How one of the most recurring ideas in the history of mobile phones came about: the folding cover

We are in 2022 and the catalog of flip phones is more complete than ever. More and more manufacturers are daring to break with the standard design criteria that have accompanied us in recent years. Although it is a huge challenge, they do not hesitate to bet on hinges and flexible screens to give life to risky proposals.

If we focus on the first modern folding, we must say that these appeared from 2019. Royole presented us with the FlexPai, Huawei the Mate X, Motorola the new Razr, and Samsung the first Galaxy Fold. These proposals came just in time to refresh the world of smartphones whose design had become uniform and even boring.

In the first “folding” the only thing that folded was the lid

But before these folding phones that almost all of us know became popular, there was another type of “folding” that did not incorporate advanced hinges and flexible screens inside. We are talking about the classic flip phones or “clamshell”. In this category, without a doubt, Motorola has been one of the most prominent players.

One of the most iconic devices of the American company is precisely the Motorola RAZR V3. A slim and elegant cover terminal whose design conquered millions of people around the world. As you might imagine, Motorola was also responsible for launching the segment of flip mobile phones.

After the DynaTAC series, which marked a before and after in mobile telephony, in 1989, Motorola introduced the MicroCT 9800Xa much lighter and more compact device than its predecessor that incorporated an interesting novelty in terms of design and functionality: a small cover attached to the bottom of the terminal.

The designers did not forget about the details. Inside, the cover had the Motorola logo diagonally located above delicate blue lines. It also distinguished the brand’s logo in relief. At the top of the terminal, below the earpiece, was the legend “MICRO TAC” written in small letters in blue.

As we say, the lid was not only a design element, but also fulfilled two functions. On the one hand, housed a microphone that allowed to improve the experience of the calls. On the other, it protected the keyboard when it was transported to the mobile phone. Yes, it was already small enough to carry comfortably from one place to another.

According to The New York TimesMotorola’s R&D team spent five years reducing the size and pitch of components of what would become its next-generation phone. They mainly focused on components like the oscillator and the duplex system, which allow a person to talk and listen at the same time.

Thus, they went from a “brick” style mobile phone like the DynaTAC, 33 centimeters long and 800 grams to a much friendlier and, above all, transportable. The Motorola MicroTac was 23 centimeters long when open and weighed 350 grams with the smallest battery.

And of course, times have changed. Today mobile phones do not need a cover to protect the physical keyboard because they do not have this element. Nor to bring the microphone closer to the user’s mouth. It is common to find two or four microphones which, in addition to being more advanced, benefit from algorithms that improve audio.

Returning to the particularities of the Motorola MicroTAC, as we can see in the images, it incorporated a dot matrix led display that could display only 8 characters, enough to dial stored phone numbers and check the log of previous calls, among other basic functions.

Can you imagine having a mobile phone without all the functions that accompany us these days? In 1989 SMS’s didn’t even exist. Although this messaging system was devised in 1984, the first text message was sent on December 3, 1992. Back then, there was even more talking than chatting. Today the opposite happens.

The prices of the devices were also very different. Although mobile phones have become more expensive in recent times, due to inflation and various factors, access to one of these first mobile phones was limited to people with enough purchasing power to pay between $2,495 and $3,495 by a Motorola MicroTAC.

If we adjust these prices to current values, we would be talking about spending between 5,972 Y $8,365 by a mobile device with the best technology of the moment. The truth is that in subsequent years Motorola launched more advanced variants of the MicroTAC and the prices went down over time, making these phones more accessible.

Images: redrum0486

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