RETRO TECH: DYNATAC 

People in 2020: "Don't text and drive" People in 1980: *Dialing phone numbers in their car phone*

Dynatac: 10 hours of charge, 30 minutes of use. Today: 30 minutes charge, 10 hours of usage.

Everytime I see Marty Cooper, my eyes instantly start filling with water. I think most people don't even realize how big of an influence this old, charismatic man had on today's tech world. If it wasn't for his groundbreaking invention, there would be no iPhone, no Android, no smartphones AT ALL. This man and his team of engineers single-handedly changed the way we connect with each other forever. He is, by any means, the epitome of a freakin' LEGEND!!!!

Marques actually dubbing the phone call and acting the success made me laugh so hard

This entire series was pure magic to me. Don't care if that's cheesy, either. I loved it.

Everyone: apple is so expensive Dynatac: hold my antenna

The lore accuracy of your 80s phone conversation deserves an Emmy, or Oscar, or Nobel. Something. Someone award this man.

can we take a moment to appreciate how big of a role this "martin cooper" guy played in this society.

6:36 Martin: Today, there are more portable phones in the world than there are people Marques: **Thinking about the stacks of phones he has in the studio**

I love how he emulated the first phone call.

This guy is a legend. How does he make such high-quality production so seemingly effortlessly?

6:00 What he did to Bell Lab's Marty is fucking bad ass. Calling your competitor from a product you're both racing to get done. THUG LIFE!!! FUCKING LEGEND!!

Can we take a second to point out how well Marques pulls off the Blazer/suit jacket?

Michal Fisher looks and talks like a realistic Tony Stark.

Retro tech is our family’s favorite show now. So awesome seeing the tech in the past and introducing it to our younger population. Very well done. 🤘

“Hey, you’re dead to me” MKBHD, 2019

This series made me realize just how young he is lol but it makes his success that much more impressive

I like when Marques ask on the phone "are you home?" in those times you were calling people at home, on their phones so yes, they were home :D

This is one of the best videos I have ever seen Marques. You have gotten SO so so good. It's been amazing watching you grow as a presenter. This type of content is so much better than just the tech only content. Your editing is spectacular and your vision and writing are great. Also as an software/electrical engineer you getting the interview with Martin Cooper literally made the hairs on my back stand on end. Then acting out the scene from Martin Cooper's experience was "chiefs kiss." Great job, you're wonderful!

Wtf So Zack Morris had a 10 grand cell phone is high school!??

10:18 - I actually had the Matte Black version. It was my first cell phone when I started working at The Miami Herald as a photo editor in 1999. Love how you guys are laughing at it now, but that phone was amazing. I had 2 batteries. It was kinda easy to carry. After that we had the Nextels, and then I got into the Sidekicks. Been a fan of MKBHD and all these tech guys for years. It's crazy to think you guys didn't see this era. (It doesn't seem that long ago to people over 35)

that "woman's phone" reminds me of the compact phones from Totally Spies 😅

3:58 Before the cell phone, people had really good memories remembering people's landline numbers. Or they had a list in their wallet.

Marty Cooper: “Hi Joel, I’m calling you from a real cell phone, what do you think of that? Silence on the other end of the line.” And that was the first dropped call in history

He has an entire drawer full of phones lol...

It's a trip that kids are so far removed from the 90's that they 've never heard that reference from Dr Dre and Snoop: 187.

11:00 Your reaction to the StarTAC is - crazy - lol. At the time, "small and lightweight" was EVERYTHING. Phones were only a tool for voice calls, so the optimum phone was considered the tiniest thing on which you could dial a number and make a call. I was in middle school at the time, and my best friend's dad was a doctor. He got a StarTAC right as they came out. I remember one time he let me hold it, and that phone felt like the crown jewels or something. I mean I still distinctly remember the excitement all these years later. And you guys are like "meh, unimpressive" and throw it aside. That right there shows me however much things have changed with phones.

The production quality on this series always blows me away.

I used to carry around a pager, with no service, in Junior high just to look cool.

It's so mind blowing to think that 40 years from now, people will be talking about an iphone 11 like a dynatac.

This video is so personable and genuine...from the look, to listening to him talk and the interviews...no wonder Mkbhd is where he is today... there's nothing generic nor disingenuous about him. Much respect.

God your videos are really tight. High production value, interesting topics, good interviews and good editing. One of the best tec youtubers out there 👍👍👍👍👍

Wait a min, our parents had an entire science lab in their car and they worry about our 5 inch devices?

5:10 Engineer - 'It's not possible' Cooper - 'No, it's necessary' Cue Zimmer soundtrack!

This is a beautiful series. Imagine calling your competitor as the first call!!!

What I like about you is when I first started watching your video's way back when that you didn't change a bit over the years. You are still super relaxed. No clownishness, no dropping of stuff floor or ripping stuff up. Big thumbs up.

so , the RU-vid PREMIUM was worth IT.

Who else wants to see more pager message guessing😂😂😂

I LOVE this series! I wasn't even really aware of these until I stumbled across one while watching your other videos. Great stuff!

I STILL miss the 1980’s☹️. Everything was so simple back then.

Fantastic series and my hats off to you for giving me value with my RU-vid Premium besides no ads.

I wanna see a full walkthrough of the drawers at 2:08

This is like a full on netflix documentary i love it

This series was so rad!! I loved learning about the OG tech I hope we see another season sometime!

It's wild that we're at the age where people are old enough to now make videos on the history of things like technology from the '80s. Time really flies.

We need more episodes in this series, sadly it's the last one from this season. However, YT Premium now has found its worth, Retro Tech.

I love how Michael Fisher is taking the role of a true actor he's like "i finally can put what I learned in acting school into action" hes like wearing superman suit and glasses waiting for the moment of unveiling the superhero

Your series are great, thanks for showing us the history of these devices that were history for technological advance as it is today. Greetings from Argentina.

in every outdoor scene of this series he looks like an extremely retro hipster it’s so cool

All these comments about “RU-vid premium is so worth it”, are they being sarcastic or what? Because I’m not subscribing to YT Premium and still be able to watch this video.

hey marques. This is absolutely amazing video. It one of the completely unexpected videos from you packed with amazing history and perspective. Cannot thank ou enough for giving the insight.

My uncle had a StarTac, it was one of the first real cellphones I had seen. A few years later, I actually transplanted it into an aftermarket housing when it was falling apart... it was hard but it worked. I miss the days when one could do that.

*_My time has come_* - My Premium Account

I remember pagers from the mid to late 90s that could display the alphabet, not just numbers, and you called an operator to send your message.

I love that rainbow phone, gosh I miss the 90s creative designs. I would buy a modern version of that...This guys contents are amazing and very fluid and entertaining. Can't believe am actually enjoying watching a tech video this much.

I am 47 years old, grew up in the 80's and remember all of these! My first memory of a car phone I was 11 years old and in my uncles car with my cousins driving to a birthday party and he had a car cell phone but the way he traveled around with was in a suitcase. When the phone rang you lifted the suitcase and answered the phone. I also remember the car phones that fit onto your dash that were also featured in this video, the pager and of course the very first handheld cell phone. I also remember all the flip phones that first came too. I used to have a pink razor! In my 20s I knew people with Blackberry phones. I thought they were so awesome at the time, and the people that carried them. If you had a BlackBerry you were somebody cool! Lol It's pretty amazing how far we've come in technology.

So when is the second season coming out?

Pausing video... Me: I knew Zack Morris phone reference was coming. MKBHD: What is Save By the Bell, and who is Zack Morris. Me: Am I that old in my mid-30s?!?

Back in the days of Dynatec, cell phones were basically operating like radios( walkie talkies). The radios like the Dynatec would communicate with something similiar to a repeater site ,usually a radio tower. Today smartphones are radically different, but in essence smartphones and cellphones are a derivative of radios but with much weaker tx power and higher bandwidth( more data handling capacity.) Radios today still work the same way but with better coverage, very narrow bandwidth and a great emergency communications tool. Radios can communicate with each other and without infrastructure.

It always impresses me just how far back we all knew we wanted a phone in our hand

I really liked seeing people I know like Austin Evans and MrMobile

Jeez I'm old. The reaction of the extendable antenna... Adorable.

Communication with each other is very important and this piece of history about technology is amazing

Younger people can't grasp how mind blowing it is for middle age and older folks who lived the cell revolution end to end. To go from leaving your house perfectly happy without a 'smart device', to feeling as completely vulnerable without it as younger people do. All in a short span of your _adult_ lifetime. THAT is revolution.

Oh man, when Marques said "the fax is on its way" I was wondering if this was intentionally left there, the fact neither he nor anyone from the production team know that faxes were immediate shows how much we've come.

Motorola: It costs over 10k *Apple has entered chat*

10:50 that is the best reaction ever 😆

Just found your site while researching some tech history. Thank you this is simply amazing.

80's created the world we are living in right now!

Well, here where i live, pagers are still used to alert firefighters or other emergency services into action. And believe it or not, i still have to use a fax for certain things.

Nothing was more satisfying than hanging up on somebody with a flip phone!

The best part about these retro tech videos is the fact that the expects who are brought in to talk on past tech sometimes aren’t even old enough to have personal experience with any of it. I’m loving all the videos though!

I bought premium for this !❤️

I remember when I was a kid and I walk past a luxury car parked on the side of the roads like a Mercedes or a BMW and it had a small antenna with the only telecom service provider's logo (state service provider) at that time, I used to look inside and see these car phones which would look totally cool and futuristic and used to think how lucky the owners would have been to own it. I might have been like below 10 yrs I guess. My dad had a 90 model Toyota corolla. Now I am typing this from a Note 9. Good old days.. I live in Saudi Arabia btw.

"this is mad heavy" -says the guy wearing a heavy chain

10:42 his reaction is priceless 😭

Incredible. The first ever cell phone call was to flex on his nemesis. Also: The second call was probably "can your hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can y- "

I'm reminded that I've never had a flip phone. My first was candy bar style in 1999, then a spinner. That's back when I had the same phone for years, so those lasted until my first smartphone in 2007.

Wow, it's an awesome and great phone..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this phone too much.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm old enough to remember using a rotary dial phone and the answering machine being a brand new tech!

18:49 "187 on an undercover cop" - Dr Dre

It's like Retro Tech could dissolve "Ok Boomer" one issue at a time.

I used to work at Motorola in Libertyville and Harvard Illinois packing those phones up straight from the factory in the same building. Fun facts: 1. The original flip phone, The Microtac, was the first to have an internal antenna, the "antenna" that pulled from the phone was actually just a piece of plastic to make someone feel like they were actually getting better signal (which they didn't). That StarTac's antenna was the same thing, not a real antenna. 2. The original idea behind the SIM card was if someone needed to borrow your phone, you would pull the sim card out and he would insert his, so he would be the one getting charged for the call, not you. Thus why the sim card was the whole card instead of the cut-out SIM we are familiar with today. 3. The car manufacturers would use Motorola phones for their car phones (We stuck the Lexus, Lincoln, whoever to each phone by hand) Those car phones had identical components to the bag phones, except the bag phone had a huge battery. 4. Motorola gave Michael Jordan a StarTac, but he couldn't use it, his fingers were too big for the buttons.

Amazing to see how far phones and technologies has changed the way we live, communicate, just in aweeee of all the smart and couregous engineers humanity has to offer. Thank you. Technologies solve problems and create certain problems. Overall amazing, just simply amazing.

Love these retro tech episodes. Owned everything he’s reviewed so far. I remember cruising around with my big brick phone to my ear talking to no one but thinking I looked cool. As well as pagers. You had to have those clipped to your pocket for everyone to see because you thought it made you look cool.

amazing how young these youtubers are....you would think this was ancient discoveries from egypt

So happy to see in 2022 that Marty Cooper is still alive at 93 years of age! What a legend!

I was born in 88 and always wanted a cellphone as a kid.. when I was 13 or so, virgin mobile became a thing and I bought the $100 candy bar. The rates sucked but I finally had my own phone! I still remember checking out the startacs at the mall kiosks and thinking they were the coolest thing ever.. I managed to miss the rainbow edition though. I also had a collective of pdas in the early 2000s and modern smartphones were basically the gadget that id always dreamed of. The first time I used a friends iPhone blew my mind and I bought an iPod touch the next week. I didn’t have a true semi modern smartphone until 2010 when metro pcs offered a $100 Android with a $50/mo unlimited plan, I was a very poor college kid at this point. You’re right about those awful images on the Siemens.. I had one from that era along with a couple Nokia’s that had a similar library. Totally forgot I had a pager at one point too, in 7th grade I think.. it was a vtech thing that was kind of egg shaped. It was $30 and I think $20 of that was “airtime” at 10 cents a page or something.. I literally think I used it twice then the airtime expired after a few months and I just didn’t care to reup it. I have absolutely no memory of what happened to that thing

The not knowing Saved by the Bell though...

"Motorola was this company" From developing tech on the moon, for soldiers in WW2, to becoming extinct. Motorola is such a cautionary tale.

the star tac was the coolest phone at the time, it was one of the smallest and most compact phones and the first flip phone that kick started the trend of the flip phones, it's only the rainbow colour that made it look like a toy, but it's super dope, it deserves it's own dedicated video on retrotec in my opinion

Did anyone else fangirl over Michael's appearance. Best tech youtuber ever!!!

Growing up with cell phones and pagers. I remember when phones where 1k+. Now people act like it's crazy that some phones are reaching them prices once more.....

“There’s a matte black but you went with the rainbow 🙄” 😂😂😂

My dad was a ham radio operator (he died in 1992 and I still remember his call sign). He and his fellow hams had the ability to make calls from their cars using their ham equipment via a process called autopatch. Basically the operator had to put a call out to another operator who was in their own home who then dialed the requested number and host the call. My dad used the autopatch system a few times to call home as his job had him driving long distances in isolated areas.

Hearing you say "Way back in 2005" makes me feel old. I do miss some of the old phones honestly. I'd actually use my old 8890 sirocco edition if the texting was not so hard on that phone. So yeah the screen phones are here to stay. I love the Star Tack as I love Star Trek but never had one. omg the pagers! Dude I had one with the bag txt screen but they would censure my curses! I never really used the txt codes.

Walking down 6th Ave with the first cellphone in history: Calls number 1 rival to let him know what's good "Hi Joel" You have now entered the flexxx zone

"Police code for murder..." "Why would anyone know that?" Not big Sublime fans huh?

Dude! You SERIOUSLY did not know what Saved by the Bell was? Man, you are young kid...that completely blows my mind. Like, I grew up watching it on TV with the new episodes (not Good Morning Miss Bliss...I'm not THAT old). I know people that at least watched the reruns if they weren't old enough to see them new, but that's crazy to not even KNOW who Zack Morris is or what Saved by the Bell was. Wow. Mind blown.

The "women's" phone looked like a compact with birth control pill buttons lol. Marques also didn't mention beepers went through a phase where you COULD send actual alpha-numeric messages. You had to call a number, speak with the operator who would type the message for you. My aunt once asked me to page my uncle and tell him to "buy milk". At the time, it was kind of embarrassing to ask the operator to send that message (since beepers were more business oriented), but the operator said she pretty much received all kinds of messages like that lol.