Author: Taylor Lowery

A small group of people gathered around a demonstration table full of common-looking glasses at a technology summit earlier this year. There were no futuristic helmets or glowing screens, just frames that might have been purchased at an airport store. However, the glasses would respond with a translation, instructions, or a brief AI-generated response every few minutes when someone spoke softly into them. There was a faint sense as the scene developed that something familiar was occurring once more, similar to how early smartphones subtly suggested a change was about to happen. CategoryDetailsTechnologyAI Smart GlassesMajor CompaniesMeta, Google, Samsung, Amazon, AlibabaSupporting…

The Glofiish M810 debuted at an odd point in the history of smartphones. The industry was still debating what a smartphone should look like in 2008. Some businesses thought sliding keyboards were the way of the future. Others thought it would be solely based on touch. In public, engineers were conducting experiments. The M810 seemed to be a component of those experiments. The gadget appeared solemn at first glance, almost defiantly professional. The front panel had a subtle, slightly industrial dark graphite finish. It appeared more like a small office tool than a consumer device when it was placed on…

Smartphones used to resemble tiny mechanical experiments rather than sleek glass slabs in the late 2000s. The hinges opened with a click. The screens moved up. Keyboards emerged from concealed spaces. The Glofiish M800, a gadget that felt committed to demonstrating that a smartphone could also function as a tiny laptop, was a product of that era. The first thing that strikes you when you pick up the M800 is how heavy it is. It doesn’t feel delicate or fragile at 178 grams. It seems intentional. It’s almost serious. The density of the phone indicates that engineers continued to cram…

Acer executives quietly made a decision that felt strategic and a little risky on a humid Monday morning in March 2008. The Taiwanese computer giant announced that it would buy E-TEN Information Systems, a smaller business that is primarily well-known among tech enthusiasts for its peculiar Glofiish line of Windows Mobile smartphones. The asking price was around $290 million, which was not insignificant at the time but also not the kind of big-ticket deal that makes headlines. However, there was a certain significance to the moment. CategoryDetailsCompaniesAcer Inc. and E-TEN Information SystemsDeal AnnouncementMarch 2008Acquisition ValueApproximately $290 millionIndustrySmartphones / Mobile DevicesAcer…

The world of smartphones looked very different in late 2006 than it does now. Flip phones were still on display in stores next to bulky “PDA phones.” Styluses were widely used. Additionally, if people had navigation apps at all, they were typically housed inside clumsy GPS devices that were mounted on car dashboards. In light of this, the E-TEN Glofiish X500 was released, a gadget that subtly implied smartphones were capable of much more than just making calls. The X500’s size was the first thing that many reviewers noticed. It was advertised as one of the thinnest Pocket PC phones…

For a short while in 2008, the smartphone market still felt more like a workshop than a completed showroom. Businesses were experimenting, occasionally in a brilliant way and other times in an awkward way. The E-TEN Glofiish DX900, a phone that attempted to do something surprisingly useful—run two SIM cards simultaneously—appeared somewhere in that disorganized workbench of ideas. Now, that notion seems commonplace. Dual-SIM phones are commonplace in today’s phone markets. However, the idea was practically unheard of at the time, particularly on a smartphone running Windows Mobile. The DX900 was more than just a curious technical device. It was…

You may have noticed something a little out of the ordinary in the glass display cases if you were strolling through a Taipei electronics market in the mid-2000s. Among the well-known brands were Glofiish-branded satellite devices from HTC, Nokia, and Motorola. The name had an odd, almost playful appearance. There were two “i” letters in the middle, like an unrepentant typo. However, a company was secretly experimenting with what smartphones could become behind that strange branding. Long before the term “smartphone” became widely used, in 1985, E-TEN Information Systems was established. Early on, the company developed software and computing tools…

Holding the E-TEN Glofiish X650 makes it immediately apparent that it is a product of an odd era in smartphone history. It seems like a gadget attempting to forecast the future while still carrying the weight of the past, which is both ambitious and a little awkward. Smartphones were still experimenting with identity at the beginning of 2008. Indeed, the iPhone had made its debut, but Windows Mobile devices, such as this one, were still cramming as many features as possible into a small computer. At first look, the X650 appears to be a modest device. A straightforward rectangular slab…