Motorola DynaTAC

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Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola, made the first analog mobile phone call on a larger prototype model in 1973.
Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola, made the first analog mobile phone call on a larger prototype model in 1973.

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first mobile phone to receive FCC acceptance in 1983.[1] DynaTAC was actually an abbreviation of Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage.

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[edit] History

Bell Labs first came out with the idea of a cellular system in 1947, and continued to petition the FCC for channels through the 1950s and 1960s. During 1968-1983, Bell Labs worked on the system called AMPS, which became the first cellular system in the US, but did not design cell phones. Motorola and others designed cell phones for that and other cellular systems. Most were large and heavy, and were installed in the trunks of cars. Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola led a team that produced the DynaTAC, first cell phone small enough to be easily carried. He claims to have made the first handheld mobile phone call in 1973 on a prototype model, to Joel Engel at Bell Labs.[2]

This phone call took place in the morning on April 3, 1973. Cooper dialed the number to Joel Engel, chief of the research department at Bell Laboratories. The call ushered in a revolution in the world of communications. Later Richard Frenkel, the head of system development at Bell Laboratories, said about the DynaTAC: "It was a triumph".[3]

[edit] Description

Several prototypes were made between 1973 and 1983. The product accepted by the FCC weighed 28 ounces (793g) and was 10 inches (25cm) high, not including its flexible "rubber duck" whip antenna. In addition to the typical 12-key telephone keypad, it had nine additional special keys:

  • Rcl (Recall)
  • Clr (Clear)
  • Snd (Send)
  • Sto (Store)
  • Fcn (Function)
  • End (End)
  • Pwr (Power)
  • Lock (Lock)
  • Vol (Volume)

The display utilized red LEDs, and was severely limited in what information it could show. The battery allowed for a call up to 60 minutes, after which it was necessary to charge the phone up to 10 hours in a trickle charger or 1 hour in a fast charger which was a separate accessory.[4] The DynaTAC was succeeded by the Motorola MicroTAC in 1989.

[edit] Portability

While it might be considered extremely unwieldy by today's standards, at the time it was considered revolutionary, because mobile telephones were bulky affairs installed in vehicles. The DynaTAC 8000X was truly the first mobile telephone which could connect to the telephone network without the assistance of a mobile operator and could be carried about by the user.

[edit] Model list

  • 1983 DynaTAC 8000x
  • 1985 DynaTAC 8000s
  • 1987 DynaTAC 8000m, 8500x, 8800x
  • 1987 DynaTAC 6000XL (car phone)
  • 1989 DynaTAC 8900x
  • 1992 America series
  • 1994 International 3200/3300 (GSM)
  • 1994 Ultra Classic/II

[edit] Accessories

In Singapore, a swivel antenna was one of the after-market accessories then available. It was revived by Henry Thia in the film Money No Enough, when he made a call on a DynaTAC complete with swivel antenna.

The Motorola company also sold a 1 hour desktop charger, though the battery could get quite hot while charging at this accelerated rate.

[edit] In popular culture

DynaTAC models have taken on the nickname "Zack Morris Phones" because of their heavy usage by the central character of the early 1990s sitcom "Saved by the Bell".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Motorola DynaTAC 8000x. Retro Brick. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
  2. ^ Making History: Developing the Portable Cellular System. Motorola. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
  3. ^ "Cell Phones Ruin the Opera? Meet the Culprit", New York Times, January 6, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 
  4. ^ 20th Anniversary of the World's First Commercial Cellular Phone. Motorola. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.