Nokia
THR850

The Nokia THR850 was designed for use on TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) networks.  When it was announced it was claimed to be “the most advanced TETRA handset on the market”. The phone supported 380MHz, 410MHz and 800 MHz frequencies which apparently made it “optimal for professional use”. It offered “complete duplex communication” – essentially walkie-talkie functionality - and also SMS text messaging. The phone incorporated a clock, calendar, calculator, to-do-list and a phone book that could hold up to 255 contacts. One of the phone’s unique capabilities was the ability to send pre-defined status messages such as ‘Packet Delivered’ or ‘At Destination’ between individuals and groups. The model in the Mobile Phone Museum collection was used as a beta device on the UK’s Dolphin TETRA network, which at the time claimed to be “the world’s biggest TETRA network”. Dolphin’s CEO, Tony Greaves stated that the handset was “crucial to the ongoing development of the Dolphin proposition”. Unfortunately for Nokia, Dolphin filed for insolvency soon after the beta test with the THR850 had started and the phone maker never secured a major supply agreement with the network.