Motorola 8000X
The Motorola 8000X, or to give it its full title, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, was the world's first hand held mobile phone. It was the original brick mobile phone from the Yuppie era of the 80s.
Recent reports of Motorola 8000Xs selling for over 1000 have fuelled a new interest in these old brick phones.
If you are wanting to buy one of these on eBay, then it pays to know as much as possible. The Motorola 8000M and 8000S are very similar.
How to identify an 8000X
Small LEDs
The main distinguishing feature between the 8000X and the later 8000M phones is the display. The 8000X had small LEDs. The 8000M, 8500X and later phones had larger LEDs. The small LEDs are also shared with the 8000S, which was a cheaper version of the 8000X and seems to be more common.
Often this does not help on eBay as the batteries in these phone often do not work, meaning that the display is not visible. The screens on both types of phone are the same size and look exactly the same when the phone is off.
Buttons
On most of the 8000Xs I have seen, the first nine buttons, have just numbers on them, not numbers and letters. This is also true of the 8000S. However, the original publicity shot for Motorola shows numbers and letters, so this might not be an ideal guide. US versions of the phones may also have letters and numbers.
The 8000S has one fewer button in the bottom row. It does not have the 'Fcn' key and the 'Lock' key is moved up one.
On the 8000M, the function keys always appear to have capital letters on them, but on the 8000X and 8000S they start with a capital letter, with the remainder in lower case lettering. So it would be 'Lock' on the 8000X and 8000S and 'LOCK' on the 8000M. I am not certain this is always the case, but this looks to be a good rule of thumb.
The 'Snd' button on the 8000X and 8000S, seems to be orange/red rather than pink/red on the later phones.
Colours
The DynaTAC 8000X was sold in several colour combinations. I am aware of tan and grey, black and white, dark grey and tan and white. There may be other combinations.
Logos
The Dynatac 8000X was sold with several logos. Sometimes it just said 'Motorola'. BT also sold this phone with their own logo. Their Motorola 8000X does not have the black and red stripe logo. This was introduced on the 8500X and later.
Dates
The Motorola 8000X was available in the US from 1983 and in the UK from 1985. It seems to have been still on sale in 1988 in the UK and it was relatively cheap by then, selling for £599. By 1990 both the 8000S and 8000X did not appear to be on sale in the UK. The 8500X had taken over.
Motorola serial numbers
The serial numbers on Motorola phones allow you to date the phone quite accurately. This information can be useful to help confirm the identification of the phone.
Serial numbers are of the form 123ABC4567 or 123ABC45678 where the the second 2 letters determine the year and month of manufacture. The second letter gives the year.
As far as these phones are concerned the important numbers are:
| Letter | Year |
|---|---|
| H | 1983 |
| J | 1984 |
| K | 1985 |
| L | 1986 |
| M | 1987 |
| Letter | Year |
|---|---|
| N | 1988 |
| O | 1989 |
| P | 1990 |
| Q | 1991 |
| R | 1992 |
Ebay sales of Motorola 8000X
| Date | Value | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 6/9/2009 | £460 | BT Logo |
| 17/9/2009 | £605 | Motorola logo black/tan |
| 11/10/2009 | £1036 | Sale not completed; item relisted |
| 21/10/2009 | £1054 | Located in Austria |
| 21/10/2009 | £1358 | DynaTAC Prototype IV |
Our view on values
By March 1986 there were over 50,000 mobile phone users in the UK. Whilst a large proportion of these may have owned bulky transportables, rather than hand held phones, there must still be thousands of Motorola 8000Xs out there. More than enough to keep most collectors happy.
After the appearance of the Daily Mail article - Hello, I'm on the brick!, two Motorola 8000Xs appeared on eBay within a week. My guess is there are more out there and the price will go down.
Note: this a new collecting area, so if you have any other tips about identification please add to the comments section. Or if you believe any of this information to be inaccurate, please let me know.
Whilst I have done my best to make this information as accurate as possible, Retrowow cannot accept any liability for any losses incurred from using the information provided in this article. Mobile phones are a very new collecting area and not all of the relevant facts may be known at this time.
Your comments on the Motorola 8000X
"Hi, The Fourways theatre group in High Wycombe is staging an American 1980's play in which mobile phones feature. We can't afford to buy the real thing but we have a skilled model maker who is prepared to build a number of them with remotely controlled ringing. I'd be very grateful if you could send me some approximate dimensions of a Motorola 8000X as a starting point. The rest we can approximate from pictures. Many thanks, " Steve Curtis
They are about 8 inches high, without the aerial. The aerial can be another 3 to 6 inches. They are 1.75 inches wide and 3.25 inches deep. If you want something that looks like the real thing, the 8500x is very similar and sells for about 30 to 50 on ebay. I hope this helps. Retrowow
"hi just bought a working 8700x from ebay just wonderd weather it will still work on old system or can i install new sim in an adapter and will it work." steven hunter
Hi Steven, I'm not familiar with the 8700x, but I'm guessing you have brick style phone. Are your sure it isn't and 8500X, 8800X or 8900X?
The only Motorola brick phones that work on the GSM system are the 3200 and 3300. In the UK the analogue system was turned off several years ago. In the US I believe some of the analogue services still exist, but I don't know the details. As yet I'm not aware of a system that allows you to use analogue phones with GSM. However, you never know, if there is enough interest in early mobiles someone might invent one. Retrowow
"sorry its the 8900x 2 it is in perfect order, some great memorys of the 90's. do they have a sim inside somewere" steven hunter
Hi Steven, Sorry as far as I know the 8900x was an analogue phone. It does not accept SIM cards. If you want a brick phone that accepts SIM cards the only options are the Motorola 3200 or 3300. Retrowow
"hi i have the 89000x-2 i have pressed the lock button and i cant get it off lol, can anyone please help" Jay
Comments
Hi have a Motorola 8000x
Wanting to sell, prices seem extremely random. Can anyone give me a reasonable estimate I should ask for it?
Hi, Have you still got the 8000x for sale, Ring me on 07742878558 uk phone