Sony, a renowned Japanese corporation, specializes in manufacturing consumer electronics. Their product range encompasses televisions, digital cameras, smartphones, and hearables, among other devices.
Sony is widely recognized for its PlayStation series of home video game consoles, which has garnered significant acclaim. Additionally, the company has made significant contributions to the audio industry with ground-breaking products like the Walkman, hailed as the world’s first portable music player.
In the realm of video products, Sony introduced the TV8-301, recognized as the world’s first all-transistor television, marking another milestone in its innovative history.
Sony introduced its first TV, the TV8-301, in May 1960. This eight-inch TV was a breakthrough as the world’s initial direct-view portable transistor TV. It contained 23 transistors and 19 diodes.
Its design focused on easy portability, featuring a round shape with the screen in front to reduce unused space. The TV8-301 hit the market in 1960 but discontinued by 1962.
Later, in 1968, Sony unveiled its first color TV, the KV-1310, as part of the Trinitron series. This TV set new standards for picture quality, marking a significant leap forward in color television technology.
Supporting a 12-inch viewable screen, it stood as a pioneering product in its time. Despite its historical significance, in this era where high definition visuals are more prevalent, awareness of this TV remained low. But recently a Reddit user has flabbergasted everyone by reminding people this one of the cool inventions by Sony.
A Reddit user recently shared an extraordinary find—a 33-year-old Sony device—in a post captioned “Can’t believe this 33 year old device just works. Was lucky to find this in my local marketplace. Needed some maintenance. I took this apart completely, took note of every single electrolytic capacitor (the one that typically goes bad over time) and put it back together. I was marvelled with all the engineering and creativity went into building this. Will share more details of the teardown soon.”
The user found this Sony’s miniature TV a local marketplace, and after refurbished the gadget, highlighting its engineering marvel because even after so many years, the device is still working fine. This revelation reignited interest in this miniature Sony TV.
The Sony Watchman FDM-330 Portable Color LCD TV made its debut on August 27, 1989, boasting a 2.7-inch color monitor, an electronic tuning TV tuner, an active speaker, and a battery case compatible with standard AA batteries or rechargeable options.
Yes, Sony Watchman TV/Monitor was battery operated. Luckily, we found a video on YouTube, where a user can be seen arranging and using this portable TV.
The most exciting feature of this portable TV was its capability to not only display TV shows but also play games and movies—a remarkable addition. However, despite its cool features, Sony discontinued this compact modular TV in 2000. While its legacy lives on in the memories of those who enjoyed its features, its discontinuation marked the end of an era in portable entertainment technology.
