English

C: B_retro Ausgabe_79 : The pocket PC with i386 and 4 MB RAM

May 11, 2021

239

The Nokia 9000 Communicator with an Intel i386 and 4 MB RAM as well as the DOS-based PEN/GEOS operating system was a real PC with a telephone function in your pocket. Primarily designed for business use, the first “Communicator” was also able to inspire private users. A look back.

Table of contents

1 C: B_retro Ausgabe_78 Nokia_9000_Communicator
1. Nokia 9000 Communicator
2. The story
3. The hardware
4. The software
5. The competition
C:B_retroFeedback
1. Feedback is always welcome
C:B_retroReview
1. An overview of the last ten issues

C: B_retro Ausgabe_78 Nokia_9000_Communicator

Nokia 9000 Communicator

Almost 25 years ago, on August 15, 1996, the Finnish company Nokia presented the innovative and DM 2,700 expensive Nokia 9000 Communicator as the world's leading manufacturer of mobile phones at the time.

For the converted and inflation-adjusted EUR 2,000 buyers received the most advanced mobile phone of the time for organizing and processing data.

With its Intel i386EX with 24 MHz and 4 MB RAM and a DOS-based operating system, the Nokia 9000 Communicator was more like a personal computer than a cell phone or a simple PDA in many respects.

The story

As the first product ever from the Communicator series produced until 2008, later also known as the Nokia E-Series, the Nokia 9000 Communicator was presented and announced for the first time at CeBIT 1996 in Hanover. Nokia's August 1996 press release is still available in the archives today.

First GSM-based communicator product hits the market Nokia Starts Sales of the Nokia 9000 Communicator

The Nokia 9000 Communicator provides a wide range of mobile communications services as well personal as organizer functions.

The product combines a GSM phone with applications like fax, e-mail, short messaging and internet access.

It also includes the most useful organizer functions; a calendar, an address book and a calculator. All of this is available in a sophisticated, pocket-sized unit.

Nokia 9000 Communicator, press release

In contrast to the conventional mobile phones at the time, the Nokia 9000 Communicator had more extensive equipment for organizing and processing data and was primarily designed for the business environment.

In addition to the PIM applications that were popular at the time, especially on PDAs, the first Communicator also offered communication functions via SMS, MMS, fax, e-mail, Bluetooth (from model 9300) and infrared, as well as office software, mobile Internet and data access and the option of external applications and installing programs.

In particular, the ability to use real multitasking set the Nokia 9000 Communicator apart from the competing products of its time. The mobile phone could be opened like a laptop and had a full QWERTY keyboard.

Compared to other cell phones, the extremely expansive proportions and the high weight earned the communicator the nicknames “brick” and “telephone booth”. The lack of a vibration alarm was also criticized by many buyers.

The hardware

The Nokia 9000 Communicator was based on hardware that was still used in IBM-compatible PCs a few years earlier and had an operating system from GeoWorks, which has its roots in DOS based on PC/GEOS.

Specifications of the Nokia 9000 Communicator

Intel i386EX with 24 MHz
8 MB system memory
- 4 MB main memory
- 2 MB program memory
- 2 MB data memory
4.5 inch LC display with 640 × 200 pixels and 148 PPI
Language: GSM900
- GSM 900 and GSM 1800 (model 9000e)
Data: CSD with 9.6 kbit/s
IrDA 1.0 with 115.2 kbit/s (UART)
GeoWorks PEN/GEOS 3.0 with Nokia GUI
Lithium-ion battery with 24 hour stand-by
173 × 64 × 38 (L × W × H)
397 grams
Mini-SIM

The successor, the Nokia 9110 Communicator, which appeared in 1999 and was produced until 2001, was based on an AMD Elan SC450 486 with 33 MHz, which was already based on the Am5x86, and was significantly reduced in terms of both dimensions and weight. In addition, the extremely tight storage space of 2 MB for data could be expanded for the first time via MMC.

The Nokia Phones Collection YouTube channel, which specializes in unboxing older cell phones and smartphones from Nokia “Presents the Nokia 9000 Communicator in a detailed unboxing video

Today, Nokia's first Communicator is a sought-after collector's item and a milestone in mobile communication.

In 2012, then board member and future CEO of Nokia Jorma Ollila said about the Nokia 9000 Communicator, that the mobile phone was years ahead of the competition.

We were five years ahead.
Jorma Ollila, Nokia CEO

The software

The “operating system” used was the graphical user interface PEN/GEOS, which in turn was based on the graphical user interface PC/GEOS for IBM-PC compatible operating systems.

PEN/GEOS was developed by GeoWorks between 1992 and 1995 and was based on ROMDOS, an embedded DOS from Datalight. PEN/GEOS was characterized above all by its good scalability on x86 hardware and a highly customizable GUI.

Excerpts from the operating instructions (PDF) of the Nokia 9000 Communicator give a good impression of the operating system.