retrobrick.com— Hampshire, UK based website sells vintage cell phones, including the first ever commercial phone: the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. The phone originally cost $3995 in 1983.
Oct 30, 2005View in Crawl 4
Our family had one of these, and then proceeded to keep it for waaaaay too long. I can still remember the humiliation when my dad would put it on the table at a restaurant and everyone looked at it as if it were an archeological find in the process of being curated.
"thats not the first cell phone the first cell phone had an external battery pack"RTFA plz."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."AOL Keyword™: "handheld"I'd hardly call a cellular phone with a external battery pack "handheld".
Chris F: This is kind of like determining when the first humans came to exist (if you believe in evolution). You can argue it easily, but a lot of people have settled on one species. In this case it appears that the DynaTAC 8000X is considered the first handheld commercial cellular phone.Car phones and other cellular phones certainly existed before the DynaTAC 8000X, but from what I have read they weren't truly portable and required a battery pack.
I bought one of these at a goodwill for a quarter, i was going to turn it into a BT headset but i never got around to it and lost it.*Andy"Car phones and other cellular phones certainly existed before the DynaTAC 8000X, but from what I have read they weren't truly portable and required a battery pack."They were not considered Cellular phones they were Trans-Portable phones. i remember giving a friend s**t for having one and carrying it around. Even though it was high tech at the time, it looked ridiculous.
jtrostOct 31, 2005
I remember Saved by the Bell making that phone famous.
catharticfluxOct 31, 2005
Our family had one of these, and then proceeded to keep it for waaaaay too long. I can still remember the humiliation when my dad would put it on the table at a restaurant and everyone looked at it as if it were an archeological find in the process of being curated.
bakatrinhOct 31, 2005
Man, if this phone works with t-mobile, i would definitely buy one and bring it around.
psykusNov 1, 2005
"thats not the first cell phone the first cell phone had an external battery pack"RTFA plz."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."AOL Keyword™: "handheld"I'd hardly call a cellular phone with a external battery pack "handheld".
psykusNov 1, 2005
Wow, it took 10 hours to recharge...
awirtanenNov 1, 2005Submitter
Thanks Psykus, I've been taking some heat :)
chris_fNov 1, 2005
work=wordNow I've **** my spelling as well. The point is there are older cell phones so think twice about calling one "the first".
awirtanenNov 1, 2005Submitter
Chris F: This is kind of like determining when the first humans came to exist (if you believe in evolution). You can argue it easily, but a lot of people have settled on one species. In this case it appears that the DynaTAC 8000X is considered the first handheld commercial cellular phone.Car phones and other cellular phones certainly existed before the DynaTAC 8000X, but from what I have read they weren't truly portable and required a battery pack.
mesachNov 1, 2005
I bought one of these at a goodwill for a quarter, i was going to turn it into a BT headset but i never got around to it and lost it.*Andy"Car phones and other cellular phones certainly existed before the DynaTAC 8000X, but from what I have read they weren't truly portable and required a battery pack."They were not considered Cellular phones they were Trans-Portable phones. i remember giving a friend s**t for having one and carrying it around. Even though it was high tech at the time, it looked ridiculous.
clumsyninjaNov 1, 2005
Wonder how short it would take to get a tumor compared to todays cellphones. :P