4 Motorola Two-Way Pager
We take text and instant messaging for granted these days — probably since they’re basic, baked-in features of our smartphones. But six years before the iPhone debuted, the Motorola two-way pager was a hot-ticket item (it was even referenced in a Jay-Z song).
The two-way pagers allowed users to send emails or SMS text messages back and forth. They had a clamshell design with physical keys. But messaging was all that they did. You couldn’t browse the web, listen to music, or take pictures. When smartphones and other devices came along, the inevitable end of the two-way pager was cemented.