Posted by vpn
Hi! I'm from Italy and I'm looking for a working Ericsson GH172 or GH174 to use as my second mobile phone. If you've got one for sale, please send me an email to my address: meisteranker (at) outlook (dot) com.
Thank you very much!
Posted by Marius1982
103ssv, it is written on the back label. this is a TU1 http://www.esato.com/board/ui/RFQXUg59gcb8zZXh29I5.jpg
Posted by Marius1982
vpn, there are on ebay, exactly in Italy the phones you are looking for.
Posted by vpn
@Marius1982
Thanks for the reply, in fact I just bought one some days ago, from OLX. I found a GH172 with the complete set from Portugal, and here it is! Pardon for the awful quality of the pictures, they've been taken by the vendor. The phone comes with the original box and papers, three batteries, the original charging unit and what seem to be the metal clip to put the phone on the belt of the pants.
I got a little question though: where can I find new batteries for the phone? Because I've checked all around the web, but I haven't been able to find a site that has them.
[ This Message was edited by: vpn on 2014-11-06 16:07 ]
Posted by 103ssv
https://www.conrad.nl/nl/enel[....]725-x-145-x-505-mm-251955.html
This fits like a glove.
103
Posted by 103ssv
On 2014-10-28 19:20:25, Marius1982 wrote:
103ssv, it is written on the back label. this is a TU1 http://www.esato.com/board/ui/RFQXUg59gcb8zZXh29I5.jpg
It says TU2 (Trial Unit?)
103
Posted by vpn
On 2014-11-06 21:49:10, 103ssv wrote:
https://www.conrad.nl/nl/eneloop-accupack-penlite-6-v-zlf-2000-mah-l-x-b-x-h-725-x-145-x-505-mm-251955.html
This fits like a glove.
103
That's great! Is there a tutorial that shows how to replace the cells in a GH172 battery? I've never done such a thing in the past so I'm not very skilled in these things.
Posted by Tigerente
Well, now I have a question:
What is this?
The seller tells me, it's a R190sat but R190sat has ACeS-aerial and the name is printed on the frontcover like on this picture:
Posted by 103ssv
On 2014-11-07 10:29:11, vpn wrote:
On 2014-11-06 21:49:10, 103ssv wrote:
https://www.conrad.nl/nl/enel[....]725-x-145-x-505-mm-251955.html
This fits like a glove.
103
That's great! Is there a tutorial that shows how to replace the cells in a GH172 battery? I've never done such a thing in the past so I'm not very skilled in these things.
There is a tutorial here somewhere, but it is based on single battery instead of the pack.
Tbh it's not rocketscience, just pry open an old accu and you wil notice how simple it is build.
103
[ This Message was edited by: 103ssv on 2014-11-07 17:21 ]
Posted by torshammer
@tigerente Very interesting indeed. It looks more like the R190SAT prototype I have.
What I have heard Aces started a cooperation with Inmarsat and the antenna might just come from there.
Have you started collect new stuff again?
Posted by vpn
I received the GH172 today, but unfortunately the battery charger is broken. The charging connector is detached from the circuit board of the desktop charger, so I can't charge the batteries nor test the phone. I'm looking for a working battery charger for the Ericsson GH172... Is there anyone who has a spare one? Please let me know... I would be very grateful!
Thanks in advance,
Enzo/VPN
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-13 21:00 ]
Posted by Marius1982
R190 is a proto indeed , the seller changed the ad and the antenna btw.
Posted by Marius1982
Enzo,
anyway, the charger is a bullshit, nu electronic board anyway, just a simple circuit. This type of charger does not automatically stop charging when battery is full. It keeps charging forever.
You can resolder any other jack type connector and replace the batteries with 5 normal AA rechargeable, should be straight forward if you have minimal electronics experience.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-14 08:18 ]
Posted by vpn
So I guess it can be fixed? That relieves me a lot... Because if it wasn't, I wouldn't know where to look, since on Ebay I found a Multi charger... Without the power supply.
I noticed indeed when I opened the charger that is just an incredibly simple circuit board, and I thought that it was more complex than that. I guess that it's more or less like some laptops with broken AC connectors, where you need to re-solder them in order to make them work again. I got a friend of mine who's into these kinds of repair, so I guess it'll be a piece of cake for him to fix the charger. As soon as it'll be fixed, then I'll buy the new cells to replace the old ones, keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the phone works.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-14 09:15 ]
Posted by Marius1982
If you are anxious to try if the phone works just use a 9-12 volt power supply and attach to the battery terminals for a few minutes and check if the phone powers up. Double check polarity when you do this.
It should hold enough charge just to power up and see if it has signal.
Posted by vpn
Hi guys, I managed to fix the charger. Only one of the three batteries accept a charge, but at least the phone works and switches on, although only for a minute, due to the almost-dead battery. Unfortunately, there's a problem with the SIM card holder.
As you can see, my GH172 has the metallic one:
Unfortunately the plastic hinges are broken, so the metallic holder is loose, and the SIM won't stay in its place. If I put the battery in the phone, it obviously won't read the SIM because there's not enough pressure from the metallic frame.
I did a quick workaround by raising the contacts on the phone and putting some sheets of paper, so they can put enough pressure to make the SIM touch the contacts, and hopefully now it should read the SIM, but is there a way to fix this for good? Maybe replacing the entire plastic frame? I've noticed that most of the GH172 I've seen on the web have the more modern holder made entirely in plastic...
Enzo/VPN
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-19 16:32 ]
Posted by Marius1982
All of them should take charge, but the terminals inside are corroded and not having continuity, it is doable(I resurrected 2 in this way), but they will perhaps not hold too mach charge anyway so it doesn't make sense to invest effort.
The sim holder is replaceable, if you have a spare one(plastic or metallic), probably you don't.
Posted by vpn
The only battery which kept a bit of charge is the only one that makes the yellow light appear on the charger, but sometimes it flickers or turn off, which I guess it's due to the age of the battery itself.
After the phone worked yesterday (and after it turned off when it was searching for network) the phone hasn't turned on anymore, despite I left the battery charging for 20 hours (I guess the battery's completely flat now).
However, the battery issue isn't a problem, as I have bought a regenerated battery from a friend, so I can use the phone regularly.
I've also bought another GH172 with the first generation tray in good conditions and two untested handsets that have the more modern and reliable plastic ones. I will post updates when the three phones and the battery will arrive.,When the phones and the new batteries will arrive, I will test all of them, and if the two GHs with the plastic tray will work properly, I will use one of them as my everyday mobile, so at least I won't have problems with the hinges, unlike the first generation.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-20 16:47 ]
Posted by Zsolthy
My collections newest member just arrived from japan with desktop charger, and an extra desktop charger for my er209i
Posted by vpn
That's a beautiful phone you've got, Zsolthy! I must say I like it a bit more than the Western T2X series.
In the meantime, I've received the regenerated battery and the GH172 works perfectly now (while I'm waiting for the two D2-branded handsets with the more modern plastic SIM tray that need to be tested).
From a basic test of the phone (doing and receiving calls, checking the quality of the signal, fiddling with the menu) I've realized that it's a very basic phone that does its job honestly. The support of flash SMS is a neat feature too, since it's the only way for my network provider to know how much traffic I have on my SIM. The phone book has a lot of slots available (around 200, I'm not sure as I haven't checked them all!) and the "battery discharge" feature is quite useful when I need to do the monthly charge/discharge cycles.
The only three drawbacks are the lack of automatic DTMF tones (I had to enable them with the X*# combination, despite they were active, according to the menu), the ringtone volume that is not as loud as the one of my Motorola Microtac International 7500 and the lack of Caller ID feature prevents me to know who's calling me. Besides these things, I can easily live with it: having a piece of history of mobile technology makes me excited enough. I will post updates about the future arrivals.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-25 11:36 ]
Posted by Marius1982
wow, that's great to still see enthusiasts these days
.
May I ask you how much battery life you got with the new batteries?
What other Ericsson phones do you own?
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-25 17:03 ]
Posted by vpn
On 2014-11-25 15:04:21, Marius1982 wrote:
wow, that's great to still see enthusiasts these days
.
May I ask you how much battery life you got with the new batteries?
What other Ericsson phones do you own?
Hi Marius, I left the battery on the charger (it has five Sanyo Eneloop 2000mAh Ni-Mh cells) for 12 hours, although I later found out that they should be left on the charger for 15 hours at least, in order to be fully charged. I usually switch my mobile phone from 9/10:00AM to 2:00PM, and then I turn it on again at 3:00PM until 10:00PM.
The battery life seems to be quite good, although the new cells sometimes make the battery indicator go "crazy" sometimes, since it goes down to 2 and then it goes back to 4, but it's not a problem, at least the cells are new and the battery will have a decent duration. What leaves me a bit disappointed is the volume of the ringtone: while my Microtac 7500 has a very loud ringtone, the GH172 is... Meh. But I can live with that, I guess, 'cause using the 172 as a daily phone is a bit like using the "Dynatac" of GSMs!
In my collection I also have an Ericsson GA318, which used to be my daily mobile phone from 2005 to 2010, when I was "forced" to switch to an iPhone 2G that was given to me as a gift.
I still have the 318, including the original charger and an aftermarket one, but the NO key lost a bit its sensitivity and it would require a cleanup of the key contacts in order to work well again. I have no idea how to open that phone but if someday I manage to do it, I will be able to use that one as well someday. If everything goes well, someday I might also receive a rare Ericsson ET337, a rebranded GH337 for the Italian market, branded with the former state phone provider SIP. The ET337, unlike the GH counterpart, looks more like a blend between the GH337 and the EH237, due to its rubber white keypad.
In the past I used to have a T18 and a GF768 as well. The T18 was my first mobile phone back in 2003, and the GF768 my second one. Both worked very well, although the T18 was sold many years ago and the GF stopped working without a reason, and was thrown away when I moved to a new house.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-25 20:57 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-25 20:59 ]
Posted by Zsolthy
Arrived just a few hours ago from italy. sadly no network, and no menu, but turns on
Posted by Marius1982
try a simcard with UMTS.
nice, where do you find these rarities?
, I was looking myself for a proto like this and a T36 in yellow, but I know i don't stand a chance to find such things.
Posted by vpn
Nice phone, you should try to test it with a UMTS SIM, it might work, since it's a 3G only phone and obviously doesn't support GSM SIM cards. In the meantime I have fixed the "crazy battery indicator" issue on my GH172 by just cleaning the contacts of the phone and yesterday the indicator stayed permanently on 4. When I switched it on in the morning, the indicator showed 3. I guess that the battery life with the new cells is 2-3 days. We will see... And hopefully, I hope to resurrect the two D2-branded 172 I'll receive tomorrow.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-27 13:26 ]
Posted by Zsolthy
@Marius1982 its from a retired collector from italy. how do i know its umts card?
the only yellow t36 i ever had, sold to r0sewhite, and 1 guess he sold too
http://www.e-zones.net/board.php
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-28 12:14 ]
Posted by vpn
Hi friends, I've received the two GH172s in the morning. Here they are! (Pictures taken by the seller)
Both handsets turn on and work, but the one with the intact beltclip has problems at finding the network and holding the signal. Most of the time it doesn't make calls nor receives them so I guess that the RF unit of the phone is damaged. The one with the broken beltclip works perfectly and unlike the previous one with the broken SIM lock, it has a very loud ringtone. I still have to test the two batteries to see if they hold a charge or not, but I will do it in the next days.
Now I have to remove the broken clip and the superglue used to keep it in place, it will be tricky as I don't want to scratch the phone, but at least it will look neater without that broken thing, and I will put a NOS GH172 beltclip I already have.
Perhaps I might sell the other two someday.
EDIT: I also forgot to say that the regenerated battery lasted two days with a 15 hours of charge. I've calculated the charging times of the battery and it should be 12 hours and 50 minutes. So, yesterday I put the battery on the charger and left it for that amount of time. Unlike before, when I put the battery into the phone, the voltage indicator showed 7 volts instead of 6,3 volts. Now that I finally have a working (and reliable) 172, I'm a very happy bunny. Waitin' for the ET337 now!
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-28 13:01 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-28 14:05 ]
Posted by Marius1982
On 2014-11-28 13:13:42, Zsolthy wrote:
@Marius1982 its from a retired collector from italy. how do i know its umts card?
the only yellow t36 i ever had, sold to r0sewhite, and 1 guess he sold too
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-28 12:14 ]
Absolutely spectacular phone. Does he have other phones? what I could be missing from my collection
, like GH 172/ 174 that Enzo has 3 of them already
Well, of you have a service provider that only works on a 3G/UMTS phone only, we have DIGI from RDS/RCS. That does not have signal on a 2G phone,like a T39m or regular R520m.
Posted by Ginz
I have that yellow T29m/T36m right now...
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-28 20:04 ]
Posted by Zsolthy
On 2014-11-28 21:01:46, Ginz wrote:
I have that yellow T29m/T36m right now...
now i know what a great phone i sold, but maybe some day i'll have a chance to buy. as well i had blue r360 ( what is the earliest r520 proto afik) but traded for a hedvig...
anyway here is the seller he have may nice phones:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/netseppy/m.html?item=291310053961&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
he used to have working wakaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290183438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
and futaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290187903?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
but i was outbid...
Posted by vpn
I got a little update about my GH172, friends. I've tested the two old NiCd batteries that came with the phones yesterday. Only one of them accepts a charge, and guess what?
I charged the battery for 10 hours (the average charging time according to the manual) and it still holds the charge like when it was new!
Probably because the battery was used only for a few times, I have no idea. But it's exciting to see that a 20-years old NiCd battery is still usable today (of course I need to cycle it a couple of times). I'm going to use it as a spare battery, since the refurbished one is used as a main battery. I've also replaced the antenna with the one from the Portuguese GH, as it seems to have a better signal. About the ringtone issue, it was a problem of the phone, since the D2-branded handset has a very loud and audible ringtone, just like my Microtac. The beltclip has been replaced as well.
So what can I say? I had to do some mix-n-match with the parts, but at least now I have a fully working handset that I can use as my daily "retro" Ericsson. I will alternate it with the Motorola Microtac, one week the former, one week the latter.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-29 09:42 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-11-29 11:52 ]
Posted by Marius1982
On 2014-11-28 22:40:59, Zsolthy wrote:
On 2014-11-28 21:01:46, Ginz wrote:
I have that yellow T29m/T36m right now...
now i know what a great phone i sold, but maybe some day i'll have a chance to buy. as well i had blue r360 ( what is the earliest r520 proto afik) but traded for a hedvig...
anyway here is the seller he have may nice phones:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/netseppy/m.html?item=291310053961&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
he used to have working wakaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290183438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
and futaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290187903?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
but i was outbid...
Nice, I know the seller, brought from him the Ericsson watch brand new in box, but never seen a proto that he sells, even asked him if he was a former employee, but he did not reply
Posted by Ginz
On 2014-11-28 22:40:59, Zsolthy wrote:
On 2014-11-28 21:01:46, Ginz wrote:
I have that yellow T29m/T36m right now...
now i know what a great phone i sold, but maybe some day i'll have a chance to buy. as well i had blue r360 ( what is the earliest r520 proto afik) but traded for a hedvig...
anyway here is the seller he have may nice phones:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/netseppy/m.html?item=291310053961&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
he used to have working wakaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290183438?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
and futaba: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291290187903?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
but i was outbid...
I also have that R360m... Didn't I buy it directly from you?
These Wakaba and Futuba were also too expensive for me at this time. They are still on my wishlist.
Today I received a SonyEricsson Jolie... A Windows Phone 7 device from SE. Not that I'm that interested in collecting SE, but it was quite cheap.
Posted by MISHAMBO
Hello! I've received the parcel from Italy too, but my Futaba is different than I saw in other collections. There is no Ericsson logo on the front panel and inside the phone, but there is a "Motorola sticker" on the battery. Can you tell me anything about it? Mototrola and Ericsson were competitors that time
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-01 13:45 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-01 13:45 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-01 13:46 ]
Posted by se4evr
@mish
wow. first time to have seen a futaba. very rare just like the hedvig.
Posted by Marius1982
I am surprised to see Ericsson branded prototypes still in 2004
Posted by MISHAMBO
On 2014-12-03 15:18:31, Marius1982 wrote:
I am surprised to see Ericsson branded prototypes still in 2004
This proto from EMP (ericsson mobile platform)
Posted by Marius1982
I know Ericsson still exists, maybe my wording was not good enough.
JV was signed as of April 2001 with Sony only on mobile handset production/development. How come they still develop phones using Ericsson(not SE) logo 3 years after, on label and also start-up screen.
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-04 18:32 ]
Posted by hihihans
These are old prototypes, some people have a huge collection. Some just like to use them on a daily basis.
Posted by Marius1982
I have also a collection and used some of the phones until an R310s, R520s and T18s just brake down almost in the same week, having no signal out of teh sudden, which annoyed me to the maximum
. Found out R310 share same RF or PA(do not remember) as A2618, no wonder they have the same signal problem.
Now I use a T29s, but this is not in the display cabinet, as it is not so good condition. T29 is prone to wear out the
logo from the top of the screen.
I avoid using collection phones as a daily phone just because of this, they can break down at any second without a warning. Someone here posted that they can break down at any minute and I did not understood what he ment, but now I do. I use only what I have spare.
In the annoying category goes also the battery contacts on T10,T18,GF768, 788 series; A2628, 2618 series battery wires and the phone altogether is a poor one, sadly it is very hard to find one that is in good working condition.
Good phones that resisted over time I consider all T series maybe except T66 due to it's often signal problem, SH888, A1018, GH 337, 388, R250s Pro are tough phones also. Series 6 and 318 o noticed they have a very low volume on the earpiece, hard to find a good one.
I owned at the time they were in fashion, T10s grey, T20e silver weave, and SE T68i Adriatic Blue AT&T custom branded all new in box. I still have the box and phones, except T10. T20e and T68i were exceptional phones, never had a single problem with them and used to nearly 300h talk time on both.T20e was stolen from me, but T68 is still on me and still working condition. T10 had weak battery.
From JV I owned T100, K800i, and Xperia Arc S which I have now as daily main phone, as I like the design and hate fruits
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-05 13:36 ]
[ This Message was edited by: on 2014-12-05 13:37 ]
Posted by Zsolthy
On 2014-12-01 14:44:16, MISHAMBO wrote:
Hello! I've received the parcel from Italy too, but my Futaba is different than I saw in other collections. There is no Ericsson logo on the front panel and inside the phone, but there is a "Motorola sticker" on the battery. Can you tell me anything about it? Mototrola and Ericsson were competitors that time
Is it working?
Posted by MISHAMBO
On 2014-12-06 22:16:51, Zsolthy wrote:
On 2014-12-01 14:44:16, MISHAMBO wrote:
Hello! I've received the parcel from Italy too, but my Futaba is different than I saw in other collections. There is no Ericsson logo on the front panel and inside the phone, but there is a "Motorola sticker" on the battery. Can you tell me anything about it? Mototrola and Ericsson were competitors that time
Is it working?
Posted by vpn
Hi friends, I've been using the Ericsson GH172 as a daily cellphone for a while now. I like a lot its signal strenght (it gets signal in places where a more modern cellphone won't), and the audio quality is very good. It even reads the modern 128K SIM cards with the small chip!
However, I have some questions about it. First, the CLI. When someone calls me, I just see "Call" on the display, without seeing the number. Is it possible to activate the Caller ID feature on the GH172? I recently got a GH198 which has a similar software and is able to display it...
Second, now that I have four of them, I noticed that two models don't have a loud ringtone, unlike the other two. Could it be a ringer problem? And in that case, is a spare part still available? And the last question is about the "Multi" charger. With the first refurbished battery, it charges fine until the green light appears, meaning that it's charged, while the other one, after the charging cycle, the light will become green for a while, then it turns off. The charger works fine though, since it charges and discharges. Thank you again for everything.
Posted by bart
Selling most of my collection.
You can find 2 topic about it in the for sale section here on Esato
Posted by Marius1982
Hehe, I managed to buy a GH172 for my collection, D2 branded,its not in mint condition, but it's working good. Ringtone is loud, signal reception excellent and sound quality good as well. This one as well does not have caller ID,but I think it is normal for such and old phone.
Probably I will refurbish a battery to test in all the the phones at normal usage.
Posted by vpn
Congrats Marius! The GH172 is a great phone. Since when I received it, I'm using it as my regular phone and I'm very satisfied by it, especially about the signal strenght. And the most important thing, it's a telephone that does the telephone, rather than all the fancy things that modern smartphones do.
In the meantime (a bit OT) I'm in the process of reviving an Alcatel 9109 HA, which has more or less the same age of the GH172, except it reads only SIM cards with the big chip (which I managed to find, hopefully it will work) and needs a quite beefy battery (7.2V) to work properly. I managed to find both of them, I have to keep the fingers crossed though, as I don't know if the new-old stock battery I bought still has juice or not.
[ This Message was edited by: vpn on 2015-01-07 21:22 ]
Posted by torshammer
Here is a few of the latest devices in my collection.
First TH688 limited edition GSM and DECT.
Then a A2228z that looks very much like a R300z. 1900 MHz GSM phone
The SF888 is not very common. Wonder if that is not the pre-design of I888.
Finally T61lx a late phone for AT&T
Posted by vpn
These are nice specimen, I quite like the SF888. Is it a prototype?
Posted by Marius1982
Today I restored too a battery for GH172 with modern eneloop cells, 1900 mah. Works fine for now, let's see how it performs in the real world and how much of a difference does it make from phone to phone, like GH 197 and 198 which are supposed to be better from energy consumption point of view.
Posted by golddty
It sounds really good, too wonderful!