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TACS mobile selection

Technophone PC105T

Image of a Technophone  PC105T

Released in 1986

Network = ETACS

Weight = 531 g

Dimensions = 185mm x 75mm x 30mm

Battery Life = 20 mins talk time and 360 mins standby

Technophone was a UK company set up by Nils Martensson in 1984, a Swedish engineer who had previously worked for Ericsson. His goal was to transform the mobile phone from a large, cumbersome brick into a portable, small and usable device. Technophone sold their mobile phones through Excell Communications branded as the Excell PC105T, M1 or M2. The Pocketphone PC105T shown here was released in 1986 and retailed at £1,990 but as the adverts showed, it did indeed fit inside a standard sized shirt pocket! It was promoted as the smallest, lightest, most advanced cellphone in the world. Technophone were soon selling 1000 Pocketphones per month.

By 1991 Technophone had become Europe's second largest mobile phone manufacturer with a turnover of £49 million but this was still a distant second to Nokia who were Europe's largest mobile phone manufacturer with a turnover of £330 million. However, in 1991 Nils Martensson sold Technophone to Nokia for £34 million. This acquisition helped propel Nokia to become the world's number two mobile phone manufacturer behind Motorola.

The Technophone PC105T Pocketphone had a major influence on the future of mobile phone design because of the advances made in miniaturisation. However, the phone did have a poor reputation for dropping calls thereby necessitation consumers to register their phones for use on both the Cellnet and Vodafone networks. Indeed the marketing for the Pocketphone said that it was the only cellphone that is approved to change networks at the press of a button. Battery life was also limited but you could buy a supplementary battery pack that plugged onto the bottom of the phone.

The example of the PFC105T shown here is missing its aerial. Unfortunately nothing else is known about the features or performance of this mobile.