Over the past ten years, the smartphone has gone from a large, belt-holstered badge of geekiness to a mass-market mobile computing platform. In the mid-'90s, PDAs were being paired with mobile phones for the ultimate in mobile connectivity. Early examples included the IBM Simon and the Nokia Communicator. At the beginning of the last decade, these devices became more sophisticated as cellular data technologies, mobile processors, and touchscreen displays matured.

In this photo gallery, we survey the last ten years or so of smartphone history with a look at two important smartphones from each year. Though the later half of the decade is mostly dominated by Apple's iPhone and more recent Android-powered phones, there have been a number of impressive models, such as the iconic Nokia Communicator series, Palm Treo, and Motorola Droid.

2000/2001

The Ericsson R380—the spiritual predecessor to the later P800 and P900 series, was one of the first Symbian-powered devices, and is considered by some to be the "first" smartphone on the market.

Nokia first launched its 9000-series communicators in 1996, though the 9120 was the first to feature a color screen. Nokia also dropped the original Intel 386-based processor and GEOS operating system for Symbian running on an ARM9-based core. Nokia's 9000-series gradually introduced many of the features we now consider common smartphone features.

2002

Few remember Handspring, the company started by the original Palm founders to build PalmOS devices that Palm itself couldn't or wouldn't build. For instance, Handspring was the first to release a color PalmOS device, and the first to launch a PalmOS-powered smartphone. The original Treo 180 was a flip-style device which married PalmOS's PDA capabilities with a cell phone. Shortly thereafter, Palm bought Handspring, and the Treo became one of the top smartphones for the next several years.

Ericsson merged its mobile phone division with Sony's, assimilating Borg-style into Sony Ericsson. The partnership injected Ericsson's devices with some serious Sony style, the early fruits of which resulted in one of the first camera phones, the P800.