We have completely gotten used to watching series on our commute in the subway or on whatever public transport we take: it’s as easy as taking out our mobile, holding it in front of us, opening the app we need, and enjoying. However, not so many years ago, it wasn’t that easy, and only a few could afford such a grotesque and absolutely monstrous device: the portable television. Only for a very select audience, who didn’t want to listen to the radio or their walkman, and for whom missing a single minute of what was happening in their favorite soap opera was nothing short of a sin. If you remember them, you may have idealized them. If not, get ready to be surprised by one of the least useful and most forgotten devices in the history of technology.
Me, the novel, I take it everywhere
The story of portable televisions begins in 1963, when Mechianix Illustrated showed the future of television and computing in general, such as miniature tape recorders, book-sized computers, or tiny televisions, which RCA was supposedly working on. However, many believe it was a lie, because, after just a few prototypes, the industry did not start until 1971.
That’s when Panasonic created the innovative yet impossibly named IC TV MODEL TR-001. Of course, it ran on a rechargeable battery and allowed you to watch programs on its incredible three-and-a-half-inch screen (diagonally). You couldn’t see anything, of course, so with the purchase of the bulky device, they also gave you a magnifying glass. Additionally, it had a tiny speaker right below the screen. It’s worth seeing: it’s a huge rectangular device that had a very small screen and its only selling point in the ads was “It’s small and you can take it anywhere.” It didn’t matter if it was good or not, of course.
There were even advertisements referencing the arrival on the Moon the previous year, with the slogan “Now you can see the Russians arriving even if you are 402,000 kilometers from Earth”. The Cold War, at its peak. More models came out that evolved the concept of “portable television,” but the 1980s is where it had a boom: Sony, coming off the success of the Walkman, tried to imitate it with the “Watchman”, a kind of portable radios with screens that lasted from 1982 to 2002: with the transition to digital, it could no longer receive satellite signals (unless you used an adapter), and it ultimately lost all interest.
Over time, the five-centimeter black and white screen ended up becoming color in 1988 (later than its competitors), and it even had a “Mega” size model. In other words, a television with a handle that you could take anywhere, which caused a stir in campsites and guardhouses in the 90s. It may never have competed with other devices of the time, but it was certainly recognizable. So much so that it even appeared in the movie Rain Man, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Quite something.
In the end, portable televisions of a certain quality with LCD screens ended up costing 100 euros, but soon even the most enthusiastic fans no longer needed them after the release of the iPhone, which allowed you to have a whole universe, now indeed, in your pants pocket. You can still keep buying, but most of it is just vintage that won’t bring you anything… Unless you’re so fed up with Netflix and the rest of the streaming services that you’ve decided to go backward. Next step: open a video rental store. You never know.