The Brick takes mobile phones back to the 1980s

British phone manufacturer Binatone has unveiled the Brick, a mobile phone with a distinctly 1980s aesthetic, and over three months of standby time.

Sure, you could gain hipster cachet with a snazzy new iPhone, but nothing screams "before it was cool" louder than a massive brick of a phone that doesn't even fit in your handbag, never mind a pocket. Cue Binatone's the Brick — a mobile phone that seems to have been beamed to us from the 1980s.

Remember the Motorola DynaTAC series of phones, or the Motorola International 3200 from 1991? In terms of both size and specs, that's more or less what you're looking at.

The Brick operates on the 2G spectrum and has a tiny 1.8-inch TFT screen with a resolution of just 128x160p. Why would anyone want such a thing? Well, it does play Snake, and it has a killer battery. The Brick can last up to three months on standby on a single full charge, with 28 hours of talk time. This is, admittedly, the "Power" edition of the phone, which runs on a 2000mAh battery and can also be used to charge a second mobile device via a micro-USB port.

The regular edition of the phone has a 1000mAh battery, which provides only one month of standby and 14 hours of talk time. However, you can pick up the XXL battery for either edition that allows up to six months of standby time.

It does have a couple of other features that aren't quite so Dark Ages. The first is Bluetooth, which allows you to use the Brick as a handset for your iOS or Android smartphone. It also has a microSD slot that allows playback of MP3, AAC, AMR and WAV audio files.

There's also a landline version that has a range of up to 1 kilometre from its base station.

All three phones will be available in the UK from 10 October. The Brick will be £50 (AU$84.50), and the Brick Power edition will be £80 (AU$135). They will roll out to a global market beginning November via web, with physical stores coming later.