1988 — Cell phones

It was 1980 something and if you wanted to make a call you would have to use one of these bad boys.

Or find a landline phone. You know what a landline phone is right, if not then here is a picture.

Then comes a break in technology in the form of mobile phones.

Mobile Phones

In 1985 it was the Vodafone VT1, it was a transportable device and weighed 4.7kg and if it was charged for 10 hours, then you could talk for 30 min

• 1985 and 1986 came the Motorola 8000 X, this was the first hand-held phone and it was known as the “Brick” it was sold until 1988.
• 1987 the Nokia Cityman looked odd and resembled a Motorola 8500.
• 1988 Panasonic D Series this phone offered a whopping 60 min talk time and 8 hours of standby. You could swap out batteries and if you did it within 2 seconds, then the signal stayed.
• 1989 Motorola MicroTac, was offered and it was the first flip phone, you could pull the antenna out and push it back down, better than that bricks antenna, the reason for this was that they felt that people would want to have an external antenna. The antenna was inside.
• The prices ranged from $3,995 to $3,000, yes that is a heck of a lot for a phone.

Game changer

These were a game changer in the lives of people, they didn’t have to be tied down to landline and could go around, as long as the battery was charged and you didn’t use all the minutes up. They would improve over the years and become an essential part of life.

1988

This was just another step in the technology that we have witnessed and just another cool gadget. I didn’t get one in 1988, as I was only in high school and I could never afford to get one. Plus you know how fast that would have got stolen. Pretty darn fast.