Celebrating 40 years of cellphones

Wired decided to mark the 40th anniversary of the first cellphone call with a look back at 12 very influential cellphones. Here’s what they have to say about the Motorola Razr:

The Razr was the first must-have phone. The thin flip phone was stylish and, if the commercials were to believed, would stick like a knife if dropped onto the floor.

While throwing the phone at walls like a knife was a bad idea, the Razr had a great four-year run, selling 130 million units. Is there any wonder why?

The Razr looked like it was straight out of the future. The numerical keyboard was cut from a single piece of metal. Its clamshell aluminum body and colored glass screen were gorgeous. And the damn thing worked like a charm. It was the last dumb phone that truly mattered.

Mission Mission wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for my old Razr V3 (pictured above). It took nice photos and browsed the web, and generally got me more in the habit of behaving like a blogger. Miss u bb ;)

(Oh and Hot Faces definitely wouldn’t have happened.)

Read on for the 11 other phones. [via kottke.org]

4 Responses to “Celebrating 40 years of cellphones”

  1. tc says:

    Word – RAZR V3 was my fave dumbphone. Folded up, it was tiny and thin and it had an OK camera. I took so many amazing pictures with it. Low dynamic range yet it worked at night, without a flash.

    Crappy buttons wore out quick but I still wish a modern smartphone could be made as tiny as the RAZR.

  2. Valerie says:

    Loved my RAZR.

  3. SFdoggy says:

    I remember when RAZRs didn’t have cameras — and, even then, they were pretty cool.

  4. The Sophisticate says:

    I thought the Star-Tac was the first “must have” phone.