In December 2011, in publishing the news of Sony taking over Sony Ericsson, I made a brief mention of the Ericsson R380 as the very first Symbian smartphone.
In this feature article, I am going down memory lane to talk about that elegant device. Being my very first smartphone, the Ericsson R380 holds a special place in my mind.
The very first time that I saw it, it was love at first sight. Gadget lust waxed strong within me and I told myself that I was getting one.
But it wasn’t just my first smartphone, it was the first smartphone ever!
Meet The Great Grandfather Smartphone
Released in 2000AD, two years after Psion became Symbian, I didn’t get my hands on one until December 2002.
The R380 was the first device to be marketed as a smartphone – PDA and phone wrapped into one, and in a nice form. As such, sentiments aside, this guy is the grand-daddy of every smartphone circulating around today. Even the first of my beloved Communicators didn’t show up until 2001 in the form of the Nokia 9210.
The R380 looked and worked like any other mobile phone of its day when closed up. But you can open the front flip to reveal the large landscape display. It weighed only 164g.
The R380′s main specs:
- WAP 1.1 browser (an improved version later shipped with WAP 1.2.1)
- Large 3.5-inch backlit monochrome STN touchscreen display (120 x 360 pixels)
- Flip cover with regular alpha-numeric keyboard for use as a regular phone
- Stylus for use with the resistive touchscreen
- POP3/IMAP Email
- Calendar & notes
- Synchronization with Microsoft® Outlook and Lotus® Notes and Organizer
- Symbian OS version 5
- Infrared port
- GSM 900/1800 dual band phone
- 2MB RAM
- 1.2 MB user-accessible storage
- Handwriting recognition
- Voice notes
- Speakerphone functionality
- Dial-up (CSD) internet connectivity
- 1 -chord (monophonic) ringtones
- Built-in Games:
- Built-in modem
- RS-232 cable for PC connectivity
Though running Symbian, the OS was “closed” at the time, as no 3rd party apps could be installed on it. But it came with pretty much what everyone used then.
Here are some screenshots:
The R380 was a delight to use back then. I subscribed to CSD (circuit Switched Data AKA dial-up internet) with MTN back then, with which I browsed and managed my emails. At that time, this was magic to almost everyone I met here in Nigeria then. Very few of us used mobile internet on mobile back then.
There were no expansion slots yet, and Bluetooth wasn’t on the table either. But infrared was king of the day for wireless connectivity.
I wish I had details of the processor (if someone can help me out with that, I’d be delighted), but the R380 performed admirably. It wasn’t a perfect smartphone. I also remember some occasional freezing up, especially when using internet connectivity (which in retrospect may have been network issues).
It is such a privilege to have been around early enough to use the very first smartphone on the planet as my first smartphone. Ladies and gentlemen, a hat tip to the stately Ericsson R380.
This post was written by
Mister Mobility – who has written 937 posts on Mobility blog.
Founder, Mobility blog. Serial lifestyle entrepreneur, speaker, wordsmith, and friendly neighbourhood alien. Follow him on Twitter @Mister_Mobility.
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January 24th, 2012 at 8:42 am Browsing with
Old smartphones never die (in our minds). They just become museum pieces!
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January 24th, 2012 at 8:55 am Browsing with
Mister Mobility, that was my first smartpphone too. Bought mine as a birthday present to myself. In retrospect I just realized I’ve bin a techie freak since way back then. I loved that phone and did not hesitate to show off the flip and touch screen action it had then. For a touch screen of its time it was an excellent touch screen. Unfortunately I knew nothing abt browsing on the phone then so I did not enjoy that. But I really had fun with the phone. I was really lookin forward to getting the r380 world hoping it would be an upgrade to the r380. Anyway good one on the review.
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January 24th, 2012 at 10:05 am Browsing with
Technology meet idea and the trends continue since then.
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January 24th, 2012 at 11:03 am Browsing with
A hat tip to Mister mobility, oga you have been in this trade for a really long time, more grease to your elbow
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January 24th, 2012 at 1:04 pm Browsing with
I was also bamboozled when I got to see someone using the phone in 2002! He was a drug REP with one of those pharmaceutical companies and I think clearly he came to market a drug (Ramipril) in the hospital that I was doing intern in. However, I was, I was more interested in his phone (R380) than the anti-hypertensive drug he just made a slide presentation for.
I could remember that the touch screen was what really got me enthralled! It was like something out of Star Trek! I became a hopeless devotee of Sony Ericsson then, but I eventually joined the Nokia Symbian Symbian Banddwagon with the Nokia 6600!
However, with this statement above; “Though running Symbian, the OS was “closed” at the time, as no 3rd party apps could be installed on it. But it came with pretty much what everyone used then.”
Mr. Mobility, the SonyEricsson 380 could not truly be called a smartphone if you hold the fastidious definition of smartphones that you & I agreed on twitter not-so-long ago! That is support of native third party applications. That’s what differentiate a smartphone from a feature phone. Otherwise any feature phone could be called a smartphone.
That said, the R380 was far above its time when it was released! It was indeed a pioneer of many things to come!
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January 25th, 2012 at 7:31 am Browsing with
Afewgoodmen,
Being a man of science, you do know that the first generation of anything is never fully mature. Science tells us that the first man wasn’t exactly like us. The first car was a far cry from what we drive today – but it was a car all the same.
The first mobile phone wasn’t so ‘mobile’ either.
The R380 was a smartphone. Certainly not fully matured, but being first generation, that is understandable.
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