4 ms·

Memories of a goofy phone from the late 80s

74 points by rcarmo 3y ago

barbs 3y ago
Reminds me of the "Cinco Phone" skit from Tim and Eric. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8ZKwaC1jY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8ZKwaC1jY
mewse-hn 3y ago
The phone from the article actually has a pretty slick design - retro-futuristic like a delorean. https://www.ebay.com/itm/254811165013 https://www.ebay.com/itm/254811165013
- WesSouza 3y ago
  Someone call Techmoan
  - henryrp 3y ago
    Is this the device Steve Martin used in LA story?
0xcde4c3db 3y ago
My family didn't have this phone, but the description of the janky voice recognition, timeframe, and current-day obscurity reminds me of the Texas Instruments Voyager edutainment headset (kind of a pain to search for because TI currently has a "Voyage" calculator family that people routinely misspell as "Voyager"). It combined speech synthesis and voice recognition, and I think you were supposed to follow along with each cartridge-based program in a booklet (which I'm not sure I ever had). The only really distinct memory I have of it is that you could change the voice to one of several presets and it would ask in each voice "to sound like this?".
- robocat 3y ago
  The phone was from the 80's: it is possible the voice recognition was a single chip solution from TI - they did other specialised ICs. If so multiple devices could have the same voice recognition. Or maybe a firmware solution for a TI processor? I did a quick search, but finding data sheets from the 80's without knowing the part number is difficult. I tried to find a schematic for the FV-1000 but no luck there either.
CapitalistCartr 3y ago
I saw my first mobile in '91. A super on a jobsite had it, company-provided. It looked like a Vietnam War walkie-talkie. He said it had about 5 minutes of talk time, but was worth it. It seemed hokey to me at the time.
- Kaibeezy 3y ago
  Here's its alternate universe version - https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/index.html https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/index.html
ryukoposting 3y ago
A quick Startpage search led to some very cool photos. It might be a terrible phone, but at least it's pretty. This thing has "Techmoan" written all over it.
kazinator 3y ago
Wow, that describes a better voice dialing experience than the piece-of-shit system in my 2016 Nissan.
p1mrx 3y ago
I found this terrible commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYheRAPnVkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYheRAPnVkA "Touch tone dialing was a breakthrough. With push buttons, you could dial numbers quickly. [long pause to change the subject] Introducing the FV1000, a revolutionary voice activated telephone from Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone."
- ale42 3y ago
  Sounds like... "you could dial numbers quickly. Not anymore: introducing..."
Nellyz 3y ago
[dead]

74 points by rcarmo 3y ago

Reminds me of the "Cinco Phone" skit from Tim and Eric. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8ZKwaC1jY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8ZKwaC1jY

mewse-hn 3y ago

The phone from the article actually has a pretty slick design - retro-futuristic like a delorean. https://www.ebay.com/itm/254811165013 https://www.ebay.com/itm/254811165013

WesSouza 3y ago
Someone call Techmoan
- henryrp 3y ago
  Is this the device Steve Martin used in LA story?

0xcde4c3db 3y ago

My family didn't have this phone, but the description of the janky voice recognition, timeframe, and current-day obscurity reminds me of the Texas Instruments Voyager edutainment headset (kind of a pain to search for because TI currently has a "Voyage" calculator family that people routinely misspell as "Voyager"). It combined speech synthesis and voice recognition, and I think you were supposed to follow along with each cartridge-based program in a booklet (which I'm not sure I ever had). The only really distinct memory I have of it is that you could change the voice to one of several presets and it would ask in each voice "to sound like this?".

robocat 3y ago
The phone was from the 80's: it is possible the voice recognition was a single chip solution from TI - they did other specialised ICs. If so multiple devices could have the same voice recognition. Or maybe a firmware solution for a TI processor? I did a quick search, but finding data sheets from the 80's without knowing the part number is difficult. I tried to find a schematic for the FV-1000 but no luck there either.

CapitalistCartr 3y ago

I saw my first mobile in '91. A super on a jobsite had it, company-provided. It looked like a Vietnam War walkie-talkie. He said it had about 5 minutes of talk time, but was worth it. It seemed hokey to me at the time.

Kaibeezy 3y ago
Here's its alternate universe version - https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/index.html https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/index.html

ryukoposting 3y ago

A quick Startpage search led to some very cool photos. It might be a terrible phone, but at least it's pretty. This thing has "Techmoan" written all over it.

kazinator 3y ago

Wow, that describes a better voice dialing experience than the piece-of-shit system in my 2016 Nissan.

p1mrx 3y ago

I found this terrible commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYheRAPnVkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYheRAPnVkA "Touch tone dialing was a breakthrough. With push buttons, you could dial numbers quickly. [long pause to change the subject] Introducing the FV1000, a revolutionary voice activated telephone from Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone."

ale42 3y ago
Sounds like... "you could dial numbers quickly. Not anymore: introducing..."

Nellyz 3y ago

[dead]