World’s first smartphone turns 20

Sorry, Apple fanboys and fangirls. The iPhone may be the most high-profile smartphone today, but it can't have bragging rights to being the world's first phone-computer hybrid.

That distinction belongs to the IBM Simon, which turned 20 this year and will now go on display at London’s Science Museum's new Information Age exhibition.

By today's standards, Simon would have been a "brick," UK's The Independent reported.

Consider these specs: a phone costing £539 (nearly P40,000) and weighing 500 grams and whose battery lasted an hour at most. And no mobile Internet.

Yet, The Independent said Simon – which debuted Aug. 16, 1994 – could be considered ahead of its time, since there was no existing Web browser when it was conceived.

“The Simon wasn’t called a smartphone back then. But it had a lot of the features we see today. It had a calendar; it could take notes and send emails and messages and combined all of this with a cell phone,” the report quoted museum curator Charlotte Connelly.

Connelly added Simon had all the components of a smartphone, "including a slot in the bottom to insert different applications, such as mapping ones, spreadsheets and games. So it really was a forerunner to the iPhone.”

A separate article on T3.com noted Simon came with apps along with a stylus and touchscreen. These let users sketch, update their calendars, and write notes – and get this: send and receive faxes. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News