Five years ago, the first iPhone went on sale. My, have mobile phones changed since then.

My Mobiles before the iPhone launch

When I first came to the USA, the only phones I could get were pay-as-you-go bricks. After some time, I finally became eligible for a contract phone.

My first was the Verizon V710 flip phone (first left). It was sold as the first phone to allow bluetooth sync between the phone and your computer, so I got that one. Then Verizon disabled the bluetooth, lost a class action lawsuit, settled and never fixed it.

My next phone, as a result of the class action suit, was the Motorola Razr (second left). It was shit, mostly because Verizon destroyed it’s OS. So I rooted it and installed the secret Motorola OS instead of the Verizon one and it worked OK.

After that, my company got a great deal from T-Mobile and I moved to the Blackberry 8700 (third left). This device worked quite well, but was bulky and plasticky and required you to remove the battery all the time.

My last pre-iPhone was the Blackberry Curve (far right), it felt better than the 8700 in build quality, was was a much worse phone, worse voice, had a slow operating system and the frakking nipple always got stuck.

My Mobiles since iPhone launch

I’ve had the iPhone 3G, so much faster and easier than the old curve. Then the 3GS, one of the best phones ever. Then upgraded to the iPhone 4, love the display. And now I am on the iPhone 4S, the best iPhone yet. I still use the 3G and 3GS when I travel as unlocked and synced phones.

With the iPhone there have been no hardware problems, no slowdowns, no battery replacements, no stuck nipples and all devices remained up-to-date in software through their operating lives. In fact, I’ve had no complaints about these phones at all.

The only thing that has remained consistent pre- and post-iPhone launch is the carrier’s terrible voice and data service quality in New York.