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Cell Phone Evolution
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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". -
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 Handheld Call
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. -
Japan Shares
first commercial cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. -
Nokia's 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 Ceate "Call Handoff"
Bell Labs invented such a "call handoff" feature, which allowed mobile-phone users to travel through several cells during the same conversation. -
Motorola MicroTAC 9800X
The first truly portable phone. Up until its release, most cellular phones were installed as car phones due to the inability to fit them into a jacket pocket. -
First 2G Network
The first digital cellular phone call was made in the United States in 1990, 2G phone systems were characterized by digital circuit switched transmission and the introduction of advanced and fast phone to network signaling. -
First Cell Phone Call
The first digital cellular phone call was made in the United States in 1990. -
CTIA
The Cellular Technology Industry Association (CTIA) was developed to lay down practical goals for cellular phone providers. This included research for new applications for cell phone development. A new standard was placed with the creation of the TDMA Interim Standard 54, in 1991 by the Telecommunications Industry Association. -
Motorola International 3200
The first digital hand-size mobile telephone. -
BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator
The IBM Simon was the first PDA/Phone combo. -
Text Messaging Introduced
Text messaging,began in the late 1980’s by a group of Europeans who were trying to improve systems for the Global System for Mobile communications, but was used by a civilian in 1993 by an engineering student totally by accident. -
Commercial Texting
The first commercial usage of text messaging was implemented by Nokia in China and Japan in 1995. -
First PDA Cell Phone
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 and another (the Treo 180g) that used Graffiti text input instead. It had 16MB of memory. -
First iPhone
The smartphone completely changed forever when Apple launched the touchscreen-only iPhone in 2007. It took a few years before the competition could catch up. -
Google Releases Andrid Operating System
Google was the first to come up with a viable competitor to the iPhone with its Android operating system. The first Android phone debuted in late 2008 on the T-Mobile G1, which was made by HTC. It wasn't as good as the iPhone, but it was a great start. -
Google's First SmartPhone
Google introduced its first smartphone, the Nexus One, in January 2010. HTC made the hardware, but it was still considered Google's phone. -
Windows Phone 7 Released
Microsoft was late to the new touch-based smartphone game. It launched Windows Phone 7 in the fall 2010 to lukewarm reviews. Since then, Windows Phones have gotten a lot better thanks to the most recent version of the OS, Windows Phone 8. -
Touchscreen Returns
2011 marked the return of the touchscreen which dominated the mobile gadget scene with its powerful hardware and sleek looks. The above image shows a Samsung Galaxy S II, which has just about all the things that a cell phone and its owner needs in this modern age. It has an 8MP camera and AMOLED Display, runs on the Android OS, is less than 1 cm thick, supports web browsing, calls and has an in-built GPS. This was the phone to beat in 2011. -
Verizon Launches 4G LTE
Verizon launched the first widespread 4G LTE network in the U.S. in early 2011. LTE is a technology that gives you data speeds about as fast as your cable or DSL modem. It also brought about the rise of using our phones as WiFi hotspots to get our tablets and laptops online on the go. -
Blackberry Tries to Survive
After failing to keep up with the competition for the last few years, RIM is giving it one final try with a radical new operating system called BlackBerry 10. BB10 officially launched on January 30, 2013
