my first phone but it was a Siemens model from Virgin Mobile. Second was a Sony Ericsson not unlike DG's third phone. That lasted a long time but the advent of real time bus departures forced a move to smartphone land with a HTC phone. I am now on a Motorola G5 which is decent and hasn't been overtaken by the march of software and operating system development. I really only use it as a small computer and not as a phone or text message device.

PC | 28.05.18 - 10:03 a.m. | #

@Henry/Island Dweller
From some time in 1997/98 all newly-issued mobile numbers started with 07, although some existing numbers remained in other blocks and were migrated later. (My 0402 number issued in 1996 became an 07702 number)

timbo again | Homepage | 28.05.18 - 10:04 a.m. | #

I'm impressed by the fact that you have not lost any of those four phones, on all the journeys made carrying them. You must be much more careful than I am.

Bob L-S | 28.05.18 - 10:46 a.m. | #

In 2000 the company I worked for, somewhat late in my working career, gave us Nokia 3310's. When I left in 2002 I decided to buy my own 3310 via PAYG.

To date nothing has changed. Oh, last year I had to replace the battery. Used everyday.

Talk about robust; trod on, dropped, sat on, beer spillage etc. looking a bit battered around the edges, but everything still functioning. Just like my life - (simple, uncomplicated)

Dave | 28.05.18 - 10:46 a.m. | #

'Im indoors bought me my first mobile,for emergencys. It was a Nokia 3310 on payg. It made calls and sent texts and that was all I wanted,but it suddenly stopped working after twelve years( somethings never last). Then 'im indoors thought I should upgrade to a smartphone,what a mistake! On pay as you go,this little git got through over ninety pounds in three months,because it went off roaming by itself. I cut my losses and changed to a Doro,calls,texts,even large print when I get to that stage. It's perfect for what it is-my emergency phone. Also as it flips open I can ask Scotty to beam me up! 😄😄

Jo W | 28.05.18 - 11:02 a.m. | #

Being a family of 7 we tend to treat phones in the same way as everything else, and employ the hand-me-down system! Dad (a techie) gets an upgrade and us underlings vie for the discarded model on a whose-phone-is-dying-the-most basis!

My first was a nice shiny red one in 2008/2009 which we had originally got for our new teenager's birthday, and who had now decided wasn't cool enough. He was costing us a fortune in texts anyway so PAYG probably hadn't been the wisest decision!

Kept that until 2012 and ended up with a downgrade - pretty much the same as before, but instead of being nice and shiny and metallic-feeling it was now a dull lightweight plastic model.
Finally graduated to a smart phone 2 years ago, but even now only use it for texting, calling and checking the bus app! In fact apart from the apps that came with it, I've only added 2 others!!

Needless to say, I'm reading this on my laptop!

Cornish Cockney | 28.05.18 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Apart from my first phone which was a Motorola, which had the ability to text, however we did not know anyone with a phone that could receive texts, so was not used initially. I have always had Nokia's, as the functionality has remained roughly the same. The model I have now is one of the worst to use, as it still has buttons which are fiddly to use. It has a joke of a camera (my first) and no internet access. My grandsons cannot understand that touching the icons on the screen has no effect!

Nick | 28.05.18 - 11:26 a.m. | #

so far I haven't bought myself a mobile phone, but they seem to be regarded as essentials in many ways...I've now had to stop selling on Amazon because of their new verification process which requires me to have 2 phone numbers. These have to be numbers I usually have access to so my work number or a friend's number won't do.
Rather than buying a cheap throwaway phone I've cancelled my Amazon sales items (only a few books) but I don't like all this modern technology.

amber | 28.05.18 - 11:39 a.m. | #

DG , do you actually still have all these phones?

dg writes: No, I sourced these four on eBay especially in preparation for the photo.

None | 28.05.18 - 11:43 a.m. | #

I also has Sony Ericsson for a long time, through 4 phones (with a Nokia between the first and second) and even my first smart phone, until a lack of new phone models prompted me to switch over to Samsung.

Patrickov | 28.05.18 - 1:01 p.m. | #

I only started sending text messages when l got a phone with a full keyboard so there was no need for all the multi-press nonsense and having to remember how to type numbers or delete typos. I tend to use it mostly in lieue of the "I would like to talk to you but not if you're in a noisy pub/having a meal/getting on a train/otherwise distracted" function that I wish phones had.

Andrew Simpson | 28.05.18 - 2:11 p.m. | #

I also received my first mobile in 1998 (purchased by my Dad, after I successfully started a weekend job). I wrote a blog post 8 years ago with my full mobile phone history, until I joined the Android ecosystem.

http://www.t-e-g.co.uk/blog/the-quickie-divorce/

Teg | Homepage | 28.05.18 - 5:52 p.m. | #

I just realised i've had mobile phones for the last 25 years! Talk about feeling old!

Grumpy Anon | 28.05.18 - 6:34 p.m. | #

I got a Nokia 6310 at work about 2001. About 11 years later they insisted I swapped it for a smartphone, which I dropped about 9 months later and broke the screen. Opened the drawer and my trusty Nokia turned on without charging. Kept it when I retired. It now travels the world with me for use on holiday - as good as the day that I got it, plus the benefit of good phone call reception.

scrumpy | 28.05.18 - 7:38 p.m. | #

I still have every mobile phone I've ever owned - likewise for about 20 years. My favourite by a mile was the Nokia N95 (8gb - the black one). I loved that phone. It's retired, but still lives in the velvet case I made for it.

Sarah | 28.05.18 - 8:26 p.m. | #











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