Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/20/trade-doomscrolling-for-back-pain-radio-shack-cell-phone-commercial-from-1989.html
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This kind of reminds me of a trove of 80s-era Japanese commercials that were shared in a download back in the day. Consumer grade cameras that looked like bazookas. Lots and lots of word processors. But my favorite commercial was an ad for a portable computer. The women on the ad walks in from the side carrying a case that was probably only slightly smaller than a modern check bag you would bring on a vacation. She opens the case and puts the computer on her lap to work. Her crossed legs shifted beneath the weight of this behemoth. It was impressive how they wanted to convey the portability but also couldn’t get the girl to look casually comfortable in the actual commercial.
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But does it come with Snake? That’s usually the kind of deciding factor that gets me to commit to big purchases. 
Literally a big purchase. Looks like I’m going to need a big counterweight for the other hand to keep from tipping over when I’m just lugging the thing around. 0_o
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You can still get dumb phones if limited features are what you really want. You can even recreate Breaking Bad by getting a flip phone and snapping it in half.
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I had one of those and, living here in Southern California, it was beyond useful in letting my family know that the latest earthquake, whichever one it was, had left me unscathed.
In those dark days, the telephone companies would shut down all civilian landline service to free up the network for emergency responders. However, the cellular network was primitive enough that it had no way to determine whether a given cellphone was being used by an emergency responder or not. So, although immediately post-quake, my landline would be useless (often for days), the cellphone would always work. Best family safety notification service ever.
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