DynaTAC was a series of cellular telephones manufactured by Motorola, inc. from 1983 to 1994. With several different models, plus newer models under the Classic and Ultra Classic names, it was the first line of cell phones commercially produced by Motorola, with the first member of the DynaTAC series, the 8000x, being the first cell phone to receive FCC acceptance in 1983. DynaTAC was actually an abbreviation of Dyn amic A daptive T otal A rea C overage.
History
The first cellular phone was the culmination of efforts begun at Bell Labs, which first proposed the idea of a cellular system in 1947, and continued to petition the FCC for channels through the 1950s and 1960s, and research conducted at Motorola. In 1960, John F. Mitchell, an electrical engineer who graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, became Motorola's chief engineer for its mobile communication products. Mitchell oversaw the development and marketing of the first pager to use transistors.
Motorola had long produced mobile telephones for automobiles, that were large and heavy and consumed too much power to allow their use without the automobile's engine running. Mitchell's team developed portable cellular telephony, and Mitchell was among the Motorola employees granted a patent for this work in 1973; the first call on the prototype was completed, reportedly, to a wrong number. While Motorola was developing the cellular phone itself, during 1968-1983, Bell Labs worked on the system called AMPS, which became the first cellular network in the US. Motorola and others designed cell phones for that and other cellular systems. Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola led a team that produced the DynaTAC8000x, first commercially available cellular phone small enough to be easily carried, and made the first phone call from it. The DynaTAC's retail price, $3,995 ($8544 in present-day terms), ensured that it would not become a mass market item; by 1998, when Mitchell retired, cellphones and associated services made up two thirds of Motorola's $30 billion in revenue.
On Oct. 13, 1983, Bob Barnett, former president of Ameritech Mobile Communications placed the first commercial wireless call on a DynaTAC from inside a Chrysler convertible to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell who was in Germany for the event. The call, made at Soldier Field in Chicago, is considered by many as a major turning point in communications. Later Richard Frenkel, the head of system development at Bell Laboratories, said about the DynaTAC: "It was a real triumph; a great breakthrough. ".
Description
Several prototypes were made between 1973 and 1983. The product accepted by the FCC weighed 28 ounces (793g) and was 10 inches (25 cm) 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 DynaTAC 8000 Series, Classic, Classic II, Ultra Classic, and Ultra Classic II utilized a display with red LEDs; the DynaTAC International Series with green LEDs, and the DynaTAC 6000XL used a Vacuum Fluorescent Display. These displays were severely limited in what information they 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. While still retaining the DynaTAC name, the 6000XL was completely unrelated to the DynaTAC 8000 Series, in that it was a transportable phone meant for installation in a vehicle.
The DynaTAC Series was succeeded by the MicroTAC Series in 1989.
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.
Model list
- 1983 DynaTAC 8000x
- 1985 DynaTAC 8000s
- 1987 DynaTAC 8000m, 8500x, 8800x
- 1987 DynaTAC 6000XL (car phone)
- 1989 DynaTAC 8900x
- 1992 DynaTAC America series
- 1994 DynaTAC International 3200/3300 (GSM)
- Classic
- Classic II
- Ultra Classic
- 1994 Ultra Classic II
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.
In popular culture
The DynaTAC has become associated with the 1980s in popular culture, and has been heavily used in film and media set in that period.
The phone is well known for being used by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street , and Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The phones have been given the nickname "Zack Morris Phones" because of their heavy use by the central character in the early 1990s sitcom Saved by the Bell .
References
- ^ "Motorola DynaTAC 8000x". Retro Brick . http://www.retrobrick.com/moto8000.html . Retrieved 2007-06-07 .
- ^ Motorola Executive Helped Spur Cellular Revolution, Oversaw Ill-fated Iridium Project, Wall Street Journal, Remembrances, June 20-21, 2009, p. A10
- ^ John F. Mitchell, 1928-2009: Was president of Motorola from 1980 to '95, Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2009, retrived June 20, 2009
- ^ "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis . http://www.minneapolisfed.org/community_education/teacher/calc/hist1800.cfm . Retrieved 2009-08-01 .
- ^ John F. Mitchell, Time Magazine Milestones section, July 6, 2009, p.17
- ^ "Cell Phones Ruin the Opera? Meet the Culprit". New York Times. January ^ "20th Anniversary of the World's First Commercial Cellular Phone". Motorola . http://motoinfo.motorola.com/motoinfo/20th_anniversary/photos.asp?year=2 . Retrieved 2007-06-07 .
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