I know the headline says classic phones, and you’re probably expecting some vintage tech here. I also know you will hate me for making you feel old by making the 2000s sound like prehistoric times. So, before we start, I’d like to clarify that, as a 1997-born, these phones are my earliest memory of cell phones in general. So you’re going to be seeing a lot of Y2K-era stuff here.
I was attached to these phones in some way. These were the first phones I owned or dreamt of owning. All of them have different reasons for being iconic, but they’re all equally legendary in my eyes.
Nokia 5110 — 1998
The Nokia 5110 was interesting because it had a swappable outer cover, so you could personalize it by playing with various colours. Sorry Sony, Nokia did it first. This was my mom’s phone back then; for some reason, she had it in the most unpleasant cover out of all four: yellow. The 5110 was one of the last few phones to sport an antenna until the turn of the century.
Nokia 3310 — 2000
Where do I even start about the 3310? This was and is the Nokia phone. It had a battery that lasted forever and was especially known for how sturdy it was. In fact, I’ve seen countless memes on its sturdiness and equating this phone to an actual brick. My grandfather still owns this phone, and I love playing Snake on it.
Danger Hiptop/T-Mobile Sidekick — 2002
Termed as the coolest smartphone of all time, the Danger Hiptop was pretty remarkable, too. The aim was to create a mini computer sitting in your lap. They originally called it the Hiptop, but it is also widely known as the Sidekick. It quickly became popular among celebs and took its sweet time ruling over competitor phones until it was discontinued in 2010.
Moto Razr V3 — 2004
When it comes to the hot pink Moto Razr V3, I don’t know what to tell you except that I have actively been looking for it on eBay and will order one as soon as I find a nice piece. This was the it phone back then, and I remember the hot pink colourway leaving all the girls in awe. Its cool flip design, dual screen, and VGA camera were pretty impressive back then.
Sony Ericsson W550i — 2005
Released in the era of Walkman, this phone was a hit. It was marketed as the Walkman phone, offering FM radio and a digital music player. It even had CD-ripping software included in the kit. It was also loved for its unique swivel mechanism, which was pretty amusing back in the day. I miss when phones used to be interesting. Every other phone was a new experience. Now, you upgrade from a small black rectangle to a bigger black rectangle.
LG Chocolate — 2005
I’m still curious why they named it that, but the LG Chocolate was a pretty hyped phone when it came out. Its glossy black exterior exuded sophistication, and its touch-capacitive red keys were quite advanced for that time. It looked cool when the touch keys lit up red as you slid the screen up.
Nokia 7370 — 2006
This was one of my sister’s earliest phones; I spent half of my childhood swooning over it. The shade and design were both gorgeous. The 7370 also featured a fun swivel mechanism like the Sony Ericsson W550i. I still remember the slippery, non-clicky feel of the keys on this phone and how difficult it was to type on it. As far as I know, this phone didn’t become mainstream.
Blackberry Pearl 8100 — 2006
Owning a Blackberry Pearl was the real flex back in the 2000s. The Pearl series was pretty successful, with the 8100 kickstarting it in 2006. They discontinued the Series in 2010. The 8100 was iconic also because it was the first BlackBerry device with a camera and media player.
Nokia N95 — 2007
The N95 was way too advanced for its time. It was more of a camera phone and had pretty much everything you could dream of in a phone back then. You have a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and all the photography bells and whistles, such as ISO settings, white balance, a good flash, auto-focus, and more. It was also one of the first phones to sport built-in GPS. This phone also had a cool mechanism. You’d slide the screen up for the dial pad and slide it the other way for dedicated media keys.
Nokia E71 — 2008
This was the dad phone back then. Every other dad I knew bought it for work purposes. It was a highly successful phone and did pretty well for quite some time. Known as the Blackberry killer, it was the more economical alternative to Blackberry. Interestingly enough, it was also known as the iPhone killer.
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