Comments on: Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

CunningLinguist — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:49:54 -0800

Retrobrick sells those old giant clunky cell phones we still called "car phones." To anyone old enough to remember them, it's a little scary to think they are desirable antiques now. Too bad they aren't as sweet as these photoshop fantasies. For a little history, Martin Cooper's account of making the first cell phone call, 33 years ago, on the streets of NYC (to his rival at Bell Labs.)

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:50:10 -0800

The first cell phone, the Motorola's DynaTAC 8000X didn't hit the market until 1984. The price tag? $3,995.

By: Mr. Six

Mr. Six — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 05:53:43 -0800

Sweet.

By: splatta

splatta — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:05:25 -0800

"Hey Joe! Guess where I'm calling from? The streets of New Yo*CLICK*chhhhhhhhhhhh*" "DAMMIT!!!"

By: splatta

splatta — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:12:00 -0800

I love the zack morris phones.

By: Swandive

Swandive — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:15:17 -0800

I was a bit disappointed in the account of the first cell call. If it'd have been me, I'd ahve been laughing, jumping up and down, and telling my rival to go fuck himself. No, I'm not mature, but yes, I do know what makes one feel good.

By: naxosaxur

naxosaxur — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:20:58 -0800

We also affectionately call them zach morris phones.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:25:53 -0800

Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid that the DynaTAC brickphone or even the StarTAC I threw away a few years ago might have actually been worth real money. (No, I never had an account with one of those monsters, it was a swapmeet find. The "miniature" StarTAC was active for quite some time, though.) I remember using the ill-named "MicroTAC" too. That was just at the end of mobile phones designed as military-industrial hardware and right before they got all cheap and chrome and Nokia'ed. I don't miss the short battery life and the inability to stick them in any known pants pocket outside of a pair of cargo BDUs, but I do miss being able to easily shoulder the suckers and hear them even while standing in jet wash. Also, this thread goes perfectly with the junkie hipster thread below.

By: splatta

splatta — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:42:14 -0800

It's interesting to note that the old nokia 8850 looks so similar to the brand new 8801.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 07:25:17 -0800

I remember communicating with my office on huge heavy walky talkies in the late 80s because we couldn't afford phones. I think it would be sort of funny to walk down the street using one one of those old monsters. Then again, everyone would be too busy chatting into their own phones to notice.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 07:26:26 -0800

Screw transistors. I want a cell phone with the warm sound of tubes.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 07:28:06 -0800

Hulger. Use an old handset with a new cellphone.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:17:37 -0800

Y'know, I thought it was kind of cute when some random nerd wired a real old AT&T handset into a cell. It had a little novelty. But it wasn't really meant to be serious. Then I heard they were actually mass producing the things and selling them at one of those craptastic fad humpathons like Urban Outfitters or some crap. I twinged a little, fearful that it was a sign. And it probably was. That Hulger site makes me want to kill. It makes me pray fervently for the coming of the insatiable Old Ones - may they gorge upon their pasty drug-addled flesh. Seriously, what else is there that argues so strongly for our own fucking extinction in an endless rain of gigaton-scale asteroids? Answer: Using a giant stupid overpriced retro plastic cordless phone. To talk to your fucking overpriced cordless phone. I fully expect there to be high fashion, going-nowhere-fast athletic shoes for your shoes any day now. People will buy incredibly expensive and exquisitely engineered tiny cars in which they would park the wheels of their incredibly expensive full sized cars, and drive off merrily - each of their four wheels with fours wheels of their own - each of the 20-odd wheels large and small with platinum bluetooth digital LED animated ringtoned spinners no less. Is coke making a huge comeback or something? Don't get off my lawn, Billy! Come'ere! KILL GRANDPA! KILL GRANDPA, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:58:03 -0800

My first thought on seeing these was definitely ZACK MORRIS.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:21:13 -0800

(The "miniature" StarTAC was active for quite some time, though.) I know someone who's still using one (CDMA, I think). You can still get batteries and chargers for them retail. If all you want to do is make and receive phone calls and voice mail there's no reason to give it up; it works well, the battery life is reasonable and it isn't any larger than many new phones. I think it makes a positive statement -- insofar as any consumer product does -- about antifashion and pragmatism.

By: antifreez_

antifreez_ — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:25:27 -0800

MetaFilter: of those craptastic fad humpathons

By: bz

bz — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:41:15 -0800

One artist's take on massive retro cellphones. Some other whimsy as well.

By: nTeleKy

nTeleKy — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:08:31 -0800

Wow!! I had no idea these would ever sell for this much, but I guess that's how collectibles go... I had 3 motorola 8500x phones, but I only kept one, with the car charger. I had a few bag phones and a StarTAC, too. I got rid of them when I figured no one would want them because you couldn't get service.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:15:56 -0800

For a little history, Martin Cooper's account of making the first cell phone call... "I'm on the bus. I said I'M ON THE BUS."