Cell Phones

Well, I was thinking today about all the old cell phones I had.  I thought it may be interesting to post about those phones and plans.  Some of this stuff is 6-7 years old, so I may not remember all of it.  But, here we go.

My first cell phone was a Nokia 252.  It was on Alltel.  I don’t remember how much I paid, but I had 150 minutes doubled to 300.  Cyndi and I shared that plan which resulted in some interesting bills (we shared the first 150…not all of the minutes).  This shared minute stuff turned us off to shared plans for a long time (it was only recently we went with a shared plan again).  We had this plan for 1 year then we went to Sprint.

At about that same time for work, my boss made me get a cell phone.  That phone was a Nokia 5160.  I didn’t like it (I never liked Nokia cell phones.).  It was through the old AT&T.  On weekends, I would forward that plan to my Sprint phone. Don’t have a clue how much this plan cost; however, I know it was nationwide no roaming (and not the normal no roaming on our network back then…this was real no roaming.)  One good thing about this phone…it would get a signal just about anywhere.

Our first Sprint PCS phone was the Kyocera 2035 .  I don’t remember much about the plan, but I think we had 1000 night and weekend minutes.  We never even came close to using it all.  No such thing as sprint to sprint yet. The phone was ok, but I was getting fed up with candy-bar type phones.  By the way, the earpiece I bought to go with this phone (there was a special 2 for 1 sale, so Cyndi and I took advantage of it).  I’m still using it today. While the earpiece was a trooper, it broke after we moved to Richmond.  I really liked the design of that earpiece…it had a molded rubber in the ear canal part with a small (2″ or so) boom mic.  It was great! On another note, this phone had some kind of ability to access the internet.  Only text based though.  And it cost through the wazoo.

When we moved to Columbus, OH, I was in the mood for a new phone.  The battery on my 2035 was going kaput (I had to have it on the vehicle charger on my way to work and it MIGHT last the entire day.)  My dad had a Samsung something or other…I really liked how it flipped.  So, I was sucked in by the Samsung n400.  At the time, I didn’t care for flip-type phones (I still don’t really care for them…I’d rather have something of this design).  Our plan back then was for something like 300 minutes.  By this time we had unlimited nights and weekends along with sprint to sprint.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that I needed to purchase the extended battery for this guy.  And, even with that, I only was able to get 2…maybe 3…days out of this thing.  In Columbus, I had to buy a new battery.

When we moved to Richmond, we got terrible reception at our house.  So bad that we thought about ditching Sprint.  However, we went to the Sprint store and they let us use a loaner while they fiddled with our phones.  That phone had good service.  After a bit of looking at phones and contracts, we decided to go back to a shared plan (we currently share 800 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends that start at 7pm, and sprint to sprint on one of the old fair and flexible plans).  When we did that, we were elligible for new phones so we picked up a pair of Sanyo vi2300s .  We used these phones until we left the US.  I really liked our Sprint service.  And these phones would hold a signal like nothing else.  Oh, they also supported AMPS which led to us getting service in some unusual spots!

When we moved overseas, I bought a Nokia e65.  It supported VoIP (even VoIP over 3g!) and I thought it would be helpful.  It turned out to be a great phone.  The VoIP functionality was awesome too!  When we moved overseas, we were on pay as you go for a few months until I signed up for a prepaid plan.  I got something like 300 minutes and 300 texts included.  I paid 1500 dinars a month (I think)…that amounts to about 25-30 dollars.  This phone finally died when the mic quit working.  I really liked the design and solidness of the phone.  When we moved to the UK, we got on a pay monthly plan with no contract.  I get 300 min, unlimited within the network, and 2gb data for 15 pounds/month.

I had been wanting a smartphone (specifically the Nexus One) but I held off.  When my e65 went on the blink, I decided to take the plunge and get a smartphone.  Seeing my parents’ droids over the holidays helped too.  So, I’ve had it for a few days and really like it.  I like being able to actually surf the net on the phone when I’m out.  I also like the built in GPS.

I upgraded my Nexus S, I decided to get a Nexus 5 (this was April 2015 or so).  I tell you what…the only thing to get when you get an android device is one of the Nexus devices.  Updates from Google.  None of the stuff that phone manufacturers think you need to have to help.  I like the nexus 5 much better than my Nexus S.  Better battery life, faster, and a nicer screen. In the UK, I still had my old plan that gave me 5,000 minutes and texts (for me, virtually unlimited) and all you can eat data AND tethering for £25 pcm.  We just returned from the US where we paid about $80 pcm for that service.

 Later on, I’ll probably post an update to this with prices, minutes, etc… after I have a tad bit of time to think more about it.

[Update 2011-01-18 07:56:18] I updated the list with new pictures and added that I had owned a Nokia e65 and Nexus S

[Update 2012-12-19 19:35:58] Updated some links.

[Update 2016-04-05 07:17:24] Added the Nexus 5 after owning it about a year