Advancement of the Cell Phone
Let’s Begin — We have come a long way in terms of advancing in technology, specifically our cell phones. The one thing you’ll notice in the following presentation is how convenient the cell phone has become. Obviously, nearly every person has a cell phone today, no matter what age group. Today, we will take a look at the first cellular phone and where it has taken us today.
The Radio Common Carrier (RCC)-The picture above shows the first ever cell phone. Yes, that was a cell phone! It was introduced in the 1960’s as a precellular system. Like a radio, it transmitted voice communication through a push-to-talk system, but it used a public telephone network and had its own telephone number.
The Brick Phone — Here we have a brick phone. It was called this due to its size and resemblance of a brick. The classic brick phone had an LED screen and boasted 30 minutes of talk time with eight hours of standby. It was this phone with which Motorola employee Marty Cooper made the first mobile phone call.
The Clamshell Phone — We move on to the clamshell design of the cell phone. This came out in the late 80’s. Motorola was a pioneer of this phone. This specific phone was called the microTAC. This had a red LED display and a standard 12 button keypad, plus a menu of options, including a calculator, hands-free operation, keypad tones, and much more. The clamshell phone paved the way for the modern flip phone.
The Candybar Phone — Next, lets take a look at the candybar phone. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It is pretty much shaped like a candybar. Nokia was the forefront of this creation. Candybar phones with monochrome screens dominated cell phone screens in the mid 90’s and early 2000’s. The Nokia 1100, a monochrome bar phone, is reported to be the best selling phone ever, having sold over 250 million unites since 2003.
The Satellite Phone — Now comes the satellite phone. A satphone connects to orbiting satellite, rather than earth-bound cellular towers, which means it can make a call from essentially anywhere in the world. They provide similar functionality to terrestrial mobile telephones. Voice, short-messaging service, and low-bandwidth internet access is supported through most systems.
The PDA — Next, we’ll take a look at the PDA device. The personal digital assistants of the 90’s ushered in a wave of pocket computing and touchscreen devices. The industry game changer was popularized by palm, which launched the palm pilot in 1997 for a retail price of about $200-$300. The virtual keyboard. handwriting recognition, and internet connectivity were cutting-edge technologies during that time.
Nokia 6000 series — We move on to the Nokia 6000 series. This popular cell phone of the early 2000’s made mobile communication affordable and widely available for the masses. Many people recognize this phone because of the famous “snake” game as well.
The Razr — Remember the Razr? This slim, sleek phone made the Motorolla flip phone, which launched in 2004, a surefire hit among the fashion-forward crowd. Because of it’s striking appearance and thin profile, it was exclusively marketed as a fashion phone, but within a year, its prices lowered and it was widely successful, selling over 50 million units by July 2006.
The Blackberry — The very next cell phone was the blackberry. Blackberry was considered one of the most prominent smartphone vendors in the world, specializing in secure communications and mobile productivity. However, Blackberry has lost those sales due to the success of iOS and android platforms.
T-Mobile Sidekick — Seemed like everyone wanted this phone. Maybe it was the sliding keyboard? Originally named the “hiptop,” the Sidekick was an SMS-friendly phone for the next generation of texters. Sidekick was all the hype a few years back but again with the iOS and android platforms coming out, all these phones just died out.
Creative Keyboards — There were creative keyboards on phones as well. This Gif shows exactly that. Mobile-phone manufacturers looking to capitalize on the rise of SMS created a variety of wacky looking phones that incorporated full-size QWERTY keyboards.
The iPhone — Finally, the game changer was here! The world wasn’t quite ready for the iPhone when it was unveiled in 2007. Apple founder Steve Jobs launched the all-in-one digital music player, camera(2MP), and internet-enabled PDA device, and the rest is history
Apps take over — Apps take over the game. App-enabled smartphones take over the market after the release of the iPhone. Google’s open-sourced Android made it possible for manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC, and others to create devices based on the mobile operating system.
The Fire Phone — Amazon got in the game with this fire phone. In June 2014, Amazon got in on the cell phone game with the Fire phone. It comes with pretty innovative features, including a better camera and free photo storage in the cloud, 3D features, and firefly technology, which can recognize 100 million items in the world.
The Future — What’s in store for us in the future? The future touchscreen phones are getting lighter, wider, and more powerful, but what else can we expect from the future of mobile communication? Many surprises are coming our way so stay tuned.
