this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Crossovers are the iPhones of the car world, and it's probably not going to end.
For awhile there we had lots of manufacturers of phones that made all kinds of interesting things. You could get a phone that fit your lifestyle. Then Apple came out with the jewelry brick and now that's all anyone will ever make forever.
Station wagons and minivans both started out as practical, comfortable family transport but quickly became associated with lame boomer dads and moms, SUVs started to be chosen by people who wanted a minivan but didn't want to look like they'd given up, despite the poor economy.
Cue the crossover, a hatchback wearing gym shorts.
I've recently found Unihertz and while I know they aren't a "flagship" phone company, I am liking the variety of phones they offer, although they are still slabs.
There's something about a handset manufacturer I've NEVER heard of that gives me a raging case of the don'ts.
Before the iPhone we had flip phones, feature phones where you texted via the number keys, and palm pilots that required a stylus or blckberies that used a mouse wheel. There is no "before the iPhone" if you're talking about a modern phone with an app store and a capacitive touch screen. I promise you the phones you're thinking of are newer than the iPhone.
Both PalmOS devices and Blackberries had an app ecosystem before the iPhone did, and I don't really give a shit about the capacitive touch screen. I will grant you that's basically what the iPhone's selling point was, Steve Jobs stood in front of an audience on the edge of their fucking seats and boldly proclaimed "You can use your finger."
Things like the N-Gage and the Sidekick predate the iPhone and frankly were more interesting. That's the part of "You could get a phone to fit your lifestyle." "I text a lot, so I want the Sidekick with the QWERTY keybaord." "I like music so I want the LG Chocolate." Then the iPhone came out, and it was a jewelry rectangle. And then everyone else quickly either exited the market or also began making jewelry rectangles.