When Cell Phones Were A 1980s Novelty | Flashback | NBC News

Back in the 1980s, cell phones were so much of a novelty that people were buying fake phones just to look cool.
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When Cell Phones Were A 1980s Novelty | Flashback | NBC News

[@javianjohnson8746]

Crazy to visually see that back in the 80s, companies were actively TRYING to get you to use your phone while driving, and using a phone while driving was a status symbol. How things have changed over the decades haha

[@DrumWild]

Back when drunk driving was considered to be an All-American sport.

[@ogorekkiszony7236]

changed for the worse (not including smartphones obviously) however I think that car phones that can be used to make phone calls should still be around.

[@NazriB]

Lies again? Causeway Point USD SGD

[@allancerf9038]

Nothing to look down at.

[@ryan24a73]

​@@ogorekkiszony7236If the smartphone is around yeah never gonna happen i think

[@musafawundu6718]

I am early 80s born... Having a brick mobile phone in your possession in the late 80s and early 90s had people staring at you in awe...

[@m42037]

By mid 90s they were small enough to fit in a cigarette Pocket

[@JNGJNG8888]

You're younger than me

[@DustinDawind]

And now it's 2018 and we have gone back up to $1,000 phones again -_-

[@Lzrdman91]

Difference is 1000 back the is the equivalent to 3000 today.

[@Jesuisderetour88]

@@Lzrdman91 wow, good point!

[@LouieCartoon]

Except, simultaneously, the market has $30 phones. Affordable options were not available back kn the 80s.

[@AxeMurdererT]

1000 pounds in 1988 was equivalent to 1200 pounds today

[@fccc3379]

New smartphones nowadays have comparable specs and processing power with a lot of laptops, so it's not really surprising to see new smartphones (especially flagships) now costing $1000 or more.

[@thisguy9042]

And now i'm watching this on phone!!!!! Amazing😂

[@embersatdusk]

@@jupiteravatar I am too, and there is no shame in it. I have a good phone tho...1080p and 6.4 inch screen!

[@linnx8588]

I'm watching this on my motorola dynaTAC 8000

[@Haitiangirl23]

@@jupiteravatar yeah whats wrong with that?

[@thomasmartinez8695]

crazy how technology is growing

[@thelettucemanskits1328]

Jack Hamilton this is really weird, did you really not know people use KZbin on their phones?

[@user-ms4ef8xz9t]

This is probably the best video on what it was like in the 80s when it came to cell phones. Pig tails everywhere and everybody wanted one. It was a great time to be in the business.

[@jamesb8305]

Funny, I bought a dozen of those radio shack handheld brick phones for $50 20 years ago at a gov't surplus auction, held on to them, and sold each one for $200 on ebay 17 years later. They are collectables.

[@MrOneanddone91]

Radio shack

[@georgeprendergast8305]

Genius sir

[@m42037]

1980s phones are cool. Rotary phones are even cooler

[@slifer0081]

Inflation?

[@tacticalwarfare8413]

This is when cellphone makes you popular at school 80's to early 90's

[@MattyIcecubes]

My dad had one of those huge brick cell phones that was on loan to him from his employer circa 1987. When he'd go golfing with his buddies, he just couldn't resist making a call home on the course just to show off. God knows he couldn't afford the $4000 cost of the phone and $500 monthly bill.

[@bigmedge]

Other than a car, the Zack Morris phone was every kid’s dream for their future back then

[@KaedeAnimation]

1980s: Talk and Drive NOW: Text and Drive

[@17Matt76]

Woman: "Oh I love it! Let me roll up my window. I can't hear you, there's some trucks coming by..." Narrator: **She's talking to herself. There's nobody on the other end of the call.** That's the most hilariously Orwellian thing I've ever heard.

[@NATIVESUNSETS65]

What's more pathetic is she had already sold 45 thousand to the insecure rank and file who aspire to be part of the Beau Monde gotta love the slogan. " It's not what you own It's what people think you own " Wow !

[@steventopper9310]

@@NATIVESUNSETS65 She's still First Lady of Beau Monde I'm sure she's still alive and hasn't got a ticket yet!

[@TheCleaner76]

and she's driving with no hands 🙌

[@alexrivas1993]

Just like the verizon/sprint guy can you hear me now 🤣🤣

[@ChanMan-mm7fe]

2:35 GTA commercials in a nutshell. Lmfao

[@stacy3]

Gta 4

[@DannySingerMusic]

2:11 you think you're fancy with your fake car phone but you have to literally roll up your window. #peasant

[@Tide690]

Hey! The 80s called they want their phones BACK!!!

[@xavierlombardero6359]

I bet accidents in the '80s skyrocketed

[@CaptchaNeon]

Car phones were so ridiculously expensive, not just to buy but to keep up with the monthly bill. Meanwhile, the woman on the street is carrying around "The Brick".

[@billionsandbillions1010]

The cell phone at the 1:55 time mark was so cool back then. I remember those days very well. My fairly wealthy friends had that exact model. If I remember correctly, the battery would maybe last a whole hour on a good day? That phone would probably look a little geeky these days, if you walked around with it.

[@1Jason]

I want to get one of them phones and walk around the city talking on it now

[@80sCompaqPC]

I’d use a Motorola brick as my main cell phone if there was still analog service providers! The looks you would get now would definitely be priceless.

[@warpnin3]

You: walking through town talking into vintage phone Behind you: silent crowd following you

[@christopherduffy1703]

I wonder if I could get my hands on one of these old phones.

[@dustinolvey8877]

They also drank and drove on a higher scale I think.

[@letsbehonest4221]

Christopher Duffy wont work these days ..then ran on analog...

[@TWOHEADEDOGRE]

Every so often car phone pop up on eBay and Craigslist

[@ABCRE2]

KR999

[@victoriobogart9848]

eBay

[@johnw2026]

As late as 2002, the school system where I graduated still had bag phones inside each school bus, to be used in case of emergency, along with CB radios. And I did see one used, one time. Our bus broke down, we were out of CB range, so the old driver pulled out the bag phone and called for help... Bag phones were old technology even by then, so we all thought it was interesting, but maybe a little quaint.

[@metalrockstarizer89]

Yet during that time though CD’s was the thing. Show Gen Alpha a CD they will get confused

[@m42037]

In 2002 everyone has a tiny flip phone I don't know where you lived. In 2000 I had flip phone I could close my hand and you couldn't see it. By the mid 90s they were cigarette pocket sized I remember, the 80s they were big

[@johnw2026]

@@m42037 yeah, those big cell phones from back in the 80's weren't even worth buying, if you ask me, lol! As I recall, you got about 40 minutes of talk time after a 12 hour charge. No thanks!

[@m42037]

@@johnw2026 I'm talking about car phone's not mid-late 80s cell phone's. Within ten years these big cell phones were small enough to hide in a closed hand, I hate one from the late 90s. The 70s and 80s brought us technology we use today many don't know, like the compact disc, which is almost obsolete now but they were first used in the 70s for storing computer data. I worked at Hudson's dept store in 1984-5 and our time cards weren't old school punch cards they were like today's debit cards, you swept it in the box like today when you use your plastic and the computer timed you in. Something many lads today think didn't start until the 90s

[@roachtoasties]

Those were the days, even though battery life on the brick phones was short and they were analog, allowing anyone with a scanner capable of the 800 MHz band to listen to at least parts of conversations.

[@friendship7798]

At that time, it was expensive to call from a mobile phone, so even those carrying mobile phones used to call from a phone booth🤣😂😂

[@johnw2026]

I remember years ago seeing in an old Radio Shack magazine something called a Satellite Phone, they were I think around $1000 apiece, and phone time was $100 a minute. They basically bypass cellphone towers and connect directly to sattelites. You can still get them, but they aren't so popular because they're still expensive, and most of the world is connected by cell towers now. You'd just about have to go to the middle of the Amazon rainforest and get lost to justify using a satillite phone! 🙂

[@wiilkasanadka10]

@@johnw2026 satellite 📱 are still useful. They can be used in it towns and villages in third world countries or remote locations ( camping or hiking in some the mountains)

[@johnw2026]

@@wiilkasanadka10 I knew a missionary that had to carry one. I think he was working in Honduras... Lots of remote places, mountains and valleys, villages you had to ride donkeys to get to, because no car can get there. So yes, they're useful!

[@wiilkasanadka10]

@@johnw2026 the problem is the people that need it the most can't afford it, like the ppl in those remote areas. It's too expensive

[@johnw2026]

@@wiilkasanadka10 well, they're cheaper than they used to be... But still high. An Immarsat Isatphone 2 is about $700. That's more than my weekly paycheck.

[@KingNez89]

Lmfao i wanted a car phone so bad! Lmfao will just stick with my s10 plus 🤣🤣

[@bfun4615]

Could anyone live without a phone today?

[@2taggs2]

If they were so expensive and demanded - it took balls to walk down the street with one. Criminals must have had a field day stealing them back then.

[@Cacowninja]

I figure if they could afford a cellphone they could afford a gun too. So if a criminal tried anything funny they'd dial .357 rather than 911.

[@2taggs2]

@@Cacowninja I doubt very much that a criminal had that thought process... a NYC Yuppie was their main target back in the day

[@Cacowninja]

@@2taggs2 So the victim wasn't likely to be armed?

[@jawlatnet]

Back when phone was a weapon at the same time lmao

[@azeca0025]

😂😂😂

[@andrewdupuis1151]

i got my first Cell Phone in early 2000s

[@boobsthechemist2067]

2.38 imagine getting pulled by the police for chatting on a phoney phone while driving 😂

[@alexandrac9363]

...phoney phone.. I LOVE that! 😂

[@ep1929]

Here in UK they used to sell fake car cellphone antennas for your car to look "extra elite"

[@planes124]

Wasn’t illegal to be on ur phone while driving then. Funny how time changes

[@christophercolumbus8944]

and drive manual too!!! there were skilled drivers back then

[@WestleyWolf]

We used to have a car phone in a 1990 Nissan Maxima. It came with a AAA Roadside Assistance Button on it.

[@50centgotshot9times]

That sounds extremely handy for 1990! Awesome.

[@AmericanPride1234]

Not only am I watching this on my REAL IPHONE. Listening it from Bluetooth. Lol 4-5-20

[@Nature1992]

Seeing that BMW driver shift gears while holding a phone is giving me anxiety...

[@yakxattack]

Don't worry, he was pretty smooth with that shift. Din't even have to use his knee on the steering wheel.

[@flipwarrior]

I want a cell phone, but the install price is too much! 😭

[@jdmikeg4]

flipwarrior Thats what the fake phone is for.

[@vagabaassassina3461]

What is install price?

[@Gameboy-Unboxings]

@@vagabaassassina3461 wow..

[@THE_HELLENIC_BALL]

@@vagabaassassina3461 you know what i really want to buy a new one that my own phone is made in 1999 you can't look like that with a phone from 1999 i want one from 2021

[@josevilas4927]

It is forbidden to hold a cell phone while driving now.

[@111danish111]

I never knew such a thing as a fake phone !!

[@shanenolan85]

Same!

[@Josieman543]

Phony phone?!! Lol whaaaat??

[@azeca0025]

And today a mobile phone is a little computer.

[@pimpman742]

Who else is watching this on a phone lol 😂

[@Alex_Christin]

😎

[@I41535D]

That guy (BMW) Driving, Talking and Shifting gears Wooooow! It takes me back Of course we can still do that today but back in the day there was no such thing as speaker button option

[@kwt2000trucker]

today most people are more stupid that is causing big government to mandate automatic braking, and all those ridiculous sensors and technology that literally drivers DON'T have full control of the vehicles anymore, I wish they reverse that, and only HIGHLY QUALIFIED people are the ones driving

[@stormgirl09]

Wow the fake phone is hilariously goofy!! Think about it grown adults trying to look cool to their peers by using a toy mock phone!! :D

[@ttkjv16112011]

Tsk Tsk driving and talking back then

[@nomadcowatbk]

and dogs riding in the truck bed with no restraints

[@okamijubei]

Nobody knows the dangers then.

[@ChristopherGray00]

@@nomadcowatbk gotta love risking your dog flying out of the trunk on the highway

[@jourwalis-8875]

Just imagine: fake cellular phones!

[@2taggs2]

It’s come full circle: Phones (Smartphones) are pretty much same price ($1,000 and $100 monthly fees) and are big - not as big as those 80’s phones, but instead of phones getting smaller - they are getting bigger.

[@CaveManOogaBooga]

Yea but you’re not counting for inflation. A 1000 dollar phone back then would be equal to 3 to 4k now

[@BizotonBoy]

I never knew there were phony phones, I knew there were broken ones that people used to make others think they were in working order. lol.

[@cyberpunkmodels692]

You have to be crazy to talk on a fake phone to impress people 😂

[@Angellady11]

I remember having a brick phone back in Kuwait during high school years

[@bradmetcalf5333]

Funny how we're right back to 1000 dollars and 100 a month!

[@alexojideagu]

Lol yes but adjusted for inflation it's about 1/3 the price today

[@m42037]

There is car phones, people are turning them back on in old car's like 1987 RR

[@Patrick19833]

Those fake phones would be great for 80s parties today.

[@EladLavyUzan]

These will never catch on #Pessimist

[@taniele84]

I heard that as phones started upgrading the smaller the phone the more expensive and cooler. Then we flipped it after smartphones. Now the bigger the phone the better.

[@HamburgerHelperDeath]

Yea the crazy thing is there were skinny folding phones in the mid 90’s but then the iPhone came and that was the first time the internet looked like a computer vs a horrible watered down version. Then larger screens were in demand after a few years.

[@smartthinkerg8129]

They had no idea how regular calls would be.

[@Alex-di8ti]

'Not all that long ago, a cell phone was a status symbol and was hugely expensive', well, looks like things have come back around to that, with some cell phones above $1000.

[@tylersharp1377]

"Phony Car Phone" BRUH 😆😁😭

[@nickjuly4A]

What's really funny is that nowadays you can get cell phones for even cheaper than what that Cellular Phoney costed.

[@Brandonchavaria5150]

And now everyone has a phone in their pocket

[@jordan31176]

It lost me at Phony Phones... Adults bought fake phones?

[@nomadcowatbk]

that contractor probably spent more on his phone than dogs

[@TELEVISIBLE]

the good old day , driving and talking on mobile is popular 🤣

[@Mariofan2479]

Fun fact: The phoney phone sold for $1,595 NOT $15.95

[@1337ofDiscreet1]

*_"Hold or buy more. Do not sell."_*

[@ajs41]

This is about 1987 I think.

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

Even if someone converted a 1983 handheld cell phone to a modified satellite phone might be a problem even if small raspberry pi conversions might not cut the mustard.

[@jamstarent21]

When talking and driving wasn't a ticket 😂😂

[@hayvenmoses7352]

Its crazy how much the worlds changed since then.

[@mikekaraoke]

My dad and other people I knew had the Motorola 8000X when I was a kid in 1985, And some others had the Nokia Cityman in 1987 :-) My cousin who was 18 a the time couldn't afford one outright-So he rented it out at Radio Rentals for £5 a week lol

[@kartgal]

1:26 it definitely has increased the amount of money i make 😂

[@b21raider27]

This is golden in 2024. I can only imagine in 2034.

[@veronicamonell7263]

Then using your cell phone and driving was banned in 2007😂

[@hamesh3474]

Now today it's the land line and the new house 🏡

[@spacemonkey9257]

I'm eating an entire can of beans

[@sega310982]

Dogs in pickup truck. I don't think that's safe.

[@liverush24]

sega310982 I know. They could attack people!

[@delilahfleharty8393]

That was back in the day when that was okay and nobody thought of it as unsafe at the time. Even kids could ride in the back of a pick up truck then because no car seat laws were put into place at the time. Kids could even ride in the front seat My guess is you're probably too young to remember or know this.

[@tomservo5007]

Delilah , at the time of this video, seat belts were law.

[@nomadcowatbk]

kids can still legally ride in the front seat in most places if buckled, just not recommended due them being possibly being crushed by air bags designed for adults

[@delilahfleharty8393]

Tom Servo Yes you're right. I was mistaken and yes I knew that seatbelts were law, however I saw so many small underaged kids riding in the front seat without having to be fitted in a car seat.

[@Silvergun_Raven]

Wow, I never knew about people buying fake phones to blend in with others that did have real ones just because of status.... crazy.

[@missylou82]

We didn’t have car phone or cellular phone, when I was a kid, back in 1980’s. I don’t know, anyone who had car phones or cellular phones back then, in 1980’s. I only saw them on 1980’s tv shows and 1980’s movies. I didn’t know, their was fake car phone to use.

[@PRESIDENT_RAY]

Wait this was 7 years ago?

[@christyshultz6443]

More likely when it was uploaded

[@hoppinggnomethe4154]

Ah the 80s. Driving with a massive button phone on one hand, and seat belts are just some ornamental pieces.

[@skyelarmurray467]

“Handheld” sounds almost sarcastic 😂😂

[@Lem-yo5tm]

Imagine smoking cigarettes while talking on a brick smartphone In Vegas

[@davidcowan4705]

My first cell phone was a bag phone. 3 Watts and a wire that was attached to a magnetic antenna on top of the car! You had to pay close attention to how many minutes you used up! LOL

[@XTR02]

Those box phones were $1k. At least our $1k iPhones replace cellphones, voice machines, caller ID’s, camcorders, voice recorders, navigators, cassette/CD players, VCR’s/DVD Player/Bluray Player and personal computers, while service for a line is typically around $50 for unlimited voice, text and data. With certain things, we do have it better today. If you don’t believe me, $1k from the early 90’s converted to today’s inflation is $2.25k and $100 to today is $225. And those people not only paid for cell phones or car phones, but they were also paying for landlines. Today, people no longer need a landline unless you’re operating a call center or a high volume business.

[@elizabethpeterson1644]

I didn’t get my 1st cell phone in mid December 1999. It was just a couple of days after that I passed my driver’s test for a license to drive a car. Right now that I preferred using an iPhone over any smartphone or even a flipped cellphone.

[@mrblue8439]

Yes I know it is the 1980's but what year is this report from?

[@mitchellquartero]

Mr Blue 1988

[@peanutbutterisfu]

My dad had car phone and a brick cellphone back in the early 90’s because he ran the warehouse he worked for and the owners wanted to make sure he could be contacted whenever so they paid for everything. I’m pretty sure it was like 50 cents a min or something like that.

[@beachaddict7653]

The fake phones were just flat out pathetic. Omg 😂

[@TimJoseph08031990]

1:24 Installing a car phone in a Honda.

[@steventopper9310]

This type of stuff is still around! People still use brick phones and flip phones as well love the late 90's. Back when people kept in contact with each other! What makes you say these things are out of style? 1998 4 life.

[@Mitsubachi2529]

That thing is a cinder block with buttons XD!

[@Playafly540]

her eyes bother me...

[@legolas7r]

Nerd V.S. World me too

[@warpnin3]

Awww.. Don't say that..she looksh sho shweet..

[@therealunicornselene]

Okay but why did the tech rewound segment look as old as the clip

[@catlady7773]

Even people talking on phony cellphones drove better while talking than people do today! Shameful!! 😂😂😂

[@outofsyncrock7788]

2:35 just get a pager jeez

[@allenstanford1379]

Porsche 911 😍

[@georgebelev1900]

Who even has a car phone theze dayz?

[@sog4646]

Or a land line.

[@mathewjonston330]

The dog in the truck bed killled me

[@DrumWild]

When I think of cell phones in the 1980s, my first memory is that of rapper Bushwick Bill showing up for an interview on Phil Donahue. He's a "little person," and he had this Motorola brick phone that was almost as big as him. And Phil was almost mocking him for needing to have his phone in case he gets a call. It was a weird interaction then, and would be viewed the same today, for different reasons.

[@DannyBirchTheAnimeLoverGamer]

Cell phones from the 1980s were the best in my opinion.

[@kevinmurdoch4184]

Phony Phones??? BRUH 😁😁😆

[@torontoson6954]

And now I can get cheap smartphones for the price of that fake phone

[@respecttheface7152]

The price hasn't changed

[@robertabarnhart6240]

You need to quit buying overpriced, fragile iPhones and go Android instead! :P

[@letsbehonest4221]

Respect The Face o yes it has ..back then my brick phone would cost about $800 a month just to make phone calls ....

[@Larry]

The number hasn't changed, but the monetary value has.

[@steveurkel9440]

You are not allowed to use your phone and drive especially a big brick like that