Smartphones And Calculators Were Given Different Designs Because Of The Rotary Phone

Common sense isn’t nearly as common as it sounds. Sometimes we just get stuck in ruts and do things the way we’ve always done them, whether that way makes much sense or not. And we get used to seeing things in familiar ways, not necessarily picking out what’s relevant or rational.

A great example is something we all carry in our pockets: Our phones. Most of us have probably never noticed the big difference between the phone’s keypad and the calculator’s. But you won’t be able to un-see it now!

SHARE this cool explanation today!

Have you ever noticed that the keypads for calculators and phones are different?

Which is weird, right? They use the same nine digits in a three-by-three pattern, but the only digit in the same place on both layouts is the 5.

Okay, so that’s old tech, but even on the latest devices, the layout stays the same.

On the phone, the 1 is in the top left; on the calculator, the 1 is in the bottom left. Does this make any sense?

You would think it would be easy enough to just standardize the designs, right?

And yet they remain different. So what’s going on?

Well, it’s easy to forget that phones didn’t always have keypads.

Once upon a time, phones had rotary dials…