Motorola 4500X

Dating from the late 1980s, the 4500X was a massive 3.5kg device which was basically a handset connected to a heavy box containing the battery and electronics via a curly cord. The unit measures 260mm long by 118mm wide by 175mm tall (270mm if you count the antenna). This type of phone was known as a "hand portable" and it was just one step up from a car phone. The handset itself had a basic set of numeric buttons and some function keys, with a very simple LED display for output. There are no letters on the keys, because text messaging was still to come. The Motorola 4500X was the last of the first generation of mobile phones. Shortly after the 4500X and its contemporaries, Motorola came out with the MicroTAC which weighed in at "just" 350 grams which started the trend for phones to become ever smaller, leading in time to the StarTAC which more-or-less defined the shape and size of a modern clamshell. The "curly cord" phone didn't die though, it evolved into the Bag Phone which is still available today.. the latest incarnation is the Motorola M900 Bag Phone.