> It was still the era where UI's felt immediate and snappy
I'll never forget my first smartphone. Whenever somebody called, it took so long for the screen to turn on, that the other person would often hang up before I could answer. I'd just sit there with a ringing phone in my hand, waiting for its screen to turn on.
I'd really like to know what phone you had but my first attempt to buy one was a Windows based phone. I remember asking them to let me check it out so they grabbed a new one and turned it on...5 minutes later it was still booting.
I deeply miss my Palm m100 and it's snappy interface and ability to run all week on some AAA batteries.
It was Samsung Galaxy Mini 2. I think it was the worst phone that was yet vaguely usable.