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0G Mobile Phones
• In 1945, the zero generation (0G) of mobile telephones was introduced. 0G mobile telephones, such as Mobile Telephone Service, were not officially categorized as mobile phones, since they did not support the automatic change of channel frequency during calls, which allows the user to move from one cell (the base station coverage area) to another cell, a feature called "handover". -
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Cells For Mobile Phones
• The introduction of cells for mobile phone base stations, invented in 1947 by Bell Labs engineers at AT&T, was further developed by Bell Labs during the 1960s. -
First Call on Handheld Phone
• Motorola is widely considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for handheld use in a non-vehicle setting. Using a modem, if somewhat heavy portable handset, Motorola manager Martin Cooper made the first call on a handheld mobile phone on April 3, 1973. -
Japans Share
• first commercial cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. -
Nokias First Mobile Phone
It may look more like a boombox than a portable phone, but this boxy, bulky device was actually Nokia's first mobile (if you can call it that) phone. Introduced in 1982, the Nokia Mobira Senator was designed for use in cars. After all, you wouldn't want to use this phone while walking: It weighed about 21 pounds. -
Bell Labs Create "Handoff"
• Bell Labs invented such a "call handoff" feature, which allowed mobile-phone users to travel through several cells during the same conversation. -
PDA/Phone
• A cell phone with added PDA functions isn't news today. But in 1993, it was a novel idea. The Simon Personal Communicator, jointly marketed by IBM and BellSouth, was the first mobile phone to add PDA features. It was a phone, pager, calculator, address book, fax machine, and e-mail device in one package, albeit a 20-ounce package that cost $900. -
Texting
• Text messaging, also known as Short Message Service (SMS), began in the late 1980’s by a group of Europeans who were trying to improve systems for the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), but was used by a civilian in 1993 by an engineering student totally by accident. -
More Texting
• The first commercial usage of text messaging was implemented by Nokia in China and Japan in 1995. -
Cell Phone Fashion
• Ahead of Its Time: Motorola StarTAC (1996)
Before the Motorola StarTAC was introduced in 1996, cell phones were more about function than fashion. But this tiny, lightweight phone ushered in the concept that style was just as important, ultimately paving the way for today's sleek-looking phones like the Motorola Razr. This 3.1-ounce clamshell-style phone, which could easily be clipped to a belt, was the smallest and lightest of its time. In fact, it was smaller and lighter than many of today's -
Mobile Phones to Cell Phones
In the late 1990s, Nokia's candybar-style cell phones were all the rage. Sporting a monochrome display, an external antenna, and a boxy, 5.2-inch tall frame, the Nokia 6160 was the company's best-selling handset of the 1990s. The somewhat sleeker Nokia 8260, introduced in 2000, added a colorful case and lost some of the 6160's bulk: it stood only about 4 inches tall and weighed 3.4 ounces, compared with almost 6 ounces for the 6160. -
Bluetooth
• Its intended basic purpose was to be a wire replacement technology in order to rapidly transfer voice and data.
There were many doubters who believed Bluetooth would be a distant memory in just a couple of years. However, multiple years have passed and Bluetooth continues to make strides and advancements everyday. -
Intro to Blackberry
• The BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999 which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services. Developed by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), it delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies. BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on e-mail. RIM currently offers BlackBerry e-mail service to non-BlackBerry devices, -
The Smart Phone
• Early Smart Phone: Kyocera QCP6035 (2000)
If you're one of the many fans of the Palm OS-based Treo phone, you might want to thank Kyocera. The company's QCP6035 smart phone, which hit the retail market in early 2001 and cost between $400 and $500 (depending on the carrier), was the first Palm-based phone to be widely available to users. It included a measly 8MB of memory, and sported a bland monochrome display, but it paved the way for future products. -
3G
• Not long after the introduction of 2G networks, projects began to develop third generation (3G) systems. Inevitably there were many different standards with different contenders pushing their own technologies. Quite differently from 2G systems, however, the meaning of 3G has been standardized in the IMT-2000 standardization processing. -
PDA mixed with Phone
Back when Palm and Handspring were still rivals, Handspring made waves with the Treo 180. More PDA than phone, the Treo 180 came in two versions: one with a QWERTY keyboard for typing (pictured), and another (the Treo 180g) that used Graffiti text input instead. Like the Kyocera QCP6035, it featured a monochrome screen, but boasted 16MB of memory. -
Camera Phone
Today, most cell phones come with a built-in camera. But, just a few years ago, a camera phone was hard to come by. In 2002, Sanyo and Sprint debuted the Sanyo SCP-5300 PCS phone, which they claimed was the first mobile phone available in America with a built-in camera. (A camera phone from Sharp had been available in Japan for a few years.) At its highest resolution, it captured VGA (640 by 480) images--a far cry from today's 5-megapixel camera phones like the Nokia N95. -
Danger Hiptop
Before the T-Mobile Sidekick became Hollywood's "it" phone, it was known as the Danger Hiptop. PC World liked it so much that we named it our product of the year in 2003. While its voice capabilities were only mediocre, this was one of the first devices to offer truly functional mobile Web browsing, e-mail access, and instant messaging. Plus, it pioneered that nifty swiveling design. -
Recycling Phones
• In late September, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004 (Assembly Bill 2901), which requires cell phone sellers to take back and recycle old phones at no cost to consumers, beginning on July 1, 2006. -
The Music Phone
• It promised to bring together the best of two worlds: Apple's excellent iTunes music player and Motorola's cell phone design expertise. The Motorola Rokr, released in September 2005, was the first music phone to incorporate Apple's music software. It allowed users to transfer songs purchased from iTunes to the phone for listening on the go. Unfortunately, users found song transfers to be painfully slow, and many were stymied by the 100-song limit imposed on their music collections. Still, this
