First cell phone was a true 'brick'

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
carrying it on your belt  


On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:25:50 -0500, Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote:

>
>Giggle from CNN.com...
>
>http://tinyurl.com/4fm4z

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

RH wrote:
> I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
> Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
> couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
> standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
> How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
> for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
> carrying it on your belt  
>
>
> On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:25:50 -0500, Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote:
>
>
>>Giggle from CNN.com...
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/4fm4z
>
>


I still have mine, but I no longer use it. I recall the demise of a
number of belt loops though.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:25:50 -0500, Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote:

>
>Giggle from CNN.com...
>
>http://tinyurl.com/4fm4z

Was that the first phone? I seem to recall a less fancy looking
version of that phone (same shape / design). which I have one of lying
around here somewhere. Can't recall the model name though.

Evan
--
To reply, remove TheObvious from my e-mail address.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Evan Platt wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:25:50 -0500, Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote:
>
>
>>Giggle from CNN.com...
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/4fm4z
>
>
> Was that the first phone? I seem to recall a less fancy looking
> version of that phone (same shape / design). which I have one of lying
> around here somewhere. Can't recall the model name though.
>
> Evan


That particular form factor was used on more than one model, the
earliest had a HUGE battery with a curb weight putting it beyond a
pocketable design even for Capt. Kangaroo. When battery technology
improved, we called the slimmer version a mini-brick. This is the model
I see in the picture.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:40:53 GMT, RH <p51d007@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
>Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
>couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
>standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
>How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
>for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
>carrying it on your belt  

OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
in places my Cingular phone never could.  

--
Life is short - drive fast!

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:40:53 GMT, RH <p51d007@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
>>Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
>>couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
>>standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
>>How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
>>for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
>>carrying it on your belt  
>
>
> OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
> lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
> in places my Cingular phone never could.  
>


True enough, but those days are numbered. If one is going to drive THAT
far off the beaten path, one should maybe consider that staying that
much in touch is detrimental to why one drove that far in the first place.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94????. I have had cellular since the mid 70s.
Motorola was the first phone provider and Chicago was where it started.
Talk about bricks. My first phone was 1/2 the size of my trunk and back in
the 70s you had a huge trunk so the phone was massive. Of course the
service was very immature and the coverage was very unreliable. I remember
when the first Motorola hand-helds came out (about 1985). I seem to
remember the model as Motorola 800, but I might be wrong on that point.
They were about a foot long and very heavy to carry. Battery life, forget
battery life, they offered very little life compared to today.

I won't even talk about the cost of the phone (about $3,400 for the first
commercially available phone) and I would run between $500 to $1,000 per
month in chargers with ATT. Some months I would run close to $1,300. At
that time there were no customers other that business customers. Very few
individuals could afford that kind of monthly cost so the only customers
were business customers.

Today, I carry a Blackberry 7100 and have a relatively small phone with
great features. I can receive and send my email using my phone and best of
all my bill runs about $200 per month for the service.

Definitely no longer a brick.

Bruce D. Brown


"Scott en Aztlán" <slothkills@NOyahooSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:ltsk611m4a9eheb25mfuvhci8aapl6j93j@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:40:53 GMT, RH <p51d007@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
>>Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
>>couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
>>standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
>>How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
>>for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
>>carrying it on your belt  
>
> OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
> lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
> in places my Cingular phone never could.  
>
> --
> Life is short - drive fast!

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:38:19 -0500, Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote:

>> OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
>> lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
>> in places my Cingular phone never could.  
>
>True enough, but those days are numbered. If one is going to drive THAT
>far off the beaten path, one should maybe consider that staying that
>much in touch is detrimental to why one drove that far in the first place.

It's not what you think. When I go into the boonies it's do to work,
not to get away from it all. Staying in touch is essential, especially
when somehing goes wrong (either out in the field or back at the
office).  

--
Proud to be a wreckless driver!
http://www.geocities.com/scottenaztlan/about.html

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:40:53 GMT, RH <p51d007@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
>> Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
>> couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
>> standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
>> How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
>> for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
>> carrying it on your belt  
>
> OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
> lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
> in places my Cingular phone never could.  

There's also nothing like an analog cell connection. My first cell was
Verizon in Hesperia, CA (got it Sept 2002) and I'd get the occasional analog
call. Beat the digital artifact filled signal hands down. I considered an
analog call a rare treat. :-)

Just IMHO, YMMV ;-)

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

The problem with analog is that it is not secure. The 10 year old geek kid
next door with a police scanner can listen to your conversation.

Bubba
(Lifetime NRA Member)
(Bull Riders Association of America)
(Winner, Texas Cow Chip Throwing Contest 2002)


"Drewdawg" <nope@not.here> wrote in message
news:XWSae.31$Jp1.2465@news.uswest.net...
> Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:40:53 GMT, RH <p51d007@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I had one of those Motorola Bricks in 93 or 94.
>>> Our boss bought a bunch of them for our service department. You
>>> couldn't get a days worth of time on the battery, if you left it in
>>> standby mode and didn't talk on it much more than 20 minutes total.
>>> How times change.......My V505 can go days in standby, and will talk
>>> for hours on a charge, not to mention it won't drag your pants down
>>> carrying it on your belt  
>>
>> OTOH, there's nothing like a 3-watt bag phone hooked to your cigarette
>> lighter when you're WAAAAY out in the boonies. Those old clunkers work
>> in places my Cingular phone never could.  
>
> There's also nothing like an analog cell connection. My first cell was
> Verizon in Hesperia, CA (got it Sept 2002) and I'd get the occasional
> analog
> call. Beat the digital artifact filled signal hands down. I considered an
> analog call a rare treat. :-)
>
> Just IMHO, YMMV ;-)
>
>