Ericsson A1018s: your first mobile phone

You look at the mobile phones of the mid-2000s in the movies and you don’t understand – this is generally cellular a telephone or just a radio handset, a wireless extension cord for a home phone? The further you climb into the past, the heavier the artifacts, and this fully applies to my next retro-exhibit. If you are my age, the Ericson A1018s could very well be your first cell phone. He did not become my “first”, but I remember. The phone was released in 1999, and in 2000 all of Moscow was covered with advertising. The Swedish manufacturer, now engaged in strictly infrastructure projects, made this phone this way: it took outdated technology from mobile phones three years ago, added a better screen, at the last moment screwed on interchangeable color panels … Done!

In 2021, you take this device in your hands and you are surprised. As it is, you seem to be dealing with a phone, and all the configuration work is to insert a SIM card and charge the battery. No need to log in to the clouds, download applications, transfer two-factor authentication tokens. Ericsson itself in Sweden and mobile operators in Russia positioned the A1018s as stylish, fashionable and youthful. Translated from marketing: it was a cheap phone. Not particularly outstanding, but made with intelligence and love. Now almost useless, but still working thing that has been idle for two decades to remind us of what high technology was like at the turn of the millennium.

I keep a diary of an old iron collector in Telegram

Rates

Let’s go to the archive website “Bi Plus”, a trademark of the mobile operator Beeline for rogues consumers of a new type. The site is fashionable, almost all information is presented in pictures, most of them have not survived, which somewhat complicates excavations. However, there is an early version of the “Equipment” section with a price list for February 2000 year. Our A1018s is not there yet, it will appear only in the version for June, and costs there 131 dollars (194 adjusted for inflation). The most affordable mobile phone on the list is Motorola 3788, distinguished by its outrageous cutting out of the clock and alarm clock from the firmware.

In the Fido archive on Google Groups, you can to find the announcement of the sale of new Bi + c A1018s kits for February 2001, which can be traced back to the price decline – to $ 75. Other competitors in the low-cost communication markets are also mentioned there: Philips Savvy DB, Motorola m3688. This is the bottom of the mobile phone market, the most affordable models, and for many – the only ones available. And what were the flagships then? Please, the most expensive lot from the Bi + 2000 site: Ericsson T28s, $ 611 (907 adjusted for inflation).

An elite clamshell, an active flip, by opening it from a button it was possible to answer calls. What were the differences between the flagship and the budget model in terms of functionality? There are no fundamental ones, just an expensive device is more convenient to use. The T28s has more memory for storing phone numbers. The A1018s lacks vibration, voice control and games. The T28s has a slightly better display. Actually, that’s all. We are now talking about the era before packet data transmission, when the Internet via a mobile phone, although it was possible, was definitely not widespread. You either have a connection or you don’t. The rest (for example, does your mobile phone fit in your pocket) is little things. Finally, evaluate the long life of the model: the A1018s went on sale in 1999, and finally disappeared from the site of the same Bi + only in February 2002, and was replaced by an almost identical remake, the A2628s model.

Another selection of brochures from those times I found on Twitter at ValdikSS:

Battery

It was not difficult to get the phone in its original packaging and complete set. There are many of them, there is nothing special to break there. The most important impression is how comfortable this phone is in the hand. In all the 2000s, we first got used to miniature models with a flip or in a clamshell case, then we stretched our palms under the “shovels” of modern smartphones. The A1018s is the closest in size to the handsets of home telephones, both late radios and early wired ones. Second impression: the buttons are so-so. There is no comparison with the more expensive devices of those years: you never really understand whether a key was pressed or not. Third: replaceable panels are some kind of profanity.

Really, what’s the point? A small piece of mostly black brick turned from blue to purple, so what? Maybe it seems to me so, because I not youth anymore? Fourth impression: the phone is not working. It does not turn on from the battery at all, it turns on when working on the network, but reboots when you try to make a call. I make the assumption that the battery is to blame.

With the 1999 device, everything is somewhat more complicated than with the later ones. You can’t just take and buy a replacement battery: no one makes them. The battery’s parameters are non-standard (4.8 volts, 550 mAh), the body is also unusual: it is essentially a part of the phone’s body. I had to do the first (for me) rebuild: heat the accumulator around the perimeter with a hairdryer from the soldering station and carefully separate the two glued halves of the case.

This is how it looks from the inside: just four conventional AAA batteries connected in series, long out of order. Let’s take a look at the accessories brochure:

There were three types of batteries for the A1018s. The thinnest one did not go beyond the phone at all. My version is medium, with a capacity of 550mAh, providing up to 100 hours of standby time and 4 hours of talk time. And the thickest battery had four AA cells inside and regularly increased the standby time to 185 hours. With modern finger-type batteries, I think more can be done.

The cells in the battery were replaced with new ones, after which everything was glued together and not easily installed on the phone: I did wrinkle the plastic cover a little. Despite the increased capacity of the battery, I did not manage to achieve the “passport” values ​​of the battery life – instead of 100 hours, at best 48, two days came out. Nevertheless, the phone is working and working reliably. By the way, in the same cheap motors, it was directly implied to work on AAA batteries, if the main battery sat down. If you want your phone to last 20 years, this is a useful feature.

A separate issue during operation in 2021: the choice of an operator and even a SIM card. Mobile operators are gradually abandoning support for the second generation cellular communication standards: GSM 900/1800 supported by the phone belong to it. In Russia, 2G has never been supported by the Tele2 operator. In Europe, T-Mobile had planned to shutdown obsolete standards in 2020, but the pandemic had to postpone the shutdown. In just a few years, phones without 3G (or even 4G) support will be equal in their capabilities to mobile phones of the DAMPS, NMT and others standards. I mean, for them to work, you will also have to build their own base station. In previous articles, I also received comments about the inoperability of new SIM cards in old devices. I myself have not come across this, but now I try to protect my work, retro-friendly SIM-cards.

Features

After updating the battery, I was happy to make sure that the phone is not locked to the European operator, whose logo is applied to the case. European operator phones often came across in Russia: in 2001, I bought an Ericsson T20s phone from Euroset in a crumpled box from the Telenor provider. What surprised me the most about the A1018s was the support for the Russian language out of the box.

For devices of that time, this was not at all guaranteed. The phone can show both menu items and SMS in Russian. Sending short messages is possible only in Latin, which was directly indicated in the Russian-language instructions. This phone caught the introduction of the first cheap SMS tariffs (for example, free messages within the network at the same Beeline), and contributed to the creation of kultury translita in mobile communications.

True, the Russian font built into the phone is terrible compared to the Latin alphabet, and I turned off the interface translation.

In addition to receiving and sending SMS, the phone has few other useful features: there is a clock and you can set an alarm, there is a rudimentary phone book. There are a couple of useful then (but not now) chips: for example, the phone can emit a signal after every minute of the conversation. Considering that my budget for “minutes” in the early 2000s was something like “no more than 15 per month,” this was an important function. Another outdated option: storing the number of the operator of long distance calls, along with the access code. 20 years ago, it was common practice to make long distance calls by dialing the local operator number, payment card code and subscriber number. A1018s allows you to assemble this puzzle in two clicks: first, we call the operator, enter the card code, then enter the subscriber’s number. Naturally, all operator features like call forwarding and call hold are supported.

The brochure tells us about the availability of many accessories for this phone, from a charging station (charging the phone and a second battery at the same time) to wired handsfree.

There were two devices for connecting to a computer: an IR adapter and a direct cable connection through the PCMCIA card. Finally, those who did not have enough replacement panels could buy more.

This accessory is not in the catalog, but it fits. The A1018s became one of the last models before the change in the connector design: later phones (T20s or my museum T39s) were not compatible with old accessories. I can’t say anything about the convenience of this keyboard for typing SMS, I haven’t tried it. But a logistic anecdote is associated with it: around 2001, they were available in huge quantities in MTS communication salons, at a ridiculous price of 50 rubles.

Case

Everything seems to be successful: I received a reliable, working, pleasant device for subsequent experimentsbut still something was missing. In 2000, a mobile phone without a case was extremely rare in the wild. It was a good practice to buy a phone and immediately get a case for it. He protected from the cruel out dear valuable thing. Now I look at such habits of prehistoric mobile users with doubt. It is clear why I am buying a case now for my new flagship smartphone. A smartphone is usually made of glass and other fragile materials, and a single unfortunate fall can completely disable it. I don’t know what to do with the A1018s to make it stop working. It is all assembled for centuries.

Moreover, even the argument that the case allows you to carry the phone on a belt does not work. A1018s comes with a standard clip with a very interesting fastening: a rubber plug is removed from the battery, and a spring-loaded grip is inserted there. But since I’m busy reliving outdated impressions anew, I have to mine. Two cases of the most disgraceful design had been waiting for me for twenty years, and new ones arrived.

Now it’s okay. From a thick budget device, which still has its own style, a shapeless thing has turned out. But when the time comes to sell, I will take the phone out of the case and it will be as good as new!

And yet I am not left with the feeling that the further evolution of mobile devices has taken a wrong turn. Here is an old mobile phone, which even has a difficult time changing the firmware, and there is no way to install additional software. A solid device, where much has been done for the convenience of the user. Before the release of the device for sale, its creators did everything possible to ensure that it was in demand for at least three years, and was alive twenty years later. Not a single patch or hotfix was required for this. Of course, this is an unfair idea: the amount of code for an old GSM phone and a new smartphone is incomparable. The set of tasks to be solved is completely different. And nevertheless, there are not enough such well-thought-out devices, and even just programs. And if you are completely tired of our smartphone life, the A1018s is a great option for digital detox. So, to stay, just in case, in touch, but not to have a device for procrastination at hand. And then you will have a choice between two options. Or still look with wide eyes at the beauty of this world. Or write a new ringtone in the phone using the built-in editor.

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