What It's Like To Ditch Your iPhone For A Cell Phone From 2004

Anyone born before 2007 already knows the answer, but it's hard to imagine what life today would look like without our smartphones by our side. For something that hasn't even been around for 10 years, we as a society have grown extremely attached to the little pocket computers we'd simply feel lost without.

Gizmodo writer Ashley Feinberg wanted to know the feeling firsthand, so the 20-something New Yorker ditched her iPhone for 30 days and instead, picked up a 2004 Motorola Razr, a coveted phone from the early aughts.

She wrote about her month sans iPhone here, and it's a great read. We pulled some of the most interesting anecdotes from Feinberg's experience.

Here's what she didn't realize she'd miss about her smartphone:

Maps

"In retrospect this is obvious, but I hadn't even considered the fact that my Razr wouldn't have access to a maps app," Feinberg wrote, noting that she doesn't even own a printer to obtain directions from old favorite MapQuest.

She had people draw directions on paper for her.

The Camera

Feinberg found this incredibly frustrating:

I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to bring these 1.3 megapixel wonders into the modern world. During my quest, I found multiple message boards with people bewailing similar problems, and they'd found solutions! My problem was solved, is something I would say were it 2009. Because as far as I can tell, that is the last time someone successfully got photos off a Razr V3 using the software itself.

Threaded Texts

"I'm so used to being able to see entire messaging conversations at a swipe that I hardly even bother to absorb the words I'm looking at," Feinberg said.

But perhaps the most eye-opening takeaway is that for the entire 30 days, she only had to charge her Razr phone 8 times. Eight times! Such is not the case with iPhones or Androids.

Read Feinberg's entire account of life without her iPhone here.