Bosch GSM COM608 Vintage Mobile Phone

The Bosch COM608 phone was a pre-2000 GSM phone that provided excellent service for many people and now is considered as a real vintage mobile phone

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The Bosch COM 608 was a relatively basic phone by today's standards providing the basic functions needed in the day to make phone calls and store a few numbers.

The phone lacked all the personalisation and additional features that were provided by many Nokia phones, but it was launched before the turn of the century.

Front view of Bosch GSM COM608 vintage mobile phone

Back view of Bosch GSM COM608 vintage mobile phone with battery removed

Battery from Bosch GSM COM608 vintage mobile phone

This vintage phone was relatively basic and did not offer the facilities being offered by many other phones at the time. It was not possible to create personalised ring tones, it was not possible to eprsoanlise the look int he same way that it was with Nokia phones and there were no games.

The COM608 was a GSM only phone, so it did not even have GPRS or EDGE as it was a little early for this. It did not have a data capability beyond the basic SMS messaging.

Specification Summary for Bosch COM608 GSM Vintage Phone
Parameter	Details
Network technology	GSM 900
Launch	1999
Dimensions	134 x 53 x 24 mm
Weight	169g
SIM	Mini-SIM
Display	Monochrome graphic with 4 x 16 characters
Call records	10 dialled, 10 received, 10 missed calls
Loudspeaker	No
Alert	Monotonic ring tones
Communications	No Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.
Messaging	SMS
Features	No calculator, clock, games, etc.
Battery	Removable 550 mAh 4.8V NiMH battery
Standby time	50h
Talk time	130 minutes

Bosch manufactured a number of GSM phones for a number of years, but they soon found they were not able to compete with companies placing far more focus on mobile communications technology. As a result, like a number of others, they withdrew from the market.

The Bosch GSM COM608 was a relatively basic phone, and even though it was quite early in terms of GSM mobile phone development, it did not offer the same level of functionality that was being offered by other manufacturers and other phones.