Feb

13

Cell Phone Time Warp - The DynaTAC 8000X

Posted by admin

February 13, 2007 |

Welcome to Cell Phone Time Warp, our look back at the history of cell phones. The good, the bad and the horribly marketed will be covered in this section. We will start off with the phone that may have started it all, the DynaTAC 8000X.douglasbrick.jpg The “Brick” as it was commonly called sure looks nothing like the current cell phone technology. It was large, clunky and certainly couldnt fit into anything outside of a briefcase, (do people still carry briefcases?).

Back in 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X received approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and become the world’s first commercial handheld cellular phone. Before “the network” got their hands on coverage and plans, this baby had “Dynamic Apaptive Total Area Coverage”, it let you talk for as much as 30 minutes and could go 8 hours between charges. Oh, and by the way, the price was about 4,000 dollars.dynatac.gif

But that didnt stop the demand! Stars like Michael Douglas used the phone in movies, and everyones favorite teen sitcom heartthrob Mark Paul Gosselar (aka Zach Morris) made it famous by using it in the high school hallways on Saved By The Bell. And it turns out its not a complete waste to dust off your old brick, these dudes say you can make your old brick into a bluetooth headset with massive battery life!


Comments

3 Comments so far

  1. The evolution of gadget design | Auto Technology | Auto Blog on May 19, 2008 4:17 pm

    […] Three excellent graphical recaps of the evolution of gadget design over the years caught my eye recently. There is something compelling about the design of old consumer electronics - it is surprisingly easy to pick the era of an old movie from gadgets alone, quite aside from haircuts or anything else. Just take a look at Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko. […]

  2. OnlineSnitch.com » The evolution of gadget design on May 23, 2008 12:56 pm

    […] Three excellent graphical recaps of the evolution of gadget design over the years caught my eye recently. There is something compelling about the design of old consumer electronics - it is surprisingly easy to pick the era of an old movie from gadgets alone, quite aside from haircuts or anything else. Just take a look at Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko. […]

  3. barbara warbritton on June 25, 2008 11:07 am

    Does anyone have a Dynatac 8000x? I would like to purchase one.
    972 385 1277 Warbritton

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