Ancient Nokia 1611

Was rummaging out my dad's attic today, and I found his rather ancient
Nokia 1611 GSM phone, complete with charger, and *full-size* Vodafone SIM
card.

I plugged the charger in, left it for a few hours, then turned it on.
Immediately this 8 year old phone sprang to life. Of course the original
full-size SIM was not active.

So out of curiosity I got some sellotape and stuck my modern small
Vodafone SIM across the 1611's SIM reader contacts, replaced the battery.
And this time the ol'timer showed service.

Interestingly I found this phone to be quite user friendly despite it's
rather crude two-line dot-matrix screen. No games here, just phone-calls,
and SMS.

Mind you it was a bit of a step back in time seeing two active networks on
this single-band handset ... Vodafone and Cellnet(I presume 'Cellnet' is
in the phone's firmware).

Was the 1611 one of Nokia's first GSM phones ?

How many modern gimmick-loaded camera-phones will still be working in 8
years time ?

BTW I also found his even more ancient Nokia 101 analogue handset.

--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)
[email protected]

---

› See More: Ancient Nokia 1611

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:21:23 +0100, michael turner
<[email protected]> wrote:


>BTW I also found his even more ancient Nokia 101 analogue handset.

The joys of the Nokia101 with its massive 8 hour standby time,
provided that you did not make or receive any calls.

Graham

In article <[email protected]>, michael turner
<[email protected]> writes
>Was rummaging out my dad's attic today, and I found his rather ancient
>Nokia 1611 GSM phone, complete with charger, and *full-size* Vodafone SIM
>card.

<snip>
>Was the 1611 one of Nokia's first GSM phones ?

No, that was a 1997 phone - almost the same as the earlier 1610, but
with the ability to send as well as receive SMS.

I've got a Nokia 1011 kicking around here somewhere, a 1992 phone that
was Nokia's first handportable GSM. The user interface is almost
identical to the 1611, but the size is almost the same as the 9000
communicator (about twice as thick as a 1611). It has a battery, which
is about the kindest thing you can say about the standby time :-)

>
>How many modern gimmick-loaded camera-phones will still be working in 8
>years time ?

Incidentally, this month's IEE Review has an article about the lifespan
of modern electronics. Older circuits were relatively stress-free, and
have an expected life of 100s of years. Apparently some of the chips
used in modern handsets are using such a small technology (i.e. reducing
the size of each transistor so that more can be fitted on a given area
of silicon, reducing power consumption and overall size) that they have
a life expectancy as low as five years due to stresses and chemical
effects.

Matt
--
Matthew Haigh --$matthaigh{News06}[email protected]
GCRSoft, providing SMS solutions since 1996...
http://www.gcrsoft.com http://www.moretext.com

"michael turner" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> Was rummaging out my dad's attic today, and I found his rather ancient
> Nokia 1611 GSM phone, complete with charger, and *full-size* Vodafone SIM
> card.
>
> I plugged the charger in, left it for a few hours, then turned it on.
> Immediately this 8 year old phone sprang to life. Of course the original
> full-size SIM was not active.
>
> So out of curiosity I got some sellotape and stuck my modern small
> Vodafone SIM across the 1611's SIM reader contacts, replaced the battery.
> And this time the ol'timer showed service.
>
> Interestingly I found this phone to be quite user friendly despite it's
> rather crude two-line dot-matrix screen. No games here, just phone-calls,
> and SMS.
>
> Mind you it was a bit of a step back in time seeing two active networks on
> this single-band handset ... Vodafone and Cellnet(I presume 'Cellnet' is
> in the phone's firmware).
>
> Was the 1611 one of Nokia's first GSM phones ?
>
> How many modern gimmick-loaded camera-phones will still be working in 8
> years time ?
>
> BTW I also found his even more ancient Nokia 101 analogue handset.
>
> --
> Michael Turner
> Email (ROT13)
> [email protected]

I still have and use two nokia 1620 which were the one to one version, they
still work well on any network. I have the extended batteries which keep
going for a week or so with minimal use.

My sister has tried newer phones and gone back to her 1620.

Is there any market that still uses analogue phones? I have one or two I
would like to get rid of.

mrcheerful

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:21:23 +0100, michael turner
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Was rummaging out my dad's attic today, and I found his rather ancient
>Nokia 1611 GSM phone, complete with charger, and *full-size* Vodafone SIM
>card.

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day. It was the day I removed the car kit
and matching Nokia 2140 and replaced them with a BT car kit.

This means that after a mere ten years of regular use, that 2140 will
be retired to a drawer, along with various other old phones.

Though I am considering fitting the Nokia HSE-6SA that's knocking
about - it may be single-band, but my goodness it's powerful!


--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!