In this episode of Tek with Josh, Josh takes a nostalgic deep dive into the “flagships of yesteryear” — the phones that truly hit different and helped shape the modern smartphone era. Drawing from his years working in the wireless industry, he revisits four standout devices across BlackBerry OS, Palm OS, iOS, and Android, sharing what made each one special and why they left such a lasting impact.

From BlackBerry’s legendary keyboards and business-first features to the Palm Pre’s revolutionary cloud backups, gesture navigation, and true multitasking, Josh explains how early smartphones pushed boundaries long before today’s devices. He breaks down why the iPhone 4 changed the game with its Retina display and FaceTime, and how Samsung’s Galaxy S4 delivered features, hardware, and polish that set the standard for Android flagships.

If you’ve ever owned one of these classic phones — or you just love hearing about the tech that paved the way for what we use today — this nostalgic throwback episode is for you.

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Check out Josh’s other shows: Books by Josh Audio Immersion and Manga with Josh, or read his work at booksbyjosh.com and explore titles like Private Eye: The First Adventure of Jason Streak and Still Here Somehow: Poetry From A Dark Place by Joshua A. Rodriguez.