Given their widespread use, and the degree to which we rely on them, it’s hard to imagine a world without mobile phones. For new generations growing up today this might be as difficult as it for older people to imagine life without electricity. With a touch of comedy, we might remember television and films of the early 90s featuring oversized cell phones that were cutting edge technology at the time, but actually, the first modern handheld cell phone was created all the way back in 1973.
Dr. Martin Cooper is credited with the creation of the first not for vehicle use handheld portable phone. His boss at Motorola John F. Mitchell is also given credit in assistance, and his contribution is pushing the company to make handheld device small enough to be used practically. There was a tremendously close portable phone development race between Motorola and Bell Labs, and actually, Dr. Cooper made the first call to Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell labs.
The phones didn’t exactly take off right away because the technology to make them feasible for the general population wasn’t exactly intact. The phones made after this had a more advanced system of connectivity that depended on the phones ability to seamlessly switch mobile cell sites. This made it easier to move around with your phone, thereby making it truly portable. This technology took off in Japan in 1979. The early 80’s saw more countries like the UK, Mexico, and Canada develop networks, but the phones expensive price tag combined with the lack of a fully developed network made them rare, and practically no mainstream consumers owned them.
The next large improvement in cell phone technology took place in the early 90s with the advent of digital transmissions over analog and also with important improvements and increased rapidity between the phones and the network. Also, battery life was increased and phones started becoming smaller and smaller. Not surprisingly, this is what started the explosion of cell phone ownership and is really the beginning of their use on the scale we see today.
In the early 2000’s it was clear that the demand for cell phones was insatiable, and the industry began working on creating faster, more reliable networks that could support data transmission. Cell phones started sprouting cameras and other devices, and this would all require greater connectivity. In the mid 2000’s the networks were sufficiently improved to allow for portable phones, and other devices, to access the internet portably-thus the modern era of portable phones was reached.
It’s taken for granted now that everyone can be reached on their own business phone systems at any given time, but there was a time not so long ago where our current reality seemed to only belong in the realm of science fiction. We owe our thanks to those at Motorola, Bell, and all the other innovators around the world over the years who have brought us to this advanced state of technology.
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