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SCR-194 and 195
The SCR-194 and 195 were the first portable AM radio. It was developed by the US Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories in fort Monmouth, NJ. This device is considered to be the first 'walkie-talkie' and weighed 25 pounds (9.97kg), and had a 8km range. They were a important tool in communication for the US during World War II. -
SCR-300
The next development was the SCR-300, replacing the SCR-194 and 195. This was developed by Motorola for the US military. The main difference is that this was an FM radio. It ranged around 4.8 km and weighed between 14.5-17 kg. This technology was heavily relied on by the allied forces in WWII with nearly 50,000 devices being used. -
SCR-536
Motorola develops the first 'handie-talkie'. 130,000 of these were manufactured and used during the war. This hand held deviced was much more convenient than the previous transcievers weigning in at only 2kg. It's land range wasn't it's strong point at 1.5 km and 4.8km over water. -
Mobile Telephone System (MTS)
Bell system introduced the first commercial mobile telephone service called the Mobile Telephone System. The equipments was large weighing 36kg with limited calling bands. It wasn't a cheap service as it cost $30 a month (roughly $330 today) with additional chargers for calls. This system was not for the regular consumer. It was used for reporters, truck fleet operators and utilities. -
Mobile System A (MTA)
Ericsson's Mobile System A (MTA) was the first partly automatic mobile system for cars. The unit weighed 40kg (not really considered mobile), the equivilant of almost 300 iphones. -
Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS)
Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), an improvement of the previous mobile car phone. Motorolla's development weighed half as much as the original units. -
DynaTAC
Motorola Vice President Martin Cooper called his rivals at Bell Labs, making it the first private, practical mobile phone call in a non-vehical setting. This was using the prototype of DYNamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage system (DynaTac). -
Motorola's DynaTAC
10 years later after the prototype, Motorola's DynaTac is the first cellular phone that was made available to the public. It weighed just under 1kg but cost nearly $4000 (almost $9000 today). It worked on the 1g analoge service. -
Motorola's MicroTAC
Motorola introduced the first flip phone desgin. The hinged design made it easy to reduce its size when not in use. It was truely the worlds first pocket phone. -
Motorola International 3200
The Motorola International 3200 became the first handsize digital phone, using the 2g digitally encrypted technology. -
IBM Simon
IBM Simon as a mobile phone, pager, fax machine and PDA, all rolled into one. It could be seen as the worlds first smartphone.
It included a calendar, address book, clock, calculator, notepad, email, gamers and a touchscreen with QWERTY keyboard. It originally sold for $899, which would be just over $1,300 nowadays. -
Nokia 9000 Communicator
The Simon was good, but the Nokia 9000 Communicator was what really brought on the smartphone era. It was the first cell phone that could also be called a mini-computer (though it had limited web access). When opened, the longways clamshell design revealed an LCD screen and full QWERTY keyboard--the first on a mobile phone. -
Nokia 8810
The Nokia 8810 was the first cell phone without an external antenna whip or stub-antenna, possibly paving the way for iPhones and DROIDs. It also made mobile phones more aesthetically pleasing, with its sliding keypad cover. -
Nokia 3210
One of the most popular mobile phones in history was the Nokia 3210, with over 160 million sold. It was one of the first to allow picture messages, but only preinstalled ones like 'Happy Birthday' and was one of the first to be marketing toward young people. -
Nokia 7110
Nokia's 7110 was the first cell phone to incorporate Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which gave mobile users web access for simple devices--a stripped-down, mostly text version, but a revolutionary step for mobile internet. -
J-SH04
Sharp was first to the camera phone market with their J-SH04 (J-Phone), released by J-Mobile in Japan. It offered a mere 0.1 megapixel resolution. The J-SH04 was the first commercially available cell phone to have an integrated CCD. -
T-Mobile Sidekick
One of the first phones to equip a fully functional web experience and integrate an instant messaging client (AIM) was the Danger Hiptop in 2002, later re-branded the T-Mobile Sidekick. Its messaging features and keyboard made it one of the best selling phones in the deaf community. Also new was an LCD screen that rotated and flipped to reveal a large QWERTY keyboard. -
BlackBerry 5810
RIM's BlackBerry 5810 wasn't the first BlackBerry device, but it was the first to incorporate a mobile phone into their popular brand of data-only devices. Professionals who needed immediate access to their emails and schedules were the main target for RIM, but the built-in phone made it appealing to everyone. The downside? No speaker or microphone. -
Motorola RAZR
The next highly popular device was a camera phone called the Motorola RAZR, which was first marketed as a 'fashion' phone in 2004, selling 50 million units by mid-2006. It helped give cell phones a new look, which were getting stale with the same ol' boring designs. Though nothing revolutionary, its looks did more than impress. -
Apple iPhone
In 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone, a revolutionary touchscreen smartphone. It wasn't the first smartphone, but it was the first to get the user interface right, eventually adapting 3G technology (which was already available since 2001). -
HTC Dream slider
The first smartphone to run Google's Android OS was the HTC Dream slider smartphone. It featured a QWERTY keyboard, full HTML web browser, Gmail, YouTube and more, and paved the way for phones like the Nexus One and Motorola DROID. -
HTC EVO 4G
The HTC EVO 4G from Sprint was the first cellular phone to meet 4G standards, running on the WiMAX network. It was sold powered by Android 2.1 and had one of the largest touchscreen displays, an 8MP camera, HD video capture, HDMI output, Mobile Hotspot capability and HTC Sense.
