A Brief History of Mobile Phones

Here's a brief look at the history of mobile phones. Remember those police car chases in the old movies where the two-way radios featured so prominently? Well that was hi-tech in those days.

Since then we've come a long way technically. In those days you needed a car trunk (car booth) to cart a mobile phone around. Today you can slip you cell phone into your breast pocket and still have space for something else.

Since those early days, the mobile phone has then evolved from suitcase-sized equipment, to the Walkie-Talkie, which was a large hand-held two-way radio for the military. This battery powered portable phone was almost fifteen inches long, and was like carrying a brick around.

The Emergence of Cell Phone Technology

In those early days cell phones were then still a very long way off. It was not until after the 1960s when Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel developed the cellular electronics, that mobile phones started to decrease in size.

The prototype for the first generation of cellular mobile phone was demonstrated on April 3, 1973, by Dr. Martin Cooper, when he placed a call to Dr. Joel S. Engel, while out walking in New York. Martin Cooper is also considered by many as being the father of the cellular phone.

Modern History of Mobile Phones –Now in the Making

With the second generation of cellular phones, the trend shifted towards smaller hand-held devices, weighing about 100 – 200 g.

Not long after 2G cellular phones were introduced, developers started working on third generation network technologies. In 2002 the first 3G networks were setup in South Korea by SK Telecom and KTF, and in the USA by Monet.

Fast forward to today…

Today you can buy mobile phone that seems almost custom-made to your needs. There's the relatively inexpensive mobile phone, such as the Blackberry Storm, that plays music, has a flash camera, give you directions via a GPS navigation system.

Then there's the Apple iPod Phone that comes with a media player, Wi-Fi connectivity and a Web browser. If you're looking for something with a bit more features, there's always the Garmin nuvi 765T.

Finally, if you want the leading model in mobile phones, then there's the Apple 3GS iPhone, which is considered to be the best in today's market.

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