Nokia 9000 Communicator to receive fax and browse the web

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Imagine it’s 1996. This newfangled “Internet” thing is catching on, allowing people to send “e-mails” and explore the “World Wide Web” from their computers. Meanwhile, the growing GSM networks allow millions to make and receive calls outside their home and office.

One device was at the intersection of those two growing trends and was one of the earliest devices that we may describe today as a smartphone. This is the story of the Nokia 9000 Communicator.

Nokia 9000 CommunicatorNokia 9000 Communicator (image credit)
Of course, back then it wouldn’t have been called a “smartphone”. Instead it may have been described as a “palmtop PC”. Not really a “pocket” PC, though, this thing was huge – it weighed almost 400g/0.9lbs.

But it was definitely a PC, it ran a DOS-based operating system on an Intel 386. This CPU was first introduced back in 1985 and brought the x86 architecture into the 32-bit era. While over a decade old by the time the Communicator arrived, it was still quite impressive to see it go at 24 MHz while on battery power.