I have used one during the nineties
(around 1994
).
There was an HP200 included and you could install a Nokia 21xx phone into the cradle in the display. This was a very heavy combo.
The Nokia 21xx was available for all major digital cellphone systems in those days. It was the best sold cellphone line worldwide and it was the first to be really slim. It had an excellent fieldtest mode, too, and it was the first choice for every network operators technician.
The 2110 was for GSM900 but there were models for GSM1800, GSM1900 and NMT.
The data rate was limited to GSM-data with one time slot and that was 9k6. For GSM there was nothing else possible because the modem was installed in the MSC and all the data from your mobile client to the MSC was transferred via a proprietary protocol, not via audio.
The price for the GSM data
(pcmcia-
) card back then was around 500USD and the phones price tag was the same. That palmtop with cradle was more than 1000USD but it included the datacard
(fixed
).
Just to paint the picture....
very cool!
