With the release of the new Google Pixel 9 line up, I felt compelled to take a trip back to the golden era of cell phones. 20 years ago cell phones existed but now in 2004 we were getting the open book forms of them. I have been with Google since it was called Nexus but lets take it back to the 2 best phones of the time.

Motorola Razr V3. This was the first phone to have the thinnest profile. I was the typical clam shell design with with an aluminum body, the clap sound it made when closing the phone was mad satisfying. Came in silver, matte black and hot pink colors. I just had the standard silver but it didn’t matter because it was the shit back then. Full color screen with front display, removable battery, games and internet, you couldn’t tell me nothing. And lets not forget the sleek number pad where we all became T9 texting pros. I still had mine up to just a few years ago. Hello Moto!

Nokia N-Gage QD. This was branded as a hand held game console and smart phone. Companies were way ahead of their time now that they see what is out there now. Often referred to as the ‘taco phone’ because of its round design, the games played on it were cartridges’ similar to the switch but a little bit bigger. 2 inch display, memory card slot, loud speaker but no camera. There was a whole host of games made for this phone from Action, FPS, Racing, Sports, Platform and Adventure. Some notable names are Call of Duty, Sonic, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, FIFA and Rayman.

Phones have obviously come a long way but to think of the lack of technology and how fulfilling it was to have these and be able to do things that we were not able to do just 5 years prior to 2004 is nostalgic. To all the Gen Z readers, yall missed out.