Forget iPhone’s, mobiles started with… ‘The Brick.’
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On this day 25 years ago Telstra, known then as Telecom Australia, launched the first hand-held mobile Down Under.
The Mitusibishi Walkabout TM’, known as The Brick, was no mean feat – weighing three quarters of a kilogram, cost a jaw dropping $5,200 and ran on Australia’s first analogue network.
A far cry from the light as a feather smartphones of today like the 113g Samsung Galaxy S II or the 137g iPhone 4, which cost as little as $29 a month on plan.
The Brick was one of three ‘Explorer’ range mobiles launched at Sydney Opera House in 1987, which also included the first Aussie designed and manufactured mobile – Philips FM9000- which was the size of a shoebox (and cost $4,500).
The “revolutionary” Telecom Australia mobiles operated on its Analogue Network, which had a capacity for just 100,000 customers, and fast became the ultimate yuppie accessory, Telstra said today celebrating 25 years in the mobile business.
And lets not forget, in 1987 the ability to make calls ‘on the go’ was revolutionary, Telstra’s ExecDirector of Networks and Access, Mike Wright.
These mobiles were limited to about 20 minutes of talk time and 4-5 hours of stand-by battery life, Wright adds.
Oh and forget going on to the web, there was no such thing as mobile Internet back then.
The humble Brick is a far cry from the bells and whistles smartphones out today, with everything from Siri voice assistant, Internet, Near Field Communications, video calls, and apps.
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| Hello, I cant stay on for long: ‘The Brick’ launch in 1987 |
“Prior to the launch of Telecom’s ‘Analogue Network’ and the ‘Explorer’ range of phones in 1987, mobile phones had to be car mounted, fitted inside a heavy briefcase that plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter socket or used with a mains power supply, says Wright.
“It’s amazing to reflect how far we have come in the past 25 years, where we now take pocket sized handsets with functions like streaming multimedia, video chat, mobile email and the lightning-fast speeds of our 4G network for granted.”
And its also interesting the absence of Philips and Mitsubishi from the mobile phone market today (this writer’s first ever mobile was a Philips Diga bought in 1998, ah bless!).
