Running on a 486 CPU : Nokia's 1998 Smartphone

Ғылым және технология

Here I am trying to fix a Nokia 9110 Communicator from 1998. I think this is the first ever phone to use BGA chip technology, that we still use to this day.
I'm glad I tried this phone, and I love the electroluminescent greyscale LCD. But like life, things don't exactly go to plan.
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Пікірлер: 898

  • @mjglax
    @mjglax5 ай бұрын

    It was 1999 and I vividly remember this launched in India. As a big NOKIA fan myself, holding this phone for the first time felt surreal, it was a luxury back then to own this phone. This phone has fantastic pocket computer futuristic features that were impossible to think of during those days. It was all about NOKIA those days and brings such nostalgia now. Thank you for taking us back to those wonderful days

  • @ephektz
    @ephektz6 ай бұрын

    “There’s no port for Doom…” Well, yea, but now you’ve summoned the graybeards.

  • @SomethingSomewhereJustOnce

    @SomethingSomewhereJustOnce

    4 ай бұрын

    Someone just ran DOOM on bacteria cells. I don't understand the science behind it but still that's mad! 😂😂

  • @dankmeme73

    @dankmeme73

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@SomethingSomewhereJustOnce they rendered doom on a cell they just used it as a display screen with a very slow refresh rate

  • @zoolkhan
    @zoolkhan6 ай бұрын

    ex-nokia person here from finland, i have that phone amongst many others (and still in working condition) interesting to see that people still care :)

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Nokia made some amazing phones during this period. You can bet that many people loved their Nokia phones and will never forget that period in their life. There are many people in the comments here talking about how much they loved having this phone. Thank you for making them.

  • @RetroKarim

    @RetroKarim

    12 күн бұрын

    ❤ Nokia

  • @RetroKarim

    @RetroKarim

    12 күн бұрын

    @@JanusCycle thanks 😊

  • @dancoroian1
    @dancoroian16 ай бұрын

    Man, can't even imagine how cool and futuristic it would have felt to use this at any point in '98-2000!

  • @yamgoat2965

    @yamgoat2965

    6 ай бұрын

    Yeah it was awesome, the one that came after it i think had a colour screen, but i remember using a nokia like this around 2001-2002 and it was the maddest device to play snake on at that time. I was only 11, my god if i'd known how timelessly cool it was.

  • @Deontjie

    @Deontjie

    6 ай бұрын

    Nokia 9500, then E90.

  • @6581punk

    @6581punk

    6 ай бұрын

    I had one in 2001. The 9110i. The most impressive thing for me was wav file ringtones. But the speakerphone was great too. It was just before the time of GPRS, so you had to dial up to use the internet.

  • @6581punk

    @6581punk

    6 ай бұрын

    @@yamgoat2965 The 9210. I got mine in 2002 (still have it, but obviously not in use). It wasn't Snake you played on that but a cool puzzle game called Bounce. The 9210 was kinda weak in the RAM department and so didn't run as smooth as the 9110i did.

  • @lucag.lisickza425

    @lucag.lisickza425

    6 ай бұрын

    yeah i used and still have. you looked dope

  • @TheFlyingBusman
    @TheFlyingBusman6 ай бұрын

    Fantastic piece of kit in its day. I owned one for a short while and were blown away by its innovations. Nokia really were top of their game in the 90’s.

  • @duartesimoes508

    @duartesimoes508

    5 ай бұрын

    Nokia reigned supreme rather from the beginning of the Millennium to 2011, when their C models started to be sold riddled with bugs. As if this wasn't outrageous enough, a new Company called _Blackberry_ came up around that time, offering very affordable push email, Internet and free texting among the same manufacturer. (BBM) Nokia had nothing like it. Even today I carry a BlackBerry with me everyday as a back up, but they're now mere communicators, only capable of calls and texting. All other RIM capabilities are gone; but a BlackBerry is made to last, reliable, small, light, and will work just fine in direct sunlight thanks to its keypad, unlike all other smartphones. 😀

  • @Ben-yz4jh
    @Ben-yz4jh6 ай бұрын

    This device was the first piece of tech I truly coveted. Even now, 25 years later.. I still want one! Thanks for the great video!

  • @SonicBoone56

    @SonicBoone56

    6 ай бұрын

    I didn't even know it existed until a few years ago and I can agree! I really want a modern phone sized laptop to do some tiny desktop-only work on.

  • @ukeyaoitrash2618

    @ukeyaoitrash2618

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@SonicBoone56there is a ton of windows handhelds: gpd win 3, Aya neo, Asus ROG ally extreme (a Windows 11 game handheld 7 inch with about the power of a ps5!) etc

  • @pulmonary_yoghurt
    @pulmonary_yoghurt6 ай бұрын

    I had one of these when I was around 10 years old. Without a computer to connect it to, or a memory card, I was stuck with what was on the device. I made some monotone masterpieces with the music composer program and also had my first encounter with programming, as I figured out you could write HTML documents and then view them. I recall sitting in a library, studying this massive HTML tome and typing things into the communicator, and some guy asked me what on earth I was doing. Thanks for the video, I'd forgotten about this cute little device :)

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    That is an awesome way to start learning programming :)

  • @victortruong1524

    @victortruong1524

    5 ай бұрын

    Dame man ! At 10 years old I play GTA san andreas ! You are so damn smart ❤❤

  • @josha254

    @josha254

    3 ай бұрын

    Neat!

  • @Ian..
    @Ian..6 ай бұрын

    I had one of these in ‘98. I loved that thing because it was the first device that did email and text properly. I bought one purely for nostalgia about 2010 and I still have it - and it still works.

  • @another3997

    @another3997

    6 ай бұрын

    What is your definition of "properly"? Email was possible and practical on many other devices.

  • @HuseynMemmedov
    @HuseynMemmedov6 ай бұрын

    Your obscure tech videos are so satisfying to watch. I love old Nokia phones and collecting them as much as I can.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Old Nokias are awesome. i'm always looking out for them.

  • @HuseynMemmedov

    @HuseynMemmedov

    6 ай бұрын

    For example, I have Nokia N91 with the world’s smallest HDD and one of the first smartphones with Wi-Fi.

  • @another3997

    @another3997

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@HuseynMemmedovWiFi in mobile devices was around long before the N91 appeared. But like many technologies, it is only useful if lots of other popular devices have it too... and WiFi was a technology that didn't immediately take off. It developed as a "standard" and gained acceptance gradually. Nowadays everyone uses it, but back then it was just another bit of interesting tech vying for a slice of the pie.

  • @kriss3d
    @kriss3d6 ай бұрын

    Amazing. This old guy was more powerful than my first pc back in the days. A 486 sx 25mhz

  • @kimnice

    @kimnice

    6 ай бұрын

    8MB ram is also decent amount

  • @JamieBainbridge

    @JamieBainbridge

    6 ай бұрын

    My first computer was a TRS 80. First DOS PC was an XT 4.77 MHz. Having a handheld 486 in like 2001 is still unbelievable to me!

  • @itxofficial8281
    @itxofficial82816 ай бұрын

    As a former collector of old Nokia phones, I gotta say that the communicators are definitely the pride of my collection. My 9110 is in immaculate condition, I bought it with the original box and some of its original accessories were still sealed - leading to the conclusion that its original owner barely used it. After seeing the first part of this video, I was right about to send you a message offering you my 9110 for a future update video - thank god you found another working one for part 2! 😜👍

  • @Zerbey
    @Zerbey6 ай бұрын

    I had a 9000i and 9110i, they were ridiculously ahead of their time. I was a UNIX sysadmin at the time, and being able to SSH into my servers from anywhere from my cell phone was just amazing. Also worked as a modem, so I could tether that to my regular PC.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    That is cool, and I hadn't considered would tethering would have been like in the 90s.

  • @Elmaghrabiz
    @Elmaghrabiz4 ай бұрын

    This reminds me of my Casio SF-7200SY digital organizer from the early 2000s. It has a similar display with the cool lighting and a whopping 2MB of internal storage, in a time when even 128KB organizers were not common. Thank you for bringing back nostalgic memories 😊.

  • @cocusar
    @cocusar6 ай бұрын

    Wow, interesting approach to make a cellphone. Also, it shows the difficulties of being early adopters of BGA and/or ROHS. Also, amazingly that it runs GEOS, I'm just out of words of the stuff packed in this phone

  • @kaitlyn__L

    @kaitlyn__L

    6 ай бұрын

    Still predates ROHS quite a bit! BGA, and flexing thin boards, seemed to have been enough of a challenge on their own ;)

  • @32herz

    @32herz

    6 ай бұрын

    I inherited one of these from my dad, it was coolest phone ever :D didn't really use any of the "smart" features except the ring tone composer (yes, you inserted actual notation in an app to make a ringtone)

  • @Ratoo

    @Ratoo

    6 ай бұрын

    Nokia 9 series are always like this, more modern 9300 / 9500 runs S40 on outside and S80 on inside. Only the latest and last E90 run same system - S60.

  • @6581punk

    @6581punk

    6 ай бұрын

    GEOS UI running on top of a non-Microsoft flavour of DOS.

  • @dancoroian1

    @dancoroian1

    6 ай бұрын

    @@32herz wow, how awesome is that! I would've wasted countless hours creating my own (basic tone) compositions, no doubt. Was it polyphonic at least?

  • @datathunderstorm
    @datathunderstorm5 ай бұрын

    I still have one of these in my old phone archive. I had the time of my life rocking the Nokia 9110i. I had every single app available for this smartphone. I also upgraded to the Nokia 9210 eventually, but the 9110i was my true love!

  • @mikeschmitty4438
    @mikeschmitty44386 ай бұрын

    This was just so above and beyond its time... I held this in my hand and felt like Star Trek had come to life

  • @Hezy
    @Hezy6 ай бұрын

    Killed it again! You always find the things I’ve never seen before and it’s super neat! Love from the USA!

  • @Martepiece
    @Martepiece6 ай бұрын

    I didn't understand A WORD of what was said, but boy, how cool was to see this phone. I was a teenager back then and business men used to go around with these phones while driving Mercedes in Monaco

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    5 ай бұрын

    I'm glad you were able to enjoy this without needing to follow all the technical aspects.

  • @boostedwilliam8923
    @boostedwilliam89236 ай бұрын

    One of my favorite Nokia from the late 90s Great video as always👍🏼

  • @AdmiralSym
    @AdmiralSym6 ай бұрын

    I’m right there with you on wanting a grayscale lcd like that paired with modern hardware. I recently received a Sharp Wizard organizer that I’d love to see updated with a pi zero or something. In the meantime, I’m working on a similar style of device built around a 4.7” phone-sized epaper panel

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    That sounds like an awesome project. Please share your e-paper device with us when you are ready!

  • @SonicBoone56

    @SonicBoone56

    6 ай бұрын

    E-paper displays are far more resilient and longlasting compared to grayscale LCDs right?

  • @AdmiralSym

    @AdmiralSym

    6 ай бұрын

    @@SonicBoone56 I'm not knowledgeable enough on the specifics, but LilyGo (manufacturer of the ESP32-based panel I own) suggests limiting the amount of partial refreshes to not degrade the panel. I own a 10.3" color e-ink tablet by Boox which supports fast refreshes and that's fantastic. I guess it differs between panel types. On the monochrome/grayscale end of things, I began a project for making an ESP32 based smartwatch with a 128x62 graphical LCD panel. Not sure what it is but I just prefer the look!

  • @GeomancerHT

    @GeomancerHT

    6 ай бұрын

    @@SonicBoone56 but far slower, it all depends on what you want to do. Also electroluminiscense is very cool compared with plain eink backlight or side light.

  • @adrianmarianpopoviciu215

    @adrianmarianpopoviciu215

    6 ай бұрын

    You can make an Android phone gray scale from developer settings. Combine that with an OLED screen and you also get a slightly improved battery life.

  • @philosynth
    @philosynth6 ай бұрын

    Incredible discovery! I had no idea that the Nokia 9110 Communicator used an AMD 486 CPU and ran DOS. It's definitely inspired me to dust off mine and explore the possibilities! I've actually used mine years ago as a serial console for Sparc servers. The projects mentioned in the video sound intriguing, and I had no idea this little machine had such extensive possibilities. Thanks for sharing this insightful journey - it's reignited my curiosity about the Nokia 9110! 🔍💻

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Yep, it's really cool. The limitations are annoying though. I'm intrigued by your serial console use. You must have had a serial cable and terminal program running. Very cool.

  • @DenverSovS
    @DenverSovS6 ай бұрын

    Thanks for this video, nostalgia. Once upon a time I could only dream of such a phone and eagerly looked at it in the Nokia brand store. It was a very interesting time when this brand produced really high-quality phones. I used the Nokia E60 for a very long time and was incredibly happy. It was the best time, when manufacturers actually came up with something to interest the buyer, and not like now, when they release it with the thought that it will still find its buyer.

  • @warhero82
    @warhero826 ай бұрын

    That display is beautiful! Love old Nokia devices. Appreciate the vid!

  • @luchitoplus
    @luchitoplus6 ай бұрын

    Excellent video and yes please, do another one in the 9210, that was my business phone back in the old good times. Thanks.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    I do hope I can get it working. I've heard about a DOOM port . .

  • @Bs0Dd

    @Bs0Dd

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@JanusCycle Yes, there are two good Doom ports (Doom 9210 and cDoom). By sorting through archives saved by people, I managed to collect more than 200 programs and 80 games for S80 v1.0. There is a Rayman - early Gameloft's game which seems to me one of the best for 9210. Apparently, support for MIDP 1.0 was planned - an unfinished (beta) but mostly working Java machine was preserved. The 9210 was even used in the demoscene, I know at least the Finnish 3D demo "g-force 2001".

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    @Bs0Dd Thank you! I'm going to check these out when I have a working 9210.

  • @overclocker3238
    @overclocker32386 ай бұрын

    Nokia was always ahead of it's time

  • @rowaystarco

    @rowaystarco

    6 ай бұрын

    I really really wanted a Nokia communicator back in the day. The form factor looked so cool. Later on I got a somewhat similar type of device in the HTC desire Z and the Nokia n900

  • @shaunclarke94

    @shaunclarke94

    6 ай бұрын

    At least until the iPhone.

  • @Flaggyt

    @Flaggyt

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@rowaystarcoyeah I had one back in the days it was not as handy as it looks. But I loved tech so I had a new phone every 3 months back then. :) New phones were actually new back then. Today a new phones means it has slightly better camera software. *Yawn* And fanboys defending their multimillion company of choice for being so fantastic.

  • @rowaystarco

    @rowaystarco

    6 ай бұрын

    Yeah, phones used to be fun back in the day.@@Flaggyt

  • @superapple4ever
    @superapple4ever4 ай бұрын

    I would absolutely love to see more videos on different communicator models. Thanks for this. Very uncommon. I wanted one so bad when I was a young teenager.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    4 ай бұрын

    My only other Communicator, the 9210, is not yet working. But I'm keen!

  • @Donatusification
    @Donatusification6 ай бұрын

    Old memories coming up about both 9110 and 9210 - my uncle had both of them one after another. Would love to see a video about 9210 too!

  • @narutrixil
    @narutrixil6 ай бұрын

    It runs FreeDOS?! I would love to see a modern take on grey (green) scale LCDs, I wonder by how much these simple LCDs can save power and extend battery life. And yes, more videos on Nokia communicators are more than welcome

  • @Dr-Zed

    @Dr-Zed

    6 ай бұрын

    LCDs mostly need power for the backlight. The OG Game Boy would last 10-20 hours on 2 AA batteries because it didn't have a backlight.

  • @brietman_

    @brietman_

    6 ай бұрын

    Maybe fun for a Casio smartwatch

  • @kaitlyn__L

    @kaitlyn__L

    6 ай бұрын

    @@Dr-Zed and the Playdate can last about a week!

  • @Pathofplenty

    @Pathofplenty

    6 ай бұрын

    Samsungs have a super power saving mode that makes the screen black and white which comes close.

  • @KINGSTONSPRIDE
    @KINGSTONSPRIDE3 ай бұрын

    Thank you KZread algorithm for putting this channel in my feed.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    3 ай бұрын

    Thank you for enjoying these videos :)

  • @Trevurie
    @Trevurie6 ай бұрын

    Back then I thought this was peak phone design then touch screen came along.

  • @phoenixbird7579
    @phoenixbird75796 ай бұрын

    I tell now after all these years, it was a pleasure to use this phone back in the days, where it functioned exactly how you wanted, no smart crap and no google/apple owning you, I miss those days.

  • @50shadesofbeige88
    @50shadesofbeige886 ай бұрын

    Bummer, you'd need custom stencils to reball that phone. A glorious piece of 90s mobility.

  • @Link-channel
    @Link-channelАй бұрын

    i LOVE your videos! Insta-subscribed! I like how the experience is REAL and relatable: at first you give up in frustration, but then you get back to it, like in the Linux Japanese handheld 💖

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    Ай бұрын

    Hey thanks! I do get quite frustrated with retro tech sometimes. But it feels good to overcome that. I'm really glad you are enjoying these videos.

  • @RichsRandomRetroReviews
    @RichsRandomRetroReviews6 ай бұрын

    I loved these phones but they were always so out of reach for those of us who weren't 'businessmen'. I did manage to scratch that itch though with the E90 - I had briefly but it was too big for my pocket and I ultimately got rid of it. Great video - I enjoyed it.

  • @rosenfeld8
    @rosenfeld86 ай бұрын

    I really miss those grey displays too. They remind me of my first phone, childhood and week long battery life

  • @crazyivan030983
    @crazyivan0309836 ай бұрын

    Love those types of LCDs. I just recently bought a vintage 90s CASIO electronic diary with similar LCD, but with mutch lover resolution. Backlight is almost mesmerizing... :)

  • @a--b
    @a--b6 ай бұрын

    Thanks for making the beautiful video of this master-piece from Nokia

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    thank you :)

  • @TheBasementChannel
    @TheBasementChannel6 ай бұрын

    Wow, I was always so covetous of these things back in the day. So much futuristic! Thanks for showing us the journey and reminding me never to try to fiddle with reflowing BGA chips.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    *never fiddle with reflowing BGA in anything you can't afford to completely destroy :) Hey, good looking channel you have there!

  • @TheBasementChannel

    @TheBasementChannel

    6 ай бұрын

    @@JanusCycle why thank you sir, not a bad looking channel you have yourself!

  • @zaprodk
    @zaprodk6 ай бұрын

    I had both the 9000 and 9110i back in the day. They are on display in a glass cabinet in my living room today :)

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    I love this!

  • @Jwn5k
    @Jwn5k6 ай бұрын

    Yet another interesting tech device video from JC! I think you might just be my favorite small-ish tech content creator.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    cool, thank you.

  • @joe_z
    @joe_z4 ай бұрын

    I've seen stuff like these in my dreams before and thought I was just imagining things. Didn't realize they were real!

  • @ahmetcanaksu6821
    @ahmetcanaksu68216 ай бұрын

    New model looks awesome

  • @BackPalSA
    @BackPalSA6 ай бұрын

    Never saw your content before, but got it recommended and clicked. Subbed. I'd love to see a video on the follow-up model!

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Cool, glad you enjoyed this.

  • @jimzucker
    @jimzucker6 ай бұрын

    i remember this phone very well. It's crazy how back then was crazy futuristic. It was hard to believer you can do that kind of stuff with a phone and 25 years later looks like this.

  • @southerndiy1
    @southerndiy16 ай бұрын

    Hell yeah. I remember browsing eBay for these in the early 2000s. My dream was to own a phone with a keyboard, web browser and email. Amazing to see how far we’ve come.

  • @ddvantandar-kw7kl
    @ddvantandar-kw7kl6 ай бұрын

    I believe this antique peace of mobile should be placed in museum for display .which will inspire others since the technology was much more ahread of its time .The foldable concept

  • @kaitlyn__L
    @kaitlyn__L6 ай бұрын

    I always appreciate how you give things a go, even though sometimes it's hard to watch! (Like one of your first videos I watched, you'd glued something back together but waited until it had dried to remove the excess glue and it didn't quite all come off... something like that. That bothered me at the time haha.) But I'd prefer everyone learn with some mistakes than avoid fixing things, fixing stuff is important. And I've made plenty of mistakes too, even with regular through-hole soldering - such as while removing those modern super-miniature through-hole components with stubborn bad solder holding-on for dear life. I always knew the "computer" side of this was separate from the phone, with some communication such as for sending an address book number to the phone side. Didn't know it was a 486! It's pretty cool how quickly those became small enough for use in a phone. And used directly too, not like today where, yes, a modern ARM chip is faster than an old Pentium 4 but is also a totally different design.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    We all learn different skills at different times in our life. Despite making interesting videos, you will continue to see me make the dumbest of mistakes at times. I appreciate you sticking through them. I learn a lot from reading the comments. My aim is that we all come out of this having learned something from each other.

  • @jooei2810
    @jooei28106 ай бұрын

    Had this back in the day, so cool!

  • @MrFatalZero
    @MrFatalZero6 ай бұрын

    Woahhhhh! I always wanted one of those bad boys. Years ago I worked part time in telecom, had a business customer order a Nokia 9500 Communicator…. Man, I was so happy to set the thing up for him.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Nice, some first hand experience.

  • @tonyshaw13
    @tonyshaw136 ай бұрын

    love how good the gui looks in greyscale

  • @christopherroughton
    @christopherroughton6 ай бұрын

    that crazy john sim card just unlocked a memory I didn't know I had about when I moved to Australia in 2008 - we didn't end up staying for very long which I regret as I loved it but wow, deep memory unlocked lol Cool vid btw.

  • @Ice_Karma
    @Ice_Karma6 ай бұрын

    Yes, with that many circuit boards, sandwiched that closely together, flex cracks in traces were a major issue, as it would also be with the later 82x0. My 8290 was my last Nokia.

  • @wm69
    @wm696 ай бұрын

    i love that my nokia 6700 slide is still working till this day. some parts was replaced, yet it still working like it was since day 1. i wish nowadays smartphone would last at least 10 years without being oudated and discontinued support.

  • @Audiojack_
    @Audiojack_6 ай бұрын

    I have a 9000 and a 9110 that work superficially (you can use the communicator part and navigate the phone menus with a test-SIM that my dad also provided), my dad used to repair these then-new Nokia and Ericsson devices and I got a bunch of the broken phones to use as toys. You can imagine how cool that was in the mid 90's to have one of these as a kid.

  • @RFD3691
    @RFD36916 ай бұрын

    I remember putting together my 486 AMD computer for $3000-$5000 dollars which was a lot for its time and capable of todays tech. This phone had all the technology. Very technologically advanced. Nowadays looks like a satellite phone. If Nokia adds an authentic Canadian Sounblaster OEM sound card I might buy it again for nostalgic purposes. Now back to Intel chips.

  • @plfarinha
    @plfarinha6 ай бұрын

    Amazing LCD yes! It makes me feel very nostalgic and remember the good ol' days :)

  • @JoeHedrick
    @JoeHedrick6 ай бұрын

    Ohhh man, I had a 9290 back in the day and it was amazing. Being able to play Doom on my phone before it was cool to play Doom on a toaster was pretty mind blowing.

  • @ravick6940
    @ravick69406 ай бұрын

    I love these old phones that open up to reveal tiny laptops ♥

  • @TheClumsyFairy
    @TheClumsyFairy6 ай бұрын

    I used to manage a small ISP from one of these little beauties, it gave me the freedom to go anywhere pretty much but still be able to ssh onto my servers, and routers.. For the time they were utterly amazing. Also when everyone else at the time was texting with the number keys it was a total dream on the nokia..

  • @blondie8524
    @blondie85244 ай бұрын

    I remember a friend lending me this phone for a couple of days. It was amazing!

  • @Crftbt
    @Crftbt6 ай бұрын

    What a cool device! There must be someone able to repair the first one. :)

  • @HouseOfFunQM
    @HouseOfFunQM6 ай бұрын

    In early 2010s, we had a phone in England called "Orange San Diego" It had an Intel Atom also, and the phone was absolute dog shit - nothing would run on it, and the battery life was like 5 hours on standby.

  • @enilenis
    @enilenis6 ай бұрын

    Holy macaroni! A 486 in a phone? That's amazing! I love the fact that there is plenty of these CPU's in industrial machines, CNC mills, laser cutters etc. But in a mobile? That's just amazing. Last retro PC I built was a 486 on an AMD DX5-133. Good to have a hot air machine for fixes. One of the best purchases I've ever made. I use it more often than an oscilloscope. I did ruin my share of components with it though. For every successful reflow there's one that doesn't go well. That's just how things are. Retro hardware is so delicate, it often falls apart if you as much as sneeze as it.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    That's quite a 486 machine you built. That would even be able to decode MP3s. I saw that done in a CPU Galaxy video. It was awesome. I'm going to keep trying and learning more advanced soldering techniques. But showing retro hardware being damaged in videos can bring on some flak sometimes.

  • @DgaDM
    @DgaDM6 ай бұрын

    This brings back memories! I still own my 9110i, it used to be my main phone up until 2006. I tried both of the sucessors (9210 and 9500) but they sucked because of poor design decisions for the user interface. The 9110’s user interface was clearly built with one menu key and the arrow keys in mind, and it was very straightforward. The 9210 started to mimic a PC interface with fold out menus and other things that would actually need a pointing device. It was disgusting for me, so I kept using the 9110. Even after I replaced it as my main phone it served as a backup work phone until 2015 when the battery finally died.

  • @AmichaiRotman
    @AmichaiRotman6 ай бұрын

    Great nostalgia, blast from the past! I used to have this exact phone as my daily driver for my business as a PC Technician. I used to use it for reading and email and even fax dealers when ordering replacement PC parts right at the customer's office or home. I got a lot of 'WOW!" reactions from them...

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    That sounds like a lot of fun having this phone back then. Thanks for sharing this.

  • @SonicBoone56
    @SonicBoone566 ай бұрын

    This is exactly the type of technology I'd love to have. A foldout laptop phone lol. And please make a video on the followup models.

  • @Unan1mouz
    @Unan1mouz6 ай бұрын

    Wow so cool! I didn't know this particular model wasn't running on Symbian... I thought they all did. Never got to see such a device in person, which is sad :(

  • @shockwave952
    @shockwave9526 ай бұрын

    My Dad had one of these for work and I remember thinking it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen!

  • @RazmanRahim
    @RazmanRahim6 ай бұрын

    Fantastic device, had one in 1999, the fax facilities was good, needed better internet capabilities, was hoping for a developer to improve or create a better IRC client, over telnet it was just too busy, but it was state of the art communication. The monochrome green keeps it focused and purposed. A legend.

  • @waterup380
    @waterup3806 ай бұрын

    I Hope you do more on this in the future

  • @yesterdaysrose5446
    @yesterdaysrose54466 ай бұрын

    Oh yeah, Nokia 9110, my first cell phone! It was incredibly capable piece of technology and I can't believe Nokia got so complacent with "basic phones" that they didn't go big and pursue a smartphone revolution of their own. Also I need to back up my phone one day. I have the cable somewhere, will probably need to fiddle around with my old PCs and software. OR if it has a card slot like you say, this should get so much easier. Edit: Oh and I didn't play Infocom games on my 9110. I wish I knew that was possible! I instead tried playing them on my Palm m100 series. Worked, but, well, ehhhh.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    If you can find a 32mb or smaller capacity MMC that works in yours, then yes you can easily read that in any SD card slot.

  • @cjmillsnun

    @cjmillsnun

    6 ай бұрын

    They tried with their Symbian phones (like the N95). Then the iPhone came out and changed everything. They weren't ready.

  • @RestoreTechnique

    @RestoreTechnique

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@cjmillsnunYeah, they tried competing with the 5800 Xpress Music, and the N8. I owned both of these, but eventually they couldn't compete.

  • @Karaoke-Bear

    @Karaoke-Bear

    6 ай бұрын

    I am not sure why they sticked with symbian as it is so inferior compared to the windows phone (called windows mobile back then) then blackberry os, iphone os and android. It is slow (i got the 7650) and did not improve even after they released the N series except the camera and storage.

  • @kiddhkane

    @kiddhkane

    6 ай бұрын

    @@cjmillsnun They were too busy making fun of that little thing that just came out. What was the name? Oh right, Android.

  • @DeanosRides
    @DeanosRides6 ай бұрын

    Now this is a blast from the past! I had a 9110 back in 1999 and literally ran my business from it. I loved that phone back then as it had a full word and excel suite on it. Used to have my stock sheets on hand and the ability to then FAX a document or quote direct to a client. If they accepted it, and I had stock with me, I would head through and drop stock off there and then. Signed sealed and delivered! When I got home, I could hook up the phone to my PC, download the documents and everything was done! It was really an awesome unit! Ericsson then brought out their R380 which was smaller and had more features... Man those were good times in tech!

  • @siemens6688
    @siemens66886 ай бұрын

    Hi, nice video ! The Siemens 32MB MMC Card remind me my sweet memory with the first Siemens MP3 Phone, the SL-45 (Or Siemens 6688 in other country) ! The Nokia Communicator is the only kind device of those day that really work “like PC” , I use 9300, and E90 for few years, sweet memory !

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    I think this MMC actually came from a broken SL-45! I'm looking for a working SL-45i. I would really love to try this phone out one day.

  • @Tariqslo
    @Tariqslo6 ай бұрын

    I had it, it was like having a space ship controller. It was awesome. I also had the luck to experience Nokia 9300 9200 and 9500

  • @joypad67
    @joypad676 ай бұрын

    Nice Video, well done😊. I love this devices, back in the days. I had them both. There was an Development Environment for this devices. Visual Studio with C++ and Nokia-Libraries. I don't remember me exactly.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    In fact I have a copy of the SDK for the 9110. But I've not looking into it.

  • @JustB3NJI
    @JustB3NJI6 ай бұрын

    My aunt had one and funny story, she had got a phone on contract thinking little of her choice, not at all tech savvy she just wanted a mobile. An while staying at our house she almost went mental at me for breaking her phone in half...In actual fact I had just realised you could open it to reveal the keyboard and she had no idea it could do that.

  • @steveb1972
    @steveb19726 ай бұрын

    Oh Lord, I SO wanted a Nokia communicator back in the day!

  • @GeomancerHT
    @GeomancerHT6 ай бұрын

    Not having Doom in this platform sounds like an amazing challenge!

  • @Kim-fm2vo
    @Kim-fm2vo6 ай бұрын

    Please do make a video on the 9210! This was another great video as always

  • @graealex
    @graealex6 ай бұрын

    You know, only days ago I had discussions about how reflow doesn't work, at least for BGA, as there isn't the proper process control. People still claimed that just cooking old solder would bring back their GPUs. There's simply no way around reballing, unless you can reach the joints from the top, or have a super-reliable process figures out.

  • @simontay4851

    @simontay4851

    6 ай бұрын

    The problem with BGAs this that you can't see or get to the balls to inspect the joints. I hate BGA chips. QFP chips are much easier to repair.

  • @graealex

    @graealex

    6 ай бұрын

    @@simontay4851 Exactly. Plus, old solder isn't really flowing anymore due to the oxide surface. You have to at least get plenty of flux under the IC, but then again, without any way of verifying what is happening, besides x-ray imaging.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    I have reflowed smaller BGA chips and gotten devices working again. It's a risk though and often things stop working soon after.

  • @andrewmorris9013
    @andrewmorris90136 ай бұрын

    Awesome video, thanks!

  • @BASILBERNARDS
    @BASILBERNARDS6 ай бұрын

    Liked the video . Great effort in trying to put it back. I remember my 90s and the early 2000s with a LG Phenom. Though not a phone- it had a grey scale screen and the same backlight. It had pocket office. It could run pocket dos and I could play basic dos games like Prince of Persia, Dangerous Dave etc. I could also play mp3s in 16 Kbps. My favourite app was total commander. I could use the infrared port to transfer files to my Nokia 6600 phone ( the hero of the Cellular movie who saved Kim Bassinger). I also used the infrared port to wirelessly connect to the internet through the mobile internet of the Nokia phone.

  • @850Tech
    @850Tech25 күн бұрын

    When others are watching iPhone 16 and Android 15 Features why are we watching these? not only watching but it brings some peace to my mind. Thank you. I also love greyscale LCDs maybe the reason I like a lot of Casio Digital watches instead of the smart watches these days

  • @peterholst8875
    @peterholst88756 ай бұрын

    I had the 9110i and I LOVED it! The way you talked into it, from the backside made it so much more comfortable. However longer calls could be a problem due to the battery getting hot while touching your face directly. Replaced it eventually with a 9500, that I was not as happy with, and then later two E90s Wich I did like.

  • @omnitraveller
    @omnitraveller6 ай бұрын

    A friend of my father had one. I was fascinated by it, but it was huge in comparison to other phones, especially because everyone wanted something tiny like the 8210

  • @WaifusOnOldNokias
    @WaifusOnOldNokias6 ай бұрын

    This is interesting! I didn't know that the 9000 and 9110 ran on x86 CPUs 😅 Anyway, great vids man, they really further improved my knowledge on old Nokias as well as other vintage stuff Hope I could add a communicator phone to my collection someday 😃

  • @mayoe1430
    @mayoe14306 ай бұрын

    Great video. Massive respect. Also subbed.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    6 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @ThomsoyaWires-mb3wk
    @ThomsoyaWires-mb3wk5 ай бұрын

    Wow i used to love Nokia amd was the best device back then. Your videos are fascinating man .

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    5 ай бұрын

    Hey thanks!

  • @nazirhuseyin
    @nazirhuseyin6 ай бұрын

    I used both 9110 and 9210 in those days. I was a telecom engineer back then and using telnet to remotely configure the routers in our network. Those were revolutionary devices that made me able to add mobility to my work.

  • @piercelidseveraltime
    @piercelidseveraltime6 ай бұрын

    oh wow thanks for uploading this, I had one of these I think it was a 9210i running symbian, I remember editing tracks on my PC to use as ringtones, a breath of fresh air from midi files or those polymorphic things. I played video files on it as well can't remember the format could have been quicktime or something like that, was quicktime a thing I'm not sure, oh also did some work on it now and again (In an 80s quayside bar)

  • @ugh.idontwanna
    @ugh.idontwanna6 ай бұрын

    I do love a good grayscale UX. I use a Sharp eNote for note-taking (and by note-taking I mean doodling). It's a fantastic device. I've had it for about a decade now and I've only recharged it a handful of times.

  • @autumnmatthews3179
    @autumnmatthews31796 ай бұрын

    This is amazing. I still have a later Nokia 9300 which was running Symbian OS. I loved it

  • @maniatore2006
    @maniatore20065 ай бұрын

    I have this phone in Original Packed, it is like brand new, with all the Papers, the charger, and data cable. Thank you for thet video, i had no idea, that is an 486 in it.

  • @JanusCycle

    @JanusCycle

    5 ай бұрын

    Nice, a real piece of history you have there.

  • @bardo0007
    @bardo00075 ай бұрын

    I worked in an electronic store back in 1998-2002 and I clearly remember the Nokia range of Communicators, they were sensational back then, lot of businesses bought them mainly to send e-mails and use the office applications. But when 9210 appeared with the color screen , the old ones looked like stone age in comparison. We sold several hundred units of the 9210, I loved the size of it, truly the first smart phone!

  • @benjialexander5850
    @benjialexander58506 ай бұрын

    I wish we had companies that still made cool computers like this ... these days all types of computers look the same across companies ... more or less...

  • @PaulGrayUK
    @PaulGrayUK6 ай бұрын

    Neat, have one of those kicking about in some box, front display ribbon cable went but worked beyond that.

  • @Calvin420GetRektM8
    @Calvin420GetRektM86 ай бұрын

    Those old LCDs just reminds me back to good times. Also I love that grafics, since its in KillLaKill (Anime) everywhere :D

  • @MegaManNeo
    @MegaManNeo6 ай бұрын

    Back when this released, I was 7-8 years old. Still, I remember the times my father allowed me to play Snake on his 5110 and I remember I always wanted one of these because I was already into PCs at this point and loved the idea. Much more so than the current smartphone design I might add.

  • @techdistractions
    @techdistractions6 ай бұрын

    Always dreamed of the 9110 back in the day. Alas, settled for whatever was “free with my plan” instead 😂

  • @tuanbe
    @tuanbe6 ай бұрын

    I worked my way to a few of these before moving to the 9210. Loved it. I worked for Psion during the '90s during 16-bit platform era, and going to GEOS was quite a bit of a downgrade. There were no alternatives however. It was also the first hands-free speaker phone, you could send and receive fax, and don't forget this was a baller's phone: if you had one of those you made it to the top. While I certainly did not made it - it felt great people thought I did. Oh well... different times.

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