Call me a super-laggard when it comes to adopting new technology, but I had a Nokia 6030 for 7.5 years until I recently dropped it for the millionth time. The phone still worked great except the phone would no longer charge the battery.
So I pulled a slightly upgraded “new” Nokia 2G phone that I had in the closet (just in case) and will use that until all of the 2G network stuff has been converted.
When 2G goes away (soon I hear) I’ll be looking for a 3G non-smartphone. That should tide me over for awhile, at least I hope.
I’d be surprised if I kept the same physical phone for more than six months. Then again, I spent the last 12 years making cell phones, and usually carried an internal prototype of some sort…
I’ve had this one a few months, but it’s an aberration. It’s the cheapest phone I could get from my provider that had a slide-out keyboard. Before this one, I had the indestructible Samsung flip phone for seven or eight years. Every so often someone would ask me to send them a picture of something, and I’d have to explain that I owned the world’s last remaining dumbphone and it didn’t even have a camera.
I refused to replace it until I could get one with a slide-out keyboard for what I considered to be a reasonable price. I hate talking on phones and avoid it whenever possible. The only reason I own a device that makes voice calls at all is because if the house catches on fire, I can’t summon the fire department via SMS.
I’m the only 10 years. I had a Nokia 6230 from 2003 till last year, when my sister gifted me a new phone. Left to myself, I probably wouldn’t have replaced it until it refused to work anymore.
Until smartphones came along, the two of us had the Motorola Razr (sp?) flip phones for probably 5 years or so, just bought new batteries occasionally.
We actually liked the style; they were small and just perfect for the old school phone calls.
I sometimes cause jaws to drop at work when I pull out my Razr phone that I’ve used for a decade.
I have an iPod touch for all the things I’d need a smartphone for, except the phone part. The contract we have for our phone is so much cheaper than the monthly fee we’d be charged nowadays that it would be folly to switch just so I could carry one less device in my pocket.
First phone: 2002-2006 (Nokia 3310)
Second phone: 2006-2009 (Samsung T509)
Third phone: 2009-2014 (Nokia XPressMusic 5310)
Fourth phone: 2014-X (Motorola Moto G, just got it last month)
Doubt the fourth generation will make it 3-4 years but I guess we’ll see. The cheap is strong with this one
A bit complicated in my case. The longest I’ve ever continually used a cell phone was about three years, just because I lost track of the time before I was eligible for a new one. However, last summer I accidentally left my phone outside for a huge thunderstorm, with predictable results. As a result, I’m now using an old phone formerly belonging to my father, which had last been used in 2009 when it was replaced. So the longest I’ve ever used a phone is 3 years, and I’ve used this one for 6 months, but it’s been used cumulatively for about 2.5 years, and is about 6.5 years old.
I answered “0-2 years,” but you’re mistaken if you think that means I’m quick to embrace new technology. It means I only got a cellphone about a year ago.
I’m interested in the answers from the college-aged and younger members. I’m 27, and one of the first groups of teens to have their own cell phones. I’ve noticed people a few years younger than me treat their phones much rougher and don’t keep track of them as well. Losing or breaking their phone once or twice a year isn’t a big thing for them. For me, I keep track of my phone like I do my wallet!
I had a Blackberry for five years because my employer was too cheap to give me a new one. Eventually they wised up a instituted a Bring Your Own Device plan which allowed us to use our personal smartphones to access the corporate network and paid us a stipend to give up our blackberries.
That is my favourite phone ever. I think I got mine at some point in 2001, and the last time I used it was at a three-day music festival in 2011. I had more capable phones and smartphones in that period, but the battery life and general sturdiness made it a great backup device. It’ll probably still work.
Between getting my first cell phone in 2000 or 2001 and my first smartphone in 2008 or 2009, I had 3 or 4, so average 2-ish years. I had my Blackberry from 2008 or 2009 until January of this year, so 4-5 years.
I doubt very much I’ll be able to keep my Galaxy S4 that long. Planned obsolescence and all that.
