I think it's a safe assumption that everyone who frequently spends their time online now has a smartphone. The industry has been booming for the past 10 years, and we've gotten to a point where the most expensive phones are not necessarily the best options for everyone. Smartphones have become such a commodity that even more affordable options, mid-range options that offer good user experiences for half the price of the most expensive flagships are becoming more and more popular.

But when did you buy your first smartphone? And what did you buy?

For me it's a two-part story. My first ever smartphone was a gift. I had just graduated and got my degree, and my family got me an iPhone 4. That was the first ever smartphone I had used, though I didn't buy it myself. I used it for about a year and a half before I actually bought my own smartphone with my own money.

At the time I was deciding between the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III. This was back in mid-2012. I did my research, went to play with the phones in person, and after watching this dog fight from Aaron Baker on PhoneDog (anybody remember him?), I made my decision.

Though the Galaxy S III actually won (spoiler?), I ended up going for the HTC One X. I much preferred HTC's Sense UI over Samsung's TouchWiz, and I liked how the One X looked from a design standpoint. So that was the first smartphone I ever bought. It made me fall in love with Android, and from there it's been Android all the way for me.

What was the first smartphone you ever bought and is there a story behind it?

My first smartphone was a HTC One XL, I loved that phone so easy to navigate.

The camera panorama feature was basic and simple, it was awesome. I loved that for motorcycle travel.

photos.smugmug.com

At the time I owned a 17" Macbook Pro and an iMac and Mac mini so was a rusted on apple man. But the early iPhone never felt intuitive to me, to this day my computing is still all apple (that may change in the future) .

My phone is still android, now on my 3rd Samsung after the HTC now using a Samsung Galaxy 9S and I love it.

Weird how I never warmed to the iPhone.

I'm probably the odd one out here since my first smartphone was a Windows phone. I chose it because I jumped into the fitness band world with the Microsoft Band. The first inception of that tracker only worked with a Windows phone. I used it for several years, then switched to Samsung for both fitness tracker and phone when I saw that Microsoft was getting out of both markets. I have never looked back.

My current phone is the Samsung Galaxy S10. I've been very happy with Android.

I lived in the Bay Area when iPhone was first introduced, so that’s what I started with. My favorite memory about that first iPhone was how it worked on my class of fifth graders. Believe it or not, the running timer was a huge motivator! I would set my iPhone on the overhead projector (old school!) and count down to starting the timer for the one-minute math practice sheets. As soon as the timer started, there was total silence while the kids went to town on those practice sheets hoping to beat the timer. That iPhone was an amazing motivator—much more effective than the ticking of the second hand on the analog clock on the wall! And those kids always thought I was the coolest teacher at the school. 😆

I still use that (925) phone number even though I live in a different state now. It’s a subtle reminder of those good ol days.

I didn't buy it but after my 3rd LG EnV touch had the issues (that phone was a mess which sucked since my bright orange EnV was one of my favorite phones ever) they just upgraded me for free to the LG Ally.

The Ally wasn't a bad phone for most of its' life. At the end though it just didn't have enough storage or memory to handle the last version of Android ported to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmMTNJp3TA

So does a Palm Centro count? I loved that phone! I even downloaded TV shows/ converted them and watched on the train!

Later I got an iPhone - but will always have happy Palm memories !!

My first smartphone was a garbage Samsung phone that got extremely warm when it was charging: that model was later in the news for bursting into flames. It was so bad, it couldn’t keep a charge and I thought, why do people want something this bad?!

And then I bought an iPhone and life was all good.

The End.

First smartphone I had for an extended time was a some Nokia N-series phone, company provided. And it was crap. No apps, no proper OS (Symbian), no way to do anything exciting with it. First smartphone I selected myself was HTC Desire (basically Google Nexus One). 1Ghz CPU! Whoa! Android 2.2! Hacked the hell out of it, installed numerous custom ROMs (back then, you could't even update Maps without a new ROM). Then it was Galaxy Advance (S2 variant), then S3 - now, that was a good phone.

Back then, every new phone generation brought really noticeable steps forward in capabilities, speed, usability.

My last two phones, Samsung S10 and S20? Basically the same thing.

It was some version of early smartphone made by HTC. Even reviewing a couple of articles giving the reader an outline of the choices available to the masses at that time, I can't recall for certain. It *may* have been the original HTC Desire...

The story was simple. My son bought one for himself, but hated the interface. I bought mine (my wife would use my feature phone for another year...) soon after he did.

He wasn't keen on a lot of things; frankly, the phone (no, the operating system of the day) was sensational for it's day, yet it was so archaic. I thought it worked good enough for the simple things that I was doing with a smartphone.

Soon after, he jumped on the iOS bandwagon, and my wife and I have continued to be devout Android users to this day.

Current phone: Pixel 3, and holding out for the Pixel 5's release.

I so wish to be on the Pixel bandwagon, to get quick access to latest Android SW, but the frankly mediocre HW design is holding me back. That, and the fact that they are basically unavailable anywhere outside of US.

to get quick access to latest Android SW, but the frankly mediocre HW design is holding me back.

It *almost* makes up for it. Two out of the three I've owned have had issues - my current phone is ate-up with camera auto-focus problems, which is a hardware issue that I've not addressed yet.

Yep. On the other hand, Samsung has upped its game significantly when it comes to updates, and the hardware and build is top-notch. Google needs to step up.

Samsung's improvements over the years have not gone unnoticed. Pretty much the entire tech community is in agreement with that.