Engaging with Communications

NEC 9A

Released in 1987

Network = TACS

Weight = 690 g

Dimensions = 195mm x 62mm x 50mm

Battery Life = 80 mins talk time and 1200 mins standby

The Nippon Electric Company (NEC) was formed in Japan in 1898 specialising in the manufacture of telephones and switches which naturally meant that they would enter the mobile phone marketplace.

NEC launched the NEC 9A (NEC TR5E 1320-9A) into the UK in 1987 where it was well received, rapidly becoming the fastest selling mobile because it was lighter and offered more functions than its rivals.

In addition to the standard telephone functions, the NEC 9A included an address book that could record up to 60 telephone numbers and associated names. Its 3 line, 30 character LCD display had back light illumination, as did the keypad. A built in loudspeaker facilitated hands free operation. The NEC 9A could be fitted with either a quarter or half (shown here) wave-length antenna and included a five bar signal strength indicator with the recommendation that you should have at least three bars showing before making a call. The phone was turned on and off by a slider switch on the back and a standard 12 key keypad was supplemented with 6 additional keys, SND used to initiate a call, FCN to enable access to the telephone's features, END to terminate a call, STO to store a number in the address book, RCL to recall a number from the address book and CLR to clear the contents of the display.