In Past Tense: The story of Peter's phones

18 February 2018
Past Tense is our latest feature where we tell how the industry evolved and how it shaped us, one phone at a time.

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Compress text at 16mb? Cute.

I remember compressing apps with "Stacker" app. You cant live without it on a 3.4mb non-expandable first ever symbian smartphone. Reduce 300kb for additional camcorder app while allowed to record and play .3gp files. RealPlayer back then was considered a luxury taking 800kbps allowing few 64kbps mp3s/amrs or few 10 seconds 3gps.

    • D
    • AnonD-742076
    • x7u
    • 03 Mar 2018

    Kd10, 18 Feb 2018Nice article, from your last paragraph, it sounds like you’... moreSounded more like Nokia 8 Sirocco.

    AMOLED, Pure Android, no headphone jack, plus dual camera. 😊

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      • Filipino
      • sxs
      • 03 Mar 2018

      Never thought that they were into 3rd party development community too..

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        • AnonD-632062
        • 3J5
        • 22 Feb 2018

        Finophile, 22 Feb 2018Why bash Ivan? He's real too...Not bashing Ivan. But let's admit it, his story feels unreal (like some kind of Tony Stark's personal life)....How many people have used that many phones within that amount of time.

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          • Finophile
          • 6uK
          • 22 Feb 2018

          AnonD-632062, 20 Feb 2018Hey Peter, I liked your article. Don't know why people are ... moreWhy bash Ivan? He's real too...

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            • JacktheIPhoneKiller
            • KIA
            • 21 Feb 2018

            Believe it or not, I could actually type a text on my Nokia 6630 chatting with someone, click "send" and not even look at it ( back then Dial also worked as "Send"), all this while riding my bike and the phone being in my trousers' pocket. Gosh I can't believe I actually used to do that. Phones were so awesome and so cool and there was a sea of options to choose from, even in one brand's catalog.
            One more thing which I am surprised no author has mentioned (or may be someone mentioned but I missed it) is the great longevity of a certain phone model and its worthiness as a consumer product. For example Nokia N95 was launched in 2006, I still remember people would walk into a store in 2008-09 and ask for a brand new N-95 and with great pleasure buy one. Same is the case with all time midrange champion N-73, also came in a 2006 and was reigning champion till almost the end of 2008. Today, a phone 4-6 months old and it already feels like OLD!, there is no such thing as product value longevity. Heck, ask someone to buy a Huawei Mate 10 which came just a couple of months ago and she/he will immediately tell you to better wait for the upcoming P20/P 20 Plus as those are the "latest!!!" devices, or even Note 8 compared to the upcoming Galaxy s9. You get the idea

              Past few years we can hold the smartphone with one hand no need to stretch our thumb, but today we have to stretch our thumb too often because a long/tall/giant screen, is it convenience?

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                • AnonD-632062
                • 3Yc
                • 20 Feb 2018

                Hey Peter, I liked your article. Don't know why people are bashing it. Your's is a real story that any smart person can relate to. Much better than Ivan's, who seems like a maniac jumping from phone to phone on a whim.....

                  Anonymous, 19 Feb 2018I hear up to 19500 Hz, tested. Though, It was rather unple... moreDid not tested hi freq enough. (well not interested in that as you said unpleasant freq). 4Hz was more interesting...

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                    • Anonymous
                    • dWg
                    • 19 Feb 2018

                    vrvly, 18 Feb 2018Well, depends on ''loudness'' for infra look below. Also fo... moreI hear up to 19500 Hz, tested.
                    Though, It was rather unpleasant, to hear such frequency.

                    16 KHz is what most musical instruments go at their maximum, not what our ears do.

                      • K
                      • Kd10
                      • 4qB
                      • 18 Feb 2018

                      Nice article, from your last paragraph, it sounds like you’re waiting on the Google Pixel 3 XL. I’ll be extremely surprised if it doesn’t show up with a dual camera, on the XL anyway. I think this is the year with the Pixels that we also see more differences between the regular and XL model, like everyone else does or is going to do.

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                        • Moj
                        • a3m
                        • 18 Feb 2018

                        Hayaan Mo Sila, 18 Feb 2018Cool story! I miss the days when only Nokia, Motorola, Alc... moresoooooo correct!
                        damn phone all are like each other!

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                          • finophile
                          • 6uK
                          • 18 Feb 2018

                          Hi, my comment is a question. When you wrote: "Having gone through the transition from B&W to color screens, to camera phones, to the rise of smartphones, each successive update feels smaller and smaller. "
                          Did you mean that each update seems to bring less of consequence to the table?
                          Because myself I think the current platform has "plateaued" (like so many other things)

                            Kiyasuriin, 18 Feb 2018the actual ratio is 16hz-20khz. when you're just a baby yo... moreWell, depends on ''loudness'' for infra look below. Also for adults top should be around 14kHz-16kHz I think.

                              KMB877, 18 Feb 2018I didn't know the human ear can hear below 20 Hz.You can quite easily hear infrasound - below 20Hz, even if its normally hard to perceive, you just need right earphones(best probably ones using memory foam, at least such I got) that can make great enough pressure. You can also hear difference between uncompressed wav and compressed flac. Well, you can enjoy mp3s if you got nothing better, but uncompressed one is most natural, most enjoyable. Similarly old lumias with haac recorded ''more enjoyable'' audio, but if you didn't try, you wouldn't know. Well, wireless audio is more portable, but cut at 20Hz is heavy loss. You can test what sounds you will lose using right player and true sin wave frequencies in wav, or look at wiki and infrasound if its hard to believe.

                                Hayaan Mo Sila, 18 Feb 2018It's really none of their business that you're not excited ... moreIt's true. It's definitely not my buisness, but irritated me that he was not satisfied with the article as in "it wasn't exciting". tch. I'd understand and won't say a word if he thought it wasn't well written, or lacked details. but what mockery to the author because it wasn't "Exciting"? wow. poor person. by all means.

                                  Imperator Neubaticus, 18 Feb 2018When you're working as a tech journalist, it's mandatory th... moreI haven't skipped any classes. I know my grades and they are excellent (b+ and up, or 82-100)
                                  anyhow. a story is a story. and as journalist of tech, it's mandatory to tell the truth as well.

                                    KMB877, 18 Feb 2018I didn't know the human ear can hear below 20 Hz.the actual ratio is 16hz-20khz.
                                    when you're just a baby you can hear on these ranges. as an adult. it's 20-20000 range.

                                      Cool articles, makes me remember all my feature and smart phones I ever owned. Peters Xperia Ray reminds me my Xperia Play. It was underpower and insanely limited on internal storage like entire 2011 Xperia line up, was useless after 1 year of usage, only custom roms could extend little bit it's functionality. Still have it on cyanogenmod mod 4.1.2 lollipop for ps1 emulation

                                        Hayaan Mo Sila, 18 Feb 2018Cool story! I miss the days when only Nokia, Motorola, Alc... moreWhy d you think Apple brought in the "notch"? It's because the round button was out of date but they needed a way to be distinguished.