The Motorola MicroTAC phone set a new design standard for 1989 with a flip-lid mouthpiece. As the smallest and lightest phone on the market, the unit weighed 12.3 ounces, measured 6.75 x 2.25 x 1.25 inches and retailed between $2,495 and $3,495. Blimey.

This was a whole new direction for Motorola. New technological advances meant that the equipment could be radically downsized. And so began the quest to be the smallest, lightest and most portable. The original MicroTAC was a completely new design and was the first phone to use this radical flip. There are also few things about it which are quite unusual....

The small hole in the front of the flip gave you the impression that there was a microphone in the flip which was positioned directly in front of your mouth, however, the microphone is actually situated just behind a tiny hole in the main part of the phone just between the right hand hinge and the call end button on the bottom right.

Another puzzling design feature was the retractable aerial. In fact, the aerial does absolutely nothing as it is purely for show. The unit features an internal antenna, however, the pull up plastic was added after focus groups in the US felt that any phone should have a visible aerial. But for the country who put big big heavy metal fins on their cars in the 1950's to make them seem faster, this is not really surprising.

We have a selection of these design icons who broke the mould of phone design and spawned every clamshell design we see today.

 Buy the Motorola Analogue MicroTAC in Black for £49