8 Responses to “70s UK Trimphone”

1. Rufus T Firefly Says:
   December 18th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

   Dreadful piece of ill-thought out gimmicky design. Impossible to use the dial without holding the thing with the other hand. Appalling sound quality too. These things were ubiquitous in 70s Britain. The horror!

2. Mike Says:
   April 25th, 2008 at 7:00 am

   What a load of rubbish from the other comment, the trimphone was an iconic style item from the 1970,s
   brilliant design, they have the best nostalgic ringtone of them all, add great interest to home, office, business etc…I suppose Rufus T Firefly prefers the cheap and nasty phones from a sweat shop in China ?

3. Hamstall Ridware Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 2:44 am

   I’m afraid Rufus has a point Mike. Even though stylistically it may have been a triumph of ’60s (not ’70s…) design (Martin Rowlands designed it in1966) the execution left much to be desired. Over light and flimsy it was, coupled with the fact that they had a design fault which could lead to unpopularity for the user:

   The technology didn’t exist to put a cheap carbon microphone in the mouth piece of the Trimphone, so the mic was fitted in the earpiece and sound travelled up a speaking tube to the mic. This meant that if you answered the phone to an unwanted caller (bank manager for example) and cupped your hand over the mouthpiece to let all in the room that it was that to**er from the bank on the line, said caller could hear every word.

   Ruined my credit rating I can tell you.

   PS Mike: I prefer the big heavy Bakelite jobs from England.

4. Steven (Wirral) Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   I agree with Mike. The Trimphone was & still is a great looking telephone. Take a look at the rubbish that followed its demise, the only decent looking phone to come out since then was the “Viscount”.

   I do agree with one comment in that the dial version was a pain as it used to slide all over the place when dialling but the later pushbutton version solved that & looked even more stunning; I’ve just managed to buy a 12 button (DTMF) ‘Touchtone’ version, which are very rare, as a surprise Christmas gift for my Mother & I know 100% she will be delighted with it.

   I bet if someone brought out a range of ‘Touchtone’ Trimphone’s with some additional updates to include caller display and one touch redial they’d sell like hotcakes. In fact a Bluetooth version would be great as I don’t have a landline any more and could do with a couple of extension phones to link with my mobile. If there’s anyone out there who can supply this I’d be more than interested.

5. Rufus T Firefly Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 5:42 pm

   I speak from experience. BT’s ’80s monopoly meant there was no choice of approved aftermarket models so customers were stuck with this or a few even more useless designs. Once the market opened up and we could buy Panasonics and other designs that worked these were soon consigned to the dustbin of history. Phones are meant to be used, not just admired and looked at. This was a true dud - especially in avocado!

6. Andy Says:
   September 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   Things were so much better when the market opened up in the 1980s. BT offered phones for sale for the first time in 1981, and you could even buy a phone from Argos by 1987! The 80s truly were the decade of choice. But I still love the Trimphone. I love so many things that originated from the 1960s!

7. Gavin Says:
   January 9th, 2009 at 11:42 am

   I have to agree with Mike and Steven, i think it’s a fabulous piece of iconic style and history despite some of it’s slightly annoying short commings. My main concern, having just purchased one, is the little matter of the tritium gas tube within the phone that emits beta radiation :-(. The tube was designed to illuminate the dial and was of some concern at the time rgarding it’s emissions. Although it’s radioactivity levels are less than a wrist watch, the phone was finally with drawn over concerns regarding the radiation and warehouses where thousands of these were stored at any one time.

   I’ve been assured it’s safe, but the words BETA RADIATION , to me, do not go hand in hand with the word SAFE.

8. Paul B. Says:
   August 15th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

   I’m an Industrial Designer and I collect Canadian phones from the ’60’s & ’70’s. I fell in love with 3 great phones: The Contempra, the Dawn and the Alexander Graham Plane. Another fun one is the Doodle or Kangaroo phone, with a sketch pad and bean bag base w/side pouches. All from Northern Telecom and Canadian designed. I find them fun, well made and unique for that period and even compared to today’s phones. The Contempra is probably one of the most elegant phones ever made and was the world’s first telephone with the keys on the handset. They had both dial and touch tone, and the unit could lie flat on a desk or be hung on the wall without any extra hardware. The handset mimicked the base’s form and looked very sculptural. Here are a few photos of these phones from a company I’ve bought them from:
   http://www.oldphoneworks.com/northern-telecom/
   Also: http://www.civilization.ca/media/docs/fs60s02e.html

   Here’s a link for the Kangaroo/Doodle phone (wish I had one, as they are very rare if they have the pouch intact):
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/7479548@N05/451889157

   Enjoy!

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