To get an idea of what mobile phones were like before the smartphones took over, take a look at this Turkish man’s impressive collection of outdated handhelds from the pre-iPhone era.

It’s hard to believe that kids today have to imagine what it was like having to push physical buttons, not figures on a touchscreen, to dial a phone number, but for us older folk who actually experienced those times, old handhelds still have their charm. Some us even keep such gadgets around, as keepsakes, and a few, like Sehabettin Ozcelik, a phone repairman from Turkey, keep all of them around. In his case, the collection of outdated cellphones consists of over 1,000 models, including classics like the Nokia 3310 or Motorola Razr V3.

Photo: Rayson Tan/Unsplash

“I started doing this job because of my interest in cellphones. One day, I decided to start a collection, thinking they would be outdated soon. All phones in my collection still work, but they are no longer manufactured,” Ozcelik told Turkish news agency Anadolu.

 

Sehabettin Ozcelik, who keeps his prized collection in his house in the own of Van, said that he used have almost 2,000 different phones, but burglars broke into his home a couple of years ago and relieved him of over 700 handhelds.

Ozcelik started collecting outdated cellphones about 20 years ago, and is very fond of his technological artifacts. Despite getting offers for some of his rarest models, he wouldn’t part with any of them.

“They are all rare models and very valuable. Some buyers approached me and wanted to buy some, but I did not sell. It is a difficult job to keep them maintained, but I want to keep them in the best condition as much as I can,” the proud collector said.

 

Interestingly, Sehabettin Ozcelik isn’t the only one interested in outdated cellphones. Back in 2017 we wrote about Stefan Polgari, a young Slovakian who, at the time, had a collection of 1,231 different mobile phone models.