What was your first mobile phone model?
Mine was the Nokia 3210. What I liked about it was Snake, good battery life and changeable covers. http://www.holgerkames.de/telefone.jpg
shareA Nokia 2110, seemed about the right size by that point.
shareI just searched it, I remember those. Businessmen used to carry them on their hip.
shareYou could get a belt cover for it, but you can still get belt covers for modern phones too.
shareYeah, I think it was a combination of two things:
1) phones were big for pockets
2) people were used to pagers on their hip
3) it looked "businesslike" to carry a phone on your hip.
You don't see it that much anymore and having it in a cover would probably make it harder to feel the vibration.