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Random Question: What's the longest/shortest you've ever kept a cell phone?

helloimryan9

helloimryan9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2014
12
0
Upstate NY
I saw an article on PhoneDog this morning asking "How often do you upgrade?" (link here: http://www.phonedog.com/2014/02/07/how-often-do-you-upgrade/)
So I was just curious to see how long others waited. :) Here's mine...

Longest
I had a Samsung Strive on AT&T from August 2010 to September 2012.
Shortest
1 week in July 2010 (or maybe even less...lol) with a T-Mobile/Motorola Sidekick Slide on AT&T. The reason I kept it for such a short time is that since it was being used on AT&T, it couldn't access T-Mo's servers where every Sidekick owner's data was stored. Anytime the battery ran down (which was pretty often), my texts, pictures, contacts, etc., had disappeared. I got fed up with it and got the Samsung.
 
I think I had a Palm Centro on ReadyMobilePCS for about three months before switching to a different phone and carrier. I actually liked the phone, but the carrier was just too awful.
 
Random Question: What's the longest/shortest you've ever kept a cell phone?

Ever since the first iPhone came out I've upgraded at least once a year. Before that I would use a phone until it wasn't useable anymore. Now I usually keep an iPhone and an Android phone. So each year I upgrade to the next iPhone and I'll use most high end Android phones at least for a little while.
 
4s from launch day skipped the 5 and got the 5s in January this year!

Shortest was my original iPhone. Got it launch day and was upgraded for free when the 3G came out.
 
I still have an original 2G iPhone from September 2007, unlocked with a T-Mobile sim but it's used only when we have visitors from overseas.

I personally still use my iPhone 4 from June 2010 every day. It'll go to my 12 yo daughter when I upgrade in the next year or two.

My wife used a flip Samsung phone for about five years before we upgraded her to a iPhone 4 in early 2011, but only because the battery wasn't lasting a full day and we couldn't find a replacement.

I've never kept a phone for less than three years.
 
2 years longest for iPhone 4, SGS3 on its way now.

Shortest 1 year. Samsung Omnia HD.
 
The longest I've kept one has been around 18-20 months, while the shortest would be around 12 months.
 
Longest: iPhone 4 and HTC Incredible (Roughly 22 months going back and forth between the two).
Shortest: HTC Rezound (3 weeks)
 
Longest? Probably my Samsung SGH-D357 flip phone(it had PTT which was cool at the time) or maybe my Sony/Ericsson w810i. I owned each of those for about 3 years. I don't remember what happened to the Samsung, but I still have the Sony/Ericsson somewhere in my desk.

As for the shortest, that'd probably be my HTC One. I owned it for about 6 months before I dropped it and destroyed the screen.
 
Longest: Sony Ericsson W810i (feb 2007 - oct 2011)
Shortest: Some other Sony Ericsson I had before that. (~1.5 yrs)

Now: iPhone 4S (oct 2011 - ???)
 
I used this for a couple of years before passing it on to my wife. It's a Samsung D600 and it's my wife's everyday phone. The one she had before that was a Nokia 3310. She likes that it's worthless so nobody would ever try to take it from her. It's from around 2005.
 

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Longest: Motorola KRZR for two and a half years

Shortest: Blackberry Bold 9900 for 3-4 weeks, traded an iPhone 4 for it but it was so bad that I had to get rid of it so I traded up to a 4s.
 
Samsung Eternity. I used for more than 3 years before finally decided get a smartphone.
The shortest was LG Thrill 4G for about 5 months, then I traded for Samsung SG2 Skyrocket.
 
Shortest: Dunno, a lot of cheapo phones didn't last me a week

Longest: Blackberry 7920 - 2005-2010 + 3 months in 2012

Thing was built like a tank, survived several 5 foot drops onto concrete. I'd still be using it if it'd take T-Mobile's sim cards.
 
Longest "smartphone" I kept was the iPhone 4 for 3+ years from June 2010 - Aug 2013. Eventually I had to sell it as I was in financial problems at the time.

Shortest is probably a BlackBerry Bold 9000 as I sold it the very next day after I bought it.

My current longest tenure phone is actually my Sony Ericsson T616. It just sits there with the Cingular sim still in there. That is over 10 years old now from Jan 2004. My longest current smartphone I have right now is my Nexus One. Got it cheap in Oct 2011 and works as a solid backup to the bigger HTC One.
 
I change up my smartphones twice a year.

Shortest I kept a phone was around 3 months for the Xperia Z because that was a POS.

I've had my Xperia SP for 9 months and will be changing that soon because it's old. Got my Moto G in November and plan to hold on to that for a while yet.
 
I typically keep my cellphone until the battery quits properly charging so by that time the phone has 0 value and I upgrade.
 
Longest: iPhone 3G from Nov. 2008 until August 2010, I would've kept it even longer but the iPhone 4 blew me away.

Shortest: HTC One S, May 2012-Oct. 2012. Got fed up with the battery life so I sold it and got an iPhone 4S despite it only being capable of EDGE speeds on T-Mobile at the time.
 
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