Do you know where mobile phones originated? What is DynaTAC 8000x? What happened after its creation? This article will walk you through the early beginnings of this ubiquitous, indispensable gadget in the information age.
Mobile phones are everyday gadgets nowadays. The mobile phone has evolved from just a simple portable device used to connect users to each other without the need of fixed wires that prevents them from moving about.
From the cumbersome, difficult to carry, and large units, new mobile phones emerge that are light and have many features or user options compared to their predecessors. One can choose from a wide array of mobile phones that fit your taste.
Demand for mobile phones has been so high that their price plunged considerably, making these nifty gadgets much more affordable. Almost anyone can now own the once expensive mobile phone, not only one but several different models. Some users have one dedicated cell phone for every cell phone provider in their locality.
But how did the mobile phone originate? This article describes its early beginnings and development.
Origin of the Mobile Phone
Early Mobile Phone Models are Car Phones
Mobile telephones had been introduced by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1946. However, in a given area only 11 or 12 channels were available, so users often had to wait to use the system. Another weakness of the first mobile phones was that the large amount of power needed to run them could be supplied only by car batteries. Thus, there were no truly portable phones but only car phones.
DynaTAC 8000x
In 1973, Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first call using a mobile phone as big as a brick, weighing about 2 kilograms. But the first commercially available mobile phone came a decade later when Motorola released the DynaTAC 8000x. The very first commercial handheld cellphone. In 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X received approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. It measures 13 x 1.75 x 3.5 inches in dimension.
Although this model cost initial prices of $3,995 in 1983 dollar terms, everyone wanted to be the first to use the monolithic model. This event ignited a demand for personal wireless communication, especially among the executives.
Commercial Mobile Phones
By 1990, millions of people worldwide subscribed to cellular networks providing mobile phone service, basically for calling purposes. It was not until 1992 that the first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone. A year later, the first SMS from a mobile phone to another was sent in Finland.
In 1998, downloadable ringtones were made available in Finland, while in 1999, NTT DoCoMo of Japan introduced i-Mode, which featured internet access.
Since then, the capacity and services provided to mobile phone users have increased. Mobile phones delivered the news via SMS. Further development in internet technology allowed payments using mobile phones.
Recent Developments of Mobile Phones
Now, mobile phones can even take good pictures, play music and games, receive radio broadcasts, do banking services online, transfer cash and make bill payments. This capacity spares one from physically queuing in banks. The most recent mobile phones mimic the function of laptops or desktops and are called smartphones and android mobile phones that run using a variety of mobile applications or mobile apps.
Smartphones
As the word connotes, a smartphone is “smart” indeed as it works like a personal assistant able to support the communication and information needs of the user. It’s like another intelligent person or a “genie” in your hands that respond and grants the users’ commands.
The smartphone can grant its master’s wishes as it combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. These units operate using complex hardware and software components that leverage the semi-conductor integrated circuits plus sensors added to the whole mix. This blend of technological advancement enables the use of wireless communication protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Third-party software applications, aside from the common ones that go with the mobile phone, enrich the user’s experience.
Early smartphones were bulky and had short battery life, but through time, these minor inconveniences disappeared. Miniaturization of the key components like transistors, improved battery power, and faster internet connection speeds transformed the gadget into portable and highly indispensable tools for office workers, students, and virtually all people who can afford to buy one.
Android Mobile Phones
The cheaper Android-powered mobile phones came in the first decade of the century. In 2007, the first commercial Android device came into existence. The Android mobile operating system is a modified version of the open-source software Linux kernel combined with other open-source software. Google, an American multinational technology company, is instrumental in its development.
Recently, Android has become the bestselling operating system in the world as over two billion people use it. Over 3 million apps can be accessed in the proprietary storage of third-party applications in Google Play. Mobile phone applications have become a lucrative source of income for many software developers.
Mobile Phone Applications
Mobile phone applications are software applications (or apps) designed to run using the miniature components of the mobile phone. The intended use of these apps evolved from simple email, calendar, or storage of contacts to what it is now.
Current functionalities that serve users include software applications to play games, determine one’s location through Geographic Positioning Systems or GPS, shopping, banking, taking pictures with capacities to tweak those pictures to one’s satisfaction, making complex calculations, holding conferences, conducting research, monitor sleeping patterns, access videos, and a host of other functionalities one could imagine.
Who knows when human imagination can come up with. If a user thinks about some possible uses, a software developer or creator can respond and develop software to satisfy that need. These software applications can be downloaded from a distribution platform owned by well-known commercial technology companies such as tech giants like Google and Apple.
The mobile phone has become a very significant electronic gadget that influenced the lives of many people. The development of popular mobile phone applications like Tiktok, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram dominated people’s lives. Some even get addicted to these social media applications alongside popular mobile game applications in android mobile phones.
© Simplyeducateme Publishing and Consultancy Services 13 May 2021
