There’s never a shortage of shiny new smartphones ready to tempt you away from your trusty old phone. The latest flagships are sleeker and more powerful than ever, with bigger screens and faster processors to keep you entertained and productive. But there’s always a better option out there if you’re willing to wait.
The first smartphone was IBM’s Simon Personal Communicator, released for purchase in 1994. It had a touchscreen and could access the Internet over a digital cellular network. However, the screen resolution was too low for videoconferencing or sending large email attachments, and it had a limited battery life.
Most early smartphones were hybrid devices that incorporated existing PDA operating systems like Palm OS, Newton OS, Windows CE/Pocket PC or Symbian with basic mobile phone hardware. They were bulkier than dedicated PDAs or mobile phones, but allowed for a limited amount of cellular data access.
By the mid-2000s, most smartphones had a touch-screen display with a virtual keyboard for text input. Some featured a physical QWERTY keyboard in a clamshell form factor, like the BlackBerry line and some of the Danger Hiptop line, while others used stylus-based handwriting recognition on resistive touchscreens, such as the Palm Treo line or the Nokia Eseries.
Apple revolutionised the smartphone in 2007 with its iPhone, which was the first device that gave consumers a full, unwatered-down Web experience on a portable touchscreen. It also had a brighter and larger display than previous smartphones, allowing users to comfortably browse the web from their trouser pockets.