When Nokia's Most Fluorescent Phone Dies

[@Slay1337pl]

I was NOT expecting the backlight fix.

[@notune424]

Shame on u dude

[@Sigurther]

He's quite the repair warhawk!

[@roykale9141]

Yeah, the phone that killed Nokia saved it after all...

[@BilisNegra]

@@roykale9141 Good observation.

[@BilisNegra]

I expected it to sort of work, but not so well, lightning up the screen in such uniform way! It was just a hack, yet it works as perfectly as a backlight replacement some vintage parts store would actually sell (like those made for old handheld consoles).

[@Geekeh_UK]

Complete shot in the dark, but you might be able to send keystrokes to the phone via the serial connection, thus bypassing the dead buttons. I'm pretty sure the Nokias were all Hayes compatible.

[@JanusCycle]

I do want to explore AT command and control on mobile phones sometimes.

[@RetroSilviuXP]

Hello 👋! I have the same phone in my collection, and I wanted to let you know that the cable connecting the screen to the main board is damaged. This is a common issue with this model, causing the phone’s display and backlight not to receive the necessary voltage. That’s why you’re seeing the same pattern on the screen. If you replace the flex cable, everything should work again.

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks! , not an easy part to find, I guess.

[@BodyByGaming]

@@JanusCycle if its just a flexible cable, you might be able to design a replacement in kicad and order via pcbway or jlcpcb, they sell flexible pcbs

[@JanusCycle]

I'm designing a simpler flex cable at the moment for a different device. The Nokia 9110 cable looks daunting to me as I'm doing this the first time.

[@Bs0Dd]

@@JanusCycle Are you making a cable for 9110? I already have a ready-made scheme for this cable, made recently together with a friend. However, we have not yet tested this scheme, I am afraid that there may be inaccuracies in it, because I have nothing but a ruler for measurements. But in theory, it should work

[@thephoenixking1086]

@@Bs0Dd Would be cool that once someone has made a working cable that they make it available to purchase/download and this can be used through a service like PCBWay as to allow them to make you around 10 of them (meaning you have a few to test with encase one breaks or is faulty). Or someone could make a working flex, send that file to PCBWay and have them make 100 or so of them, and then sell these cables for like $10 each (still pretty cheap), making that person money for their hard work and helping other people.

[@keto-bread]

dude drops a masterpiece with every video

[@AbdulHalim-nk8dk]

Right? his editing and exploring the phone not only in software but also in hardware which makes me love his video.

[@XdB1Gz7StR4C7]

Tech enthusiast here. Thank you for this magnificent journey to the early 2000's. Nokia was a status symbol but something went wrong. Well done.

[@orangeyellow-me1pz]

Many things went wrong. I'm old enough to remember watching the train wreck. Palm, Nokia, Blackberry, Danger... Ugh, all very hard to watch. Now all we have is this duopoly.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@orangeyellow-me1pz they all got stuck in the "success trap" mindset 😔 and honestly I think the duopoly smartphone situation we have right now are getting caught-up in it too. Coasting for 3-5 years on old successes.

[@erlienfrommars]

The white thing at 4:17 is very likely the housing for its Real Time Clock battery, old smartphones have these things which allows the phone to never lose its time setting even after a battery removal, nowadays modern smartphones do not have any RTC inside because the battery is already built in.

[@JanusCycle]

Very interesting, but I have questions.

[@tapafon_red]

Android smartphones with removable batteries do not have that as well. So clock will reset when battery is removed for a while. Normally it should restore via SMTP or GPS, but still.

[@mindaugasstankus5943]

@@tapafon_red Depends... last few I owned (3 android smartphones and 1 feature phone) would not reset time. Date/time will stuck at the time when battery was removed, clock just not tick forwards. Better laptop/desktops motherboard BIOS setting are saved even if CMOS battery missing. Battery used for clock, progress time then main power off.

[@Bs0Dd]

@@JanusCycle This is definitely not a backup battery. It is located at the bottom part of the communicator and is usually glued to the case. You can see it at 1:55. It has come unstuck from the case and is lying on the metal screen (it acts as a negative contact for it), the antenna wire runs nearby. According to the service manual, this white thing is an L151 element, just an inductance of 15uH.

[@sarowie]

I would also argue that having GPS is as easy and fast way to restore date and time even after a battery removal or issue.

[@tadeustad]

Awesome franken-swap of the backlight, even if only in a MacGyver way for now, that's actually a brilliant idea to reuse parts.

[@月姫り]

I had one for work back in 2007. Still have it on my cupboard. very fun to mess around with from time to time

[@PJ-sv4iw]

Donate it to the channel

[@big8news]

It looks cool , yeah I had gotten the whole some old pdas I have purchased at the swap meet I believe during the pandemic. They both work it was cool see the technology and how it was back then how many devices are pretty advanced for what they can do but we're expensive so I never bothered me back then even though I should have had the money for it

[@oggilein1]

love these landscape style phones, and ones with backlit lcds even more

[@Natsukashii1111]

There's a modern one now with android and a full keyboard in landscape mode, don't remember the name

[@Natsukashii1111]

Found the name, Astro slide 5g

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

Nokia stuff was so well made. And it's like the opposite of Apple - Apple do everything they can to stop you repairing their stuff. Nokia did everything they could to make it repairable.

[@shadesoftime]

Yeah, I gasped when I saw that the support page with all the info on the problem was on nokia's website

[@mesicek7]

Can't wait for you to go more in detail about the Symbian OS. It was amazing for its time.

[@anidnmeno]

i loved Symbian so much

[@magfal]

Have you tried it's parent? Epoch. It's great on a Psion 5MX ​@@anidnmeno

[@puneetiqbal]

It was way ahead of its time in terms of functionality.

[@kudryavchik]

Hi Janus! Nice video! About CCFL. All pre 2003 Pocket PCs and smartphones with backlit color LCDs had CCFL, its not uncommon. Even Sega GameGear had one) There were simply no efficient white leds at that time. At first, white leds appeared in phones, like T68, then in Pocket PCs and Palms (from 2002-2003, when transflective screens came to market). First laptop with Led backlight - Sony Vaio VGN U you have already reviewed

[@kaitlyn__L]

Yeah I was thinking it was pretty common until the mid-00s.

[@megabojan1993]

My Nokia 9210 died back in 2020, very suddenly. It was my favorite phone in my small phone collection.

[@maelcrusty8243]

good video.. Like i was watching a 90s movie. so good. The ending was so perfect. Really takes me back..

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you! Making this video really flowed once I realized I could replace the backlight using iPhone parts.

[@RinoaL]

Installing that led strip worked a treat. very good leap in progress on this!

[@gaborszucs8935]

On the fl tube, only the regular 9210 used it, the 9210i is led backlit. :)

[@dzikiwonsz22]

Early 9210i had tubes too from my experience. :)

[@veryboringname.]

The phone in this video is a 9210i - you can see it at 8:26.

[@gaborszucs8935]

Okay i just realised its indeed a 9210i. So apparently i was wrong. I have read this info on wikipedia. Also i will now need to check if my 9210i has a tube or leds...

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@gaborszucs8935 I guess you can cite this video when you edit the Wikipedia page ;)

[@JohnMedved]

Awesome video brother. I love the aesthetic of these late 90's/early '00s phones. Nokia was an amazing company back then. RIP.

[@EricGranata]

I was compelled to watch Pig after hearing Nic Cage repeatedly call it his best movie. It was amazing. Like an anti John Wick.

[@michaelmitchell8218]

Funny seeing these Nokias. I use to repair them all for a shop back in the day. I use to do all their electronic repairs and also mod phones,etc. the amount of Nokia phones I use to repair back in the day. Also did a lot of bad flashes too that shops use to mess up unlocking peoples phone and doing it wrong.

[@olisk-jy9rz]

Honestly i found it a horrible, lame waste of time. It's completely on character for Nicholas Cage to say something like that, but it isn't even in the top 10 of his best/most memorable works.

[@redgek]

I wish you luck trying to repair this, looks really interesting!

[@speedyspeeds]

You pulled a jameschannel on this one and I love it.

[@JanusCycle]

James Channel!

[@ivand5699]

I really LOVE the slow panning close ups shots, the old screens flickering and the good music. ❤

[@850Tech]

Amazing video. So Nostalgic so satisfying. Its like a portal to a time era that was indeed beautiful and Fun 🎉

[@Gadgetman1989]

I have 3 Nokia N900's and personally loved the Nokias of the early 2000's (yes i know its from 09 for that model) but still love the styles these all were

[@LightTheUnicorn]

Excellent work on the backlight mod! Using bits from a dead iPhone, quite wonderful! Glad it's not just me with a weird fascination for these old communicators. Were toally out of reach for me as a kid, but picking one up when they were worth very little and watching you explore these older models definitely makes up for it. They're very unique, and early Symbian is surprisingly capable.

[@IlusysSystems]

Had this phone, to this day I miss this form. I intalled some programming language and making tetris, because there wasn't good one available. Also modified it to have jack so I could blast music.

[@JanusCycle]

Is your version of Tetris available anywhere?

[@IlusysSystems]

@@JanusCycle Nah, it was like 20 years ago, and I did not finish it. There was no github and I was just trying to entertain myself during boring school lessons.

[@superapple4ever]

I’ve always loved these phones and been incredibly interested in them, would love to see some more in-depth videos on software and hardware capabilities.

[@Empyrean55]

My dad had this phone growing up, it was absolutely transformative for me in learning about tech

[@AttilaSVK]

I remember playing Bounce on a 9210 (or 9210i) when this thing was new. I was blown away by it. Later I had an E90 Communicator, before switching to an iPhone 3GS. I really liked the E90 as well.

[@JamesLustre]

Your video wanted me to fix my 9210 and this is so interesting to watch. I might check the battery and screen as well, if it's still alive or not.

[@MichalKobuszewski]

I'm going back to Depeche Mode's Spirit album. The last thing I'd expect a retro phone review to make me do!

[@Zoli1972s]

Actually, I am a huge Depeche Mode fan, but haven't heard Eternal yet, unit now.

[@ziadalkhory4019]

Your videos force me not to miss any second of them

[@thisislilraskal]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the 3G signal being shut down. I personally think it should be left alone.

[@dosgos]

3G lasted a lot longer than anyone expected it to. Now a lot of maintenance, equipment, and power from old equipment. And the very high data use today just depreciates these old systems, unfortunately.

[@JanusCycle]

From a personal perspective I'm sad that many early 3G phones I want to explore in the future won't have a signal :( But the wider issues of creating unnecessary e-waste, the burden placed on low incomes by forced upgrades during a cost of living crisis, 4G/5G phones being completely blocked because they don't have emergency calling profiles loaded. It's a big shitshow. One positive is no CCS7 hacking possible in Australia now.

[@proyasin1504]

In Turkey 2/3G networks are going to shutdown very likely in 2029. And i agree very much with what you ​have said in your reply... In 2025 IMEI registering fee/tax (one of the countless bullshit taxes here) going to be 50k ₺ which is a lot of load for a average citizen... After all i can still hear the interference noise on my Nokia c2-01 😃 @JanusCycle

[@timurbrave]

Thank you! Great narrative 😊 phone is a true communicator.

[@RaveenaAnsari-b5s]

Nokia has the aura of infinity.

[@DOSfoxx]

moving around the menus looks so fluid, night and day from my cell even in 2006.

[@MegaManNeo]

These things were so crazy back then. Tooks years until I saw need for a mobile phone myself but as someone who enjoyed computers even as little kid already, I always wanted one of these.

[@King_Nugget1]

Something about old tech being opened feels so much more premium than todays tech which bends and breaks compared to feeling like an actual part of something.

[@DustyGamma]

I vaguely remember seeing that ad for this... Pretty sure I thought it was the future of cellphones.

[@zainiikhwan9405]

The future that never was 🥺

[@mirek190]

@@zainiikhwan9405 What ? We can do far more on you current smartphones than that nokia communicator could.

[@shadesoftime]

Honestly, not far off) Look at all the flip phones now with a second display. And also the stupidly long aspect ratio

[@aarongreenfield9038]

I remember they showcased one of those in the movie Live free or die hard, the hacker kid was carrying one around.

[@deathdoor]

A florescent lamp?! Nokia was crazy!

[@ragdolltrucking]

that voltage transformer that powers the tube can be bought on amazon for $15 bucks, its just a generic part thats used in alot of small devices from that time period, thats how i got the little 3" display on my volkswagen gage cluster working

[@SockyNoob]

Didn't expect a backlight fix or it actually working or it coming from an iPhone. Awesome stuff. Hope you can sort out the rest, love these old Nokias.

[@AlessandroCD7]

Aaaah your Videos are so chilling and relaxing to watch, your perfect Narrator Voice, the cinematic, the Music, and the main topic of the channel that brings back such Fond menories ❤ Thank you Janus for your work, appreciate it very much

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to making many more videos with these vibes.

[@AlessandroCD7]

@JanusCycle You're doing a phenomenal Job so far! By the way, are you probably intrested in a Phone called INNOS D6000 with Software/Hardware issues or is it too usual for your channel? The Story behind that Model/Company (since its the only Mod thats ever been made before them going bankrupt) I would gift it to you, it currently works again and is able to do things but one of 8 CPU Cores is gone because the device overheated while gaming 😅 Just look it up, maybe u have a use for it :D Its on Android 6 unfortunately

[@googleevil]

Love your videos. Perfect start of Sunday. Thank you!

[@temetka]

This was a great video, very fun to watch. I am also enjoying the DM song very much. Thanks for linking it.

[@jakubvavru]

Simply put, a masterpiece, I enjoy this channel more and more with each new video. And the ending of this video is epic. Thanks for the videos and I look forward to more.❤

[@JanusCycle]

Awesome, thank you so much. I can't wait to finish the follow up.

[@El1988Che]

Great video! I don't know of any phone using tubes but, the Sega Game Gear did as well (portable hand-held). I remember the first time I took one apart and saw all the high voltage warnings and I was like wth haha

[@netsparro1989]

Same 😂

[@hobbified]

Just one of the reasons why that thing needed about $10/hour in batteries to play :)

[@techyrock]

I remember getting my hands on a 9210i back in the day being a student,obviously I couldn't afford one, but my friend lent me his 9210i for few days, I was more of a S60 guy back then and I was new to S80, I remember S80 not having that many apps as S60, Later on I got Nokia 9300, it was much smaller, ill say try to get a 9300 or a 9500 if you can't get one of these, was disappointed from E90 Communicator with it Having Symbian S60 but unlike older communicators as I recall E90 didn't have a dumb phone on front, it had a S60 one on front too, didn't know 9210i had a Fluorescent backlight, Nokia was smth back then, phones were great, N92 had a mini HDD like the iPod

[@mr_ice117]

Always loved this style of flip phone. I own difference phones but with the same flip design or hell even a slider. This phone and even its newer distant cousins like the lg enV or cosmos or slider phones like samsung messenger or even the Motorola droid. I loved how you had the normal phone and a full keyboard hidden away ready to pop out

[@TheBasementChannel]

This was such a dream phone of mine when I was younger. Even the name was cool.

[@LeitanKungs]

Thank you for another great and interesting video! Good job, bro! ❤

[@demolpol5010]

Thank you for keeping it alive 🙏

[@Svetoslav85]

Still got my old E90 Mocha. Great device.

[@Ben79k]

Your videos are so relaxing to watch. I love the effort you put in for these classic devices.

[@basti6051]

The mobile phone review with the highest emotions... Luv it, well done ❤

[@opus1520]

great video. real ingenious with the backlight fix

[@aspergerio]

Very artistic mate, and i love your outro track choice so so much.

[@ahmedp8009]

9210i, My first true love! Still remember the first time I've seen in person with a friend of mine in school (his family was rich). Peak Nokia.

[@leatherwiz]

A great Video, with this Nokia you was the boss at the time. One of my colleagues had one. I always wanted one but couldn’t afford to buy the phone.

[@ThePerradox]

Excellent video. Enjoyed it very much. So very relaxing to watch and hear you work.

[@waitwhat9155]

It was great meeting you at the Attrition gig the other night! So glad you mentioned your channel this stuff is awesome :)

[@anthrobug]

I still have the N800 in a box, I haven’t turned it on in a decade or so but it still amazes me how close Nokia got to perfecting this format before ‘Elop the Trojan Horse’ arrived to fold Nokia into Microsoft. Nokia worked incredibly hard on this idea; I still think Maemo & the n900 was/is the perfect phone format for the time, with a full touch screen and that awesome slide out keyboard. I still want it today! I’d love a modern phone with a slide out keyboard! I mean, it’s certainly not a svelte or light format, but it would definitely be the most useful IMHO. Please do a video on the n900!

[@JanusCycle]

Please see the video called 'Taming Nokia's Wildest Linux Smartphone' :)

[@johnbillings5260]

I had an infatuation with this phone for a while. Great video!

[@PotooBurd]

I enjoy this so much! Amazing content, best wishes to you and your future projects! 🌻

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you :)

[@Technikkeller]

thanks for the outro Song. Immediately added to my playlist :)

[@ozbolli]

I had a 9300 communicator when I was just 19 years old then got the 9500 communicator a bit later. I didn’t use 90% of it but I was really into my tech and working in the industry during those golden years of 3G/UMTS rollout (albeit 9300 wasn’t UMTS)

[@axelprino]

That is the tiniest fluorescent tube I've seen, I had once seen one from an old color LCD from a handheld device and it was larger. Didn't even know they made them that small.

[@FR4M3Sharma]

I would recommend not using metal tweezers to disconnect the flex cables. My dad learned the hard way back in 2005 when I was five years old.

[@uhohwhy]

fix it fix it fix it 24h version

[@leanderlacaj]

I wish i had one of those! Awesome video trying to fix it!

[@orangeyellow-me1pz]

This is amazing. 2001?! That screen looks amazing for 2001. I hate that mobile tech got rid of keyboards. I never got used to these software keyboards. Sometimes my whole sentence will be filled with mistakes because of it. It was never this bad on my Palm, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices.

[@ivand5699]

Man im grateful to be able to watch your videos.

[@catsawkotowaty9111]

Oh fluorescent backlight... We actually do LED swaps for those that die on old bizerba GV printers. And yeah then the lighting is uneven but it bloody works! Those were made in 2006 or something, too...

[@michaelwalker8250]

Absolutely brilliant video.

[@KrisDouglas]

God, looking back at that beautiful old Symbian OS, you can really see the old Psion DNA behind it.

[@michaelwalker8250]

I'm not sure if it would work, but there was an app i used to have to install on my e71 and e63 to remap keys so that my installation of ngage 2.0 games to run. Maybe there was a remapping app for earlier symbian. If there is you could probably edit the config file somehow to get those keys remapped. Just me talking about stuff that's probably too much of a stretch. Keep up the awesome videos. Always a joy to see videos about Symbian.

[@GimmeTOKYO]

7:00 “there’s definitely some bad corrosion here” Me: *clocks that immediately noticeable water indicator being bright red*

[@chinoyhouse8247]

Hi Janus, I use to have this 9210 and 9210i communicator way back in 2004-2006. I believe that the problem that is causing the side buttons to not work is its flex ribbon. It seems to always break on the centre or it breaks off just a tiny bit from the connecting points from the board to the display. They have that flimsy ribbon protector on the side of the phone that a little particles can get in and moisture can corrode the points. I use to remember that the screen loses back light and keys weren’t functioning and had it repaired out of warranty to Nokia. And it is always the same problem,Flex ribbon it is so fragile. Thanks for uploading these videos. I’m a Nokia fanboy since I was a kid, started using a Nokia 5110 way back in 1998. Keep it up!

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks! I've had a number of people comment on the ribbon cable. I'm leaning heavily towards that being the cause now.

[@DanceForMe13]

I’ve had every Communicator from the 9110 to the E90. All of them still work to this day. I miss those phones.

[@WoodyW2k]

Do you have a favourite?

[@gumboe2007]

How many people grinned when those leds lit up? I did. Great video Janus

[@EXIT_FAILURE]

Cracking job, mate!

[@marcberm]

I had that v-shaped tiny Sony Watchman too!! Well, maybe not the same depending on where yours is from. I'm in the US, so mine was an NTSC version. I think I gave up on it and sent it to thrift or e-waste after the US digital TV conversion around 2008. Regrets.

[@williama29]

I never heard of a phone like this I have heard of Nokia phones in 1999-2003 that were durable and indestructible the Sega game gear used a halogen backlight tube to light the screen as well and LCD TV'S used CCFL's as well

[@MarcosGarcia-kx4rb]

its so sad when one gets totally stuck by such a tiny thing. nevertheless it was an amazing video and i was mindblown at the little fluorescent light never saw those.

[@PashaSlavaUkraine]

Mad Linda your a legend

[@JanusCycle]

lol

[@TheNostalgicFuture]

I love when you cover Symbian devices. Very fun video.

[@KRtekTM]

Awesome video about awesome phone! I miss the times when Nokia was the leader of the market and phones were fun and not all the same. I will look forward to any possible continuation of the video! 🙂

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks so much for your generosity! I can't wait to get more Communicators and Nokia in general.

[@psychopassive]

Depeche Mode at the end! 🔥

[@_MasterLink_]

My Handspring Prism also uses a fluorescent backlight. I was using it up to a few years ago with my grocery store rewards (I built an app that could show the barcode on the LCD) and it was always a problem when going to the register. I had to proactively turn the Prism on to let the light warm up to full brightness ahead of time, or they couldn't scan the screen.

[@MrDan11422]

I had LG Eve Touch. It was one of the 1st smart phone with a capacitive touch screen. It came out right before Apple came out with the iPhone. Highly recommended checking it out, if you can get your hands on one The only thing I remember is watching KZbin on it. Thinking it was so awesome. I had it for 2 years and got the Samsung Galaxy. Been a fan ever since.

[@dronetheworld4k67]

after years dreaming about this as a kid in secondary school i finally grew up lol worked and got what resembles a Modern 9210, my lovely Samsung Fold 4, i cant stop loving it everyday and looking at it although i spent over 1.5 eyars using it, i finally had my dreams come true, in a better way...

[@Sb129]

In addition to the Palm IIIc the Handspring Visor Prism also had the same screen with that mini fluorescent tube. I have had a IIIc for like, idk, 17 years or so? And it still runs like new. The IIIc came out in the year 2000 and this phone was 2001 so I am not sure why it's tube died. Perhaps the corrosion seeped into exactly the wrong place. Ofc the IIIc/Visor Prism's tube is much longer so maybe that has something to do with it. It's a bit funny that all the old III series (as well as the Pilot) had the screen a bit off center and on the IIIc they used that room for the tube if I remember right. Pretty crazy that screens in the new millennium were using fluorescent tubes for a backlight but hey the white LED was only invented 4 years prior. You know I bet that phone probably is the only one with that tube as a backlight, I was only aware of the IIIc/Visor Prism and portable TVs having such small tubes, I never imagined a phone like that would have one. Nice find indeed.

[@DominicGo]

absolute banger at the end

[@MazeFrame]

That backlight-fix is amazing! Shame about the soft-buttons.

[@ShockerTopper]

I remember that!! I wanted one so badly when I was a kid in High School and got my first phone. It was already a rarity to have a cell phone in High School in the late 90's, but I was content with my Samsung flip phone that was 2" thick haha. However, I was very jealous of people who had Motorolla Startacs or Timeports. Looking back, I honestly think the Startac was only like $100 more than my phone, but then again, $100 was definitely A LOT in 1998.

[@austinjwb]

ccfl was used in most laptops through the late 2000s. stickers underneath would always sate about the lamp containing mercury

[@SianaGearz]

All of my cameras of the era use CCFL backlit screens. Sanyo VPC-Z400 (1998) and Canon PowerShot G2 (2001). This must have been the only way to light a colour screen back at the time. Of course full colour screens on phones weren't a thing back then.

[@JanusCycle]

I didn't think of cameras. I do have a couple of very old cameras.

[@Jurtaani]

honestly it would be cool to see completed LED mod for this old icon. i mean even without the display buttons, seeing this phone running those leds with no external power source except for it's charger. that would be so cool project to see.

[@TheDuumiMuumi]

Yup, definitely a broken flex cable. Good luck finding one, hard to find parts for these nowadays :( Just got a working battery for my 9210i by absolute luck and I was very lucky that I got it to take charge.

[@hafo821]

i was not expecting the CCFL backlight inside 😁