The Matrix mobile phone and other relics that Samsung hides in its innovation museum in Korea | technology

The Matrix phone was made for the movie Reload the matrices, which premiered in 2003. After its appearance, only 5,000 call-capable units were made. It is one of the historical cell phones that Samsung hides in its Museum of Innovation in Suwon, a South Korean city located south of Seoul. In this exhibition there are many other relics: from one of the world’s first cell phones in the form of a watch or with GPS technology to the first terminals capable of playing MP3 files and sending SMS messages. There is even a phone that, according to the South Korean brand, was “more expensive than a car” at the time of its launch.

This curious museum is located in Samsung Digital City, which occupies over 165,000 square metres. An area equivalent to about 250 soccer fields, according to Young Sub Kim, an employee in Samsung’s public relations department, while showing some facilities to a small group of reporters. Almost 40 thousand people work in this huge complex. They have it all: offices, restaurants, shops, libraries, nurseries, clinics, soccer fields, swimming pools, and even a climbing wall. “Most basic needs are covered,” says Kim. And not only that: in the bowels of the tech giant there are also some devices that have marked before and after in history.

Car price phone

“A mobile phone is more expensive than a car,” it can be read in a presentation of the Museum of Innovation, invited by Samsung EL PAÍS. Below is the Mobira Talkman, a gigantic device manufactured by Nokia and considered one of the progenitors of modern mobile phones. It consisted of a headset attached to a cable in a bag. At the time of its release, in 1985, it cost more than $5,000 – about €4,660. A price comparable to some cars at the time.

The first commercial mobile phone

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first true mobile phone on the market, According to the Museum of Mobile Phones. It was known as the “brick” because it was above all a heavy station (793 grams). It had an autonomy of 30 minutes of calls and took eight hours to charge, Samsung points out. For its manufacture, more than 100 million dollars have been invested in 10 years. The launch price in 1983 was $3,995 – about €3,730. In addition to the classic numbers, it had nine other keys with some strange functions. For example, end a call, lock the phone keypad, or adjust the volume.

pre-fold

MicroTAC is one of the first phones Faces or collapsible. “It became the origin of the modern foldable phone, with Motorola steadily releasing a follow-up model for the next 10 years,” says Samsung. Launched in 1989, this device had a numeric keypad on the bottom that was visible when it was opened. Although it is a large mobile phone, it was compact for its time. In fact, it’s designed to fit in a shirt pocket. According to the portal Android Authority. It was 22.9 cm long and weighed more than 300 grams.

Pioneer in sending SMS

The Nokia 2110 was one of the first mobile phones capable of sending and receiving SMS (SMS service or SMS, in Spanish). The Finnish company’s goal when launching the station in 1994 was to sell 400,000 units, According to him Mobile Phone Museum. It far surpassed it by reaching 20 million units sold from different versions of the device. The phone also made history because it launched Nokia Tune, the legendary tune that has marked the brand for years.

predecessor of the “smart watch”

The Samsung SPH-WP10 is a wristwatch launched in 1999 that has an autonomy to make calls for up to an hour and a half. “The number of buttons has been minimized with a dial-type controller and it weighs just 39 grams thanks to the use of smaller components,” says the South Korean brand. The device, which at first glance seems so cumbersome, predated the current smartwatches. Today at least one in four adults has a smartwatch, according to GSMA Intelligence. Statista expects to have 299.5 million single users by 2027. To get an idea of ​​what that number means, see More than twice the population of Mexico (126 million people) and It remains close to that of the United States (331 million).

The first phone with an MP3 player

Samsung boasts that the SPH-M2500 was “the world’s first mobile phone with MP3 playback”. “It can store approximately 10 music tracks with a storage capacity of 32MB along with the remote control function,” says the technology company, which aspires to turn the phone into a personal music player. The station was launched in 1999, two years before Apple released the iPod –One of the most influential devices in history By allowing people to carry their libraries of thousands of songs in their pockets it becomes a tool for the masses.

Mobile phone with access to TV

Mobile phone screens are getting bigger and bigger. While the iPhone 14 Pro Max measures 6.7 inches, there are foldable peripherals like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, whose main screen reaches 7.6 inches. Manufacturers want to make it easier to consume audiovisual content on mobile phones. These giant screens are far behind the SCH-M220, which is 1.8 inches. A surprising thing considering that this terminal, which was launched in 1999, was the first mobile phone from Samsung that allowed the reproduction of TV broadcasts.

One of the first mobile phones with GPS

Benefon Esc! in 2000, one of the first mobile phones with built-in GPS functionality. It was designed by the Finnish company Benefon For use in outdoor activities in the “mountain, sea or city”It had navigation and location functions, allowing users to determine their location in real time. Benefon’s goal was to make it rugged and waterproof.

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