From the brick with an antenna to the latest sleek and slim app and media-playing handsets, the simple mobile phone has come a long way. Let’s take a look at some of the classic mobile phone models that were ahead of their time, and helped contribute to the evolution of the mobile communication that we all can’t be without today.

1. Five classic and memorable
mobile phones
From the brick with an antenna to the
latest sleek and slim app and media-
playing handsets, the simple mobile
phone has come a long way.
Let’s take a look at some of the classic
mobile phone models that were ahead of
their time, and helped contribute to the
evolution of the mobile communication
that we all can’t be without today.
By Jeff Jedras
Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Those of a certain age will
remember the Motorola
DynaTAC as the phone Zack
Morris had on the television
series Saved By The Bell.
It was actually a series of cellular
phones produced by Motorola
from 1983 to 1994 that, to
many, resembled a brick.
At launch, it was priced at nearly
$4000.
Motorola DynaTAC

3. Launched in 1996, Motorola’s StarTAC
had the distinction of being the first
ever clamshell or flip phone, a form
factor that is still popular today for
non-smartphones.
Maybe because it reminded people of
the original Star Trek communicators?
The StarTAC was priced at $1000, and
over 60 million were sold.
Motorola StarTAC

4. The Nokia 3210 was proof that
simplicity works.
Debuting in 1999 and selling over 160
million units, it was also one of the first
mobile phones without an external
aerial antenna.
It also included three games and
changeable covers that helped it
appeal to the youth market, opening
up this market to mobiles for the first
time.
Nokia 3210

5. When it hit the market in 2004, the
Motorola Razr V3 was hot. It was the “it”
phone that everyone had to have, and
was featured regularly in movies and on
television.
Over its four-year run it sold more than
140 million units, making it the most
popular clamshell phone ever.
It also marked the beginning of the end of
Motorola’s dominance of the market.
Motorola Razr

6. There had been other
smartphones, but Apple broke the
mold and launched mobile phones into
a whole other stratosphere when it
launched its first generation iPhone in
2007.
Besides introducing a new level of
usability, it also pioneered the app
model, now a major and lucrative
industry.
Some waited days outside stores for
the phones launch, and the original
model sold over six million units.
First generation Apple iPhone