A bit like how phones were terrible until suddenly the technology improved a bit (better touch screens, faster CPUs, faster cellular networks, better cameras, better software…) and suddenly smartphones became awesome.

Is this some Apple-fanboy historical revisionism? Phones were awesome. You could run all those J2EE games, or, say, ICQ clients on them. You could transfer files via IR ports, or use those to control your TV. You could listen to music, use mobile browsers (well, WAP was kinda expensive, but), and with that Web it was enough when you really needed it. Some would even have GPS or something.

Until "smartphones" with touch screens and bullshit OSs and all functionality lacking aside of two-finger-zoom and lickable buttons became common, then they were terrible until everybody got used to them