From pagers and clunky cellphones to touch screens, this field sales manager has had ’em all

Remember when cellphones had antennas? And used to fold in half? In this installment of “My Analog Life,” Kristina Azab recounts the many iterations of mobile devices she’s used over her career.

Azab started working in field sales in the ’90s. In her role, she travels to meet customers. Being on the road a lot, it’s important that she can be reached from anywhere.

First she had a pager. When she received a message, she would have to find a payphone to return someone’s call. After the pager came her first cellphone.

“My first mobile phone was a huge suitcase that I would put in the seat next to me and plug into my cigarette lighter in the car,” Azab remembered. “It made a huge difference when I could actually have a mobile device in my car, even though it was as big as a suitcase. It still meant that I didn’t have to stop the car and go find a payphone.”

Azab said her favorite device was the BlackBerry, which she learned to text quickly on despite its small keyboard. “They almost had to pry it out of my hands when I had to give that up for the iPhone.”

Click the audio player above to hear Azab’s story.

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