I left Japan in 2008. Phones had had cameras long enough that the makers had to add the can’t-turn-it-off shutter sound because so many chikan were taking upskirt photos on public transport.
Less salaciously, there was also panic about people taking pictures of magazine articles in bookstores and then not buying the magazine. Not sure anyone really would have tried to read an article on those tiny screens, though.
Yeah, I was thinking about Symbian too. The basic functionality of an Android phone today, Symbian already had with the limitations of its time. In 2003, you could use your Symbian to share internet to a PC, navigate maps, edit documents, take pictures, edit pictures, browse the web, etc. There was a good amount of third party apps too, including browsers like Opera and games like Chessmaster. And this was a shitty OS for this, Maemo was way better, but it came later.
I used a Symbian phone to find a cafe in Providence once while working there in winter 2005/6 or so. And got charged like $2 from Cingular for loading one yelp page listing. I was so cold, and had to shit so bad I didn’t care.
I remember. Mobile internet was ridiculously expensive. Browsers used to have an option to not download images and videos, that used to help a lot. Then Opera Mini came and these problems were gone for good.
There were no smartphones in the early 2000s though.
I left Japan in 2008. Phones had had cameras long enough that the makers had to add the can’t-turn-it-off shutter sound because so many chikan were taking upskirt photos on public transport.
Less salaciously, there was also panic about people taking pictures of magazine articles in bookstores and then not buying the magazine. Not sure anyone really would have tried to read an article on those tiny screens, though.
This dude’s never heard of Symbian or Blackberry I guess. Or Sony Ericsson and Nokia N*** phones.
My first smartphone was a Nokia running Symbian with a fold out QWERTY keyboard.
I actually loved It, except for the ridiculous paucity of compatible apps…
You leavin’ out Palm Trēo, punk?
Yeah, I was thinking about Symbian too. The basic functionality of an Android phone today, Symbian already had with the limitations of its time. In 2003, you could use your Symbian to share internet to a PC, navigate maps, edit documents, take pictures, edit pictures, browse the web, etc. There was a good amount of third party apps too, including browsers like Opera and games like Chessmaster. And this was a shitty OS for this, Maemo was way better, but it came later.
I used a Symbian phone to find a cafe in Providence once while working there in winter 2005/6 or so. And got charged like $2 from Cingular for loading one yelp page listing. I was so cold, and had to shit so bad I didn’t care.
I remember. Mobile internet was ridiculously expensive. Browsers used to have an option to not download images and videos, that used to help a lot. Then Opera Mini came and these problems were gone for good.
There were plenty low quality digital point and shoot cameras though.
Fair enough, the first blackberry with a camera was 2006 (the Blackberry Pearl). So mid-00s smartphone.