The first mass mobile phone, which appeared in 1984, only annoyed consumers. They were infected with the idea that the world could become mobile, and began to demand more. So all the following years, manufacturers were busy learning how to make phones smarter, lighter, smaller and more accessible.
In 1996, Nokia’s efforts reached the next stage – the first device that claimed to be a smartphone, although the term was first used by Ericsson only in 2000. The Nokia 9000 Communicator weighed 400g, had 8MB of RAM and a 33MHz processor.
The communicator allowed editing office documents, surfing the Internet and working with e-mail. It was revolutionary at the time, but the price of $800 prevented it from becoming a mass-produced device. And it’s cheaper to make Nokia than they did not yet learn how to do it.
The situation in the smart device market began to change when in 1998, large manufacturers established the Symbian consortium to develop mobile OS. Phones on the new platform could work not only with e-mail and a browser. Symbian was quickly replenished with applications for every taste and task.
In 2000, another breakthrough took place – Symbian OS 6.1 was released, where support for third-party applications finally appeared.
After that, as they say, “it’s gone, it’s gone”. Through the efforts of enthusiasts from all over the world, new applications began to appear as mushrooms, and the devices themselves moved from the expensive business segment to a more accessible one. Instead of the unattainable 700-800 dollars price range for a new generation of smartphones has been established in the region of 250-300 dollars.
It’s not “background” yet, but it’s “smart.”
Before the full merger of computer capabilities with cellular phones, there was a separate type of device. PDAs, PDAs or, as they were called, “PDAs” were devices with organizer functions, with a touch screen to control the stylus, but without the ability to call.
However, due to their availability, PDAs were very popular. Initially they were produced with black and white screens, later appeared colored, multimedia support was added.
In 2003 I got the Palm IIIxe from a friend, released in 1997 and working well. It was powered by two “pinky” batteries and served me perfectly as an organizer, notebook and “reader”. The folding keyboard in the kit was of such excellent quality that, if it had Bluetooth, I would still be using it today.
HYIP early 2000s.
While I was admiring the 6-year-old Palm, it was the heyday of the smartphone market. Young people actively absorbed the fruits of progress and sought to learn everything that was happening in this area.
The process of learning went in two directions: there were smartphones that we possessed, and smartphones, which we dreamed of. If the choice of the former was limited by financial possibilities, the interest in the latter was constantly heated up.
“Svyaznoy, feeling the trend of time, did not spare money and made the most correct step at that time – one of the first began to produce free catalogs with novelties. I remember going into the salon at the beginning of each month like a fresh press, taking a new magazine and going to school.
For me it was something magical. From colored crispy pages the real masterpieces of those years looked at us: brutal Siemens M65, the coolest multimedia monsters Nokia N, musical beauties Sony Ericsson Walkman. I don’t know, as at you, but my passion was then Nokia E-series – E52, E72, E70.
Strict and comfortable, they conquered me with their design and capabilities. I still consider them to be the best and regret that “buttons” were replaced by faceless rectangles made of glass, metal and plastic.
Back to the buttons or forward to the future?
As you have already understood, I am one of those strange people who in 2018 love phones with a physical keyboard. This strangeness arose for the following reasons:
- The presence of buttons allows you to control some tasks to the touch without looking. For example, you can switch a track or answer a call on the go or even in a crowded minibus;
- The battery life is much higher due to the absence of a touch screen;
- The body is more comfortable in the hand, and even if you drop it, there is a better chance that the glass won’t break;
- there is a place for designers to walk around. Much more opportunities to create an interesting look.
In July 2018, Google invested $22 million in the development of KaiOS, a mobile platform for a new generation of button phones.
The platform supports 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and, which is absolutely cool for a push button, it can be used as an access point. Applications have already been developed for Twitter, Facebook and messengers are being developed.
Nokia has chosen KaiOS as the basis for a new generation of its push-button phones. The first of them is a remake from the Nokia 8110 4G Matrix.
On August 2, 2018, Xiaomi announced the Qin1 and Qin1s buttons on the Mocor 5 OS based on Android. Phone chip – artificial intelligence? able to act as a translator from 18 languages.
