The SH-810 was designed to work on first-generation cellular networks in the UK. It was approved for connection to the
TACS cellular radio networks run by Vodafone and Cellnet in the UK.
The user guide describes it as a "Hand Portable Cellular Phone that represents a new generation of technically advanced yet lightweight cellular phones."
Reflecting the new nature of mobile phones at the time, it went on to state that you could "call any other telephone, regular or cellular, worldwide".
A fully charged standard battery was able to provide 90 minutes of talk time or about 14 hours of standby time. Users were helpfully informed that "the longer you talk, the shorter the standby time will be".
The network strength icon was described as a "Field Monitoring Signal Strength Indicator" with the "current field strength" being displayed "as a series of blocks, the more blocks, the better the signal".
There was no dedicated battery indicator. Users had to press FCN+3 and the battery level was displayed as a series of blocks in a similar manner to the signal strength.
The phone was able to store "80 standard memories" and "9 hot-line memories" which allowed users to store frequently called numbers. These nine "hot-line" numbers were associated with the numbers 1 to 9 and by pressing and holding those buttons for one second a call would be initiated. Names of up to 10 letters could be stored with a number.