The StarTAC cell phone, introduced in 1996, wasn't merely the smallest and lightest mobile phone at the time, it's even small and light by today's standards.
Marketed as the first "wearable" phone, the StarTAC weighed just 3.1 oz.; the iPhone 4 weighs 4 oz.
Granted, modern smartphones can do quite a bit more than the StarTAC. Today's mobile devices can become Wi-Fi hotspots, providing laptops with Internet speeds of up to 12 megabits per second (about the same as a home broadband line). The StarTAC could also be tethered to a laptop, providing up to 9.6 kilobits per second -- about 1/6 the speed of a 56k dial-up modem.
