Motorola Talkabout (stylized TALKABOUT) is a line of consumer-oriented walkie-talkies produced by Motorola Solutions (formerly Motorola). License-free and designed for families and outdoor recreational activities, they have been one of the most successful product lines of two-way radios. [1]
The TalkAbout line was first released in 1997 targeting families and young buyers with two-way radios. Designed to work on the Family Radio Service (FRS), it was initially offered in a regular TalkAbout model [2] and a Talkabout Plus model. [3] In July 1998, the TalkAbout SLK series were announced, also for the FRS. [4] In March 1999, the TalkAbout 200 was launched. These would also launch in European territories being able to operate freely on the selected frequencies. [5]
The Talkabout 250 became one of the most famed walkie talkies during the boom of the walkie-talkie in the late 1990s, before the expansion of cell phones. [6] [7]
In September 1999, Motorola introduced the TalkAbout T289, with advertized new features being a channel busy indicator and hands-free use. [8] In May 2000, FRS two ray radios FR50 and FR60 were lanched. [9]
On August 1, 2000, Motorola introduced the TalkAbout T6300 rugged two-way radio series. [10] It has a digital compass, altimeter, barometer, clock, alarm, timer, and gets national weather alerts from NOAA. [11]
Motorola also released a model that works with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology that was released in 2007. [12]
In 2011, the fully waterproof MS350R was introduced. [13] In 2013, Motorola launched the Talkabout MU350R, the first consumer FRS/GMRS radio with Bluetooth. On the other hands, the MG series (MG160A and MG167A) became new entry-level radios with a range of 16 miles and coming in bright colors. [14] [15] In October 2014, Motorola Solutions announced that the Talkabout will begin selling in Latin American markets. [16]
Talkabout T82 was released in July 2017 replacing the Motorola TLKR T80. [17] In October 2018, the Talkabout T800 was announced as the first Talkabout walkie-talkie with a smartphone app which connects via Bluetooth and effectively uses the T800 as a modem to send messages and locations over the radio frequencies while outside a cellular zone. [18]
In 2025, ZDNet called the Motorola Talkabout T800 the "best overall walkie-talkie", and noted the 35 miles long range, long battery life, and app connection. [19]
In its earlier years, Motorola also used the brand name on some consumer pagers and cell phones. In 1999 it launched the TalkAbout T340, a small text pager, and the T8090/T8097 dual mode TDMA phones and T8160/T8167 CDMA phones, based on the StarTAC. [8]
In June 2000, Motorola released the TalkAbout T900, their first two-way messaging product. These clamshell style e-mail pagers were sold for $99 after a $50 rebate and were similar to the BlackBerry but targeted a young audience and came in various colors. [20] [21] [22] [23] In 2001 in a partnership with Microsoft, MSN services like Hotmail became available on the Talkabout T900. [24] By July 2001, 1 million T900 pagers had been sold. [25]
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