What was the first smartphone?

https://www.mindbounce.com/trivia/what-was-the-first-smartphone/

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Beats me. I know what my first smartphone was.

 

Of course I voted for Palm...

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I actually got the answer right the first time!

 

And the answer was ?

 

I started doing that trivia quiz, but it doesn't seem to have an end and it doesn't keep score! What's the point of a quiz without score? Even paper magazines decade's ago kept score. I got most of the answers wrong, BTW.

 

They and others claim it was the IBM Simon, but I'm not really sure it qualifies as anything more than a feature phone. My old Samsung flipphone had more capability but it wasn't called a smartphone. The definition of a smartphone varies, but I kind of like Wikipedias.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

I think Wikipedia also has it right that everything before the Danger Hiptop (Sidekick), Blackberry and Symbian Nokias (not the 9000) were forerunners and not truly smartphones, because neither the software nor, importantly, the network was really there to be a smartphone. Otherwise, smartphone is just another word for cell phone, and we know the first cell phone was the Star Trek Communicator (if you strapped it to a Tricorder, it became a smart phone). And how about those 3D printers (replicators)!

 

I would have guessed the original Handspring Treo, but I can see arguments for the HP 200LX/700. I had one of those HP pocket computers but not as a phone. I know a modem was available.

I also remember what a big deal the Nokia Communicator 9000 was in The Saint, which I enjoyed more than most critics. Then again, I was a big fan of the Charteris Saint books and the tv show with Roger Moore. I've even seen some of the movie serials, most with George Sanders.

I think the Treos have a real argument as being full-fledged smartphones, more than the Sidekicks, because they had well-developed third-party app ecosystem that was easily accessible and compatible with the Palm OS.