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r/vintagemobilephones

Image 1 — Here's a weird one, the Motorola i2000, the first (and one of the only) iDEN phones with a GSM radio
Image 2 — Here's a weird one, the Motorola i2000, the first (and one of the only) iDEN phones with a GSM radio
▲ 39 r/vintagemobilephones

Here's a weird one, the Motorola i2000, the first (and one of the only) iDEN phones with a GSM radio

This is an interesting phone. It was the first iDEN phone Nextel sold that had a built in GSM (GSM 900 only) radio for international roaming. Before this phone, the only solution world-traveling Nextel customers had if they wanted to use their phone number abroad was to swap their sim into a GSM handset. Nextel sold phones for this very purpose such as the Motorola V60g, T720, and Timeport 280.

I assume this concept of a GSM roaming iDEN phone never really caught on because Motorola only released a couple other phones with this feature. This phone received an update, the i2000 Plus which added a wap browser. The only other GSM capable iDEN handsets were released in 2005, the Motorola i920/i930 which had tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM radios. From 2005 until the end of iDEN in the early to mid 2010s, no other GSM capable iDEN handsets were ever released.

For those of you as into these old iDEN phones as I am, the i2000/i2000 Plus are odd. Unlike the other iDEN handsets from this era (such as the i1000), the i2000 needs a SIM to function. The included sim card is used for both iDEN and GSM functionality. The other phones from this era had no sim card, much like the CDMA and D-AMPS phones of the time.

For those of you wondering, I'm using this phone on my private Osmocom network. If it wasn't for this, I wouldn't be able to use this phone since this phone is locked to Nextel and I live in the US where GSM 900 never existed.

u/Vtgac22 — 5 hours ago
▲ 6 r/vintagemobilephones

The Samsung SPH-A920M

This phone is a Samsung SPH‑A920M, a fascinating twist on the standard SPH‑A920. It’s a clamshell‑style multimedia phone with dedicated music buttons, Bluetooth, and a 1.3‑megapixel camera, just like its sibling, featuring a TFT screen with 176×220 resolution and support for 262k colors. And yes, you can record videos on it, too.

On the software side, it runs on the J2ME Java platform and includes the same five demo games as the base model. What’s fun (and a bit charming) is that the previous owner left two downloaded ringtones on the device, little personal touches that give you a glimpse into its “life” before you got it.

At first glance, the SPH‑A920 and the SPH‑A920M seem nearly identical, but look closely at the sides and under the battery, and you’ll notice some subtle changes. On the SPH‑A920M, the microSD slot and the DC charger port are completely gone. In their place, Samsung added two extra contact pins on the back at the bottom left, opposite the regular battery contacts on the bottom right. The battery also has two extra pads at the bottom right, which are for near‑field communication (NFC). Those changes meant the internal circuitry traces and the motherboard layout were adjusted, too.

There’s very little information out there about this model. From what I’ve found, it was used in a pilot program with BART commuters in San Francisco to pay for fares using NFC technology. In the pilot, commuters used these phones to tap at 500 turnstiles across 43 BART stations. Over four months, about 230 users made nearly 9,000 rides and over 800 prepaid account top-ups, all handled through Sprint. The phones could also interact with NFC-enabled smart posters to access marketing content and even pay at participating Jack in the Box locations.

The SPH-A920M has its own FCC ID: A3LSPHA920M, approved on November 3, 2006, while my unit was manufactured in October 2006, before the official approval. Interestingly, the firmware is from January 2008, about two years after the original SPH-A920 launch. The back label reads “Trial Phone - Not for Commercial Use."

Menus are mostly identical to the SPH-A920, except the ‘Music’ menu is replaced by ‘My Wallet,’ which launches the Ready to Pay screen for BART and Jack in the Box payments. In the Tools section, there are extra menus like NFC Reader and Peer‑to‑Peer. Unfortunately, on my unit, the peer‑to‑peer function doesn’t seem to do anything useful, and leaving any NFC app sometimes crashes the phone, suggesting the software was unfinished or not meant for full public use.

Because the phone doesn’t have a memory card slot and we no longer have CDMA service where I am, it’s a bit tough to explore the music features. Interestingly, there are still some leftover references to memory cards in the icon glossary and system files, even though the physical slot is missing.

As for how I got it? I picked this up from an online listing for a modest price, sold as for parts, untested. It’s a truly unusual variant, and despite checking with Sprint and Samsung, there’s very little official information available, almost as if it were meant to stay under wraps...

Flipped open.

Closed, alongside the prototype SPH-A920 (left) and retail SPH-A920 (right).

Back, closed, alongside the prototype SPH-A920 (left) and retail SPH-A920 (right).

Right-side comparison with microSD slot removed.

Bottom-side comparison showing DC barrel port removed.

Back-side comparison with battery removed, revealing two extra NFC pins.

Menu comparison highlighting the “My Wallet” versus “Music” difference.

NFC menus under \"Tools\" section.

My Wallet launch showing the \"Ready to Pay\" screen.

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u/FWFlarerium — 7 hours ago
▲ 2 r/vintagemobilephones

Motorola International 1000, calls don't work?

Any experts out there for this oldie? It makes connection here to T-Mobile Croatia showing MCC/MNC 219-01 and a strong 2G/GSM signal strength. When I try calling a number it gives me a busy sign (4 short beeps). If I try calling it, I get a message from carrier that the person/number is currently not available.

I asked the folks at the T-Mobile store and they said, they aren't blocking any devices from network access, but who knows... I can't get anyone from tech department confirm that. There is no lock on it as far as I can see, I also did a 'global reset' and it worked fine using the 000000 factory password.

Any ideas if I can make it work? Otherwise I'm afraid it'll go in the dumpster, sadly....

u/firesnake1110 — 3 hours ago
▲ 7 r/vintagemobilephones

Can anyone identify this + help me figure out what to do for it to work?

I don't know anything about phones, but I really wanna restore this baby just for the sake of it. What to do and what to buy?

u/Best-Rent3118 — 16 hours ago
▲ 3 r/dumbphones+1 crossposts

Thinking to get the Nokia E72

I currently have the iPhone se 2 (2020) and after a bit of research I'm thinking to get the Nokia e72 to cut down on my phone usage and just get back to the basics. I'm leaning towards this phone because of :

Simple call n text

Email usage

I dont think this offers gps

I reside in the United States and wonder if this will be a solid choice to make even though it's outdated.

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u/Sea_Sherbet_338 — 16 hours ago
▲ 3 r/vintagemobilephones

Advice vintage phone

Hi, I’m trying to buy an old flip phone, but i’m not so expert in this within. Now I have an iphone 13, but I realised that I use it too much so i’m wandering if anyone of you could recommend me a good vintage phone possibly samsung.

and a second with whatsapp and can I put my sim of the iphone 13 in those phones? Thank you very much!!

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u/Livio_medea — 20 hours ago
Week