Communication: Then and Now

A Brief Interpretation on Mobile Revolution

How was communication and life before cell phones and now? Let’s have this very
quick tour on history of the “thing” that most of us feel like we couldn’t live without.

In 1926, radiophones connected people traveling on trains in Europe. Then later

introduced to planes and made a huge difference in World War II. In 1950s,
radiophones made civil and commercial services possible.

Military Field Communications Civil Field Communications

In 1960s and 70s, a variety of commercial car

services were used – the earliest weighed 90-100
pounds (40-45 kilograms). There was no method for
handoffs or the process of transferring an active call
or data session from one cell in a cellular network
to another (techopedia.com).
High Power Mobile Phone

This problem was solved with the first functioning cell system and the first real cell
phone call in 1973. The first handheld mobile that weighed about six pounds (More
or less 2 kg) was developed by Martin Cooper of Motorola. These early mobile
phones are often referred to as 0G or Zero Generation mobile phones. Today, most
phones rely on 3G or 4G mobile technology.

In 1992, the world’s first ever SMS message, which was read “Merry Christmas”
was sent in the United Kingdom. Neil Papworth, 22, sent the text message to
Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone.

In 1999, aside from the emojis invented by Shigetaka Kurita in Japan, the first
BlackBerry phone was also unveiled. The phone was famous for its super-easy
email service and were seen as the ultimate business tool, allowing users to read
and respond to emails from anywhere that led to 83% of the users reading and
responding to work emails while on holiday, and over half admitted to sending
emails while on the toilet. (We are grateful to you, BlackBerry. Really! *Insert
sarcastic laugh emoji).

In 2000, the all-conquering Nokia 3310 crash landed on shop shelves and went on
to sell 126 million units (and counting).

In 2003, the 3G standard started to be adopted worldwide and paved the way for
the rise of smartphones.
In 2008, the first Android phone turned up, in the form of the T-Mobile G1, which
was a long way from the high-end Android smartphones we use today. This year
also saw the advent of both Apple’s App Store and Android Market (later renamed
Google Play Store) that paved the way for our modern-day app culture and creating
a $77 billion industry.

Today, modern-day smartphones are pretty unrecognizable from the analogue

bricks we used to carry around which made it very important part of our lives –
working individuals and students alike –especially during this time of pandemic
which we are all subjected to stay home while doing what we “normally” do.

References:

Uswitch Mobile Phone Deals. 2021. History of mobile phones | What was the first
mobile phone?. [online] Available at:
<https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/history-of-mobile-
phones/#:~:text=Mobile%20phones%20were%20invented%20as,the%20emergency
%20services%20to%20communicate. >

Uky.edu. 2021. [online] Available at: <

http://www.uky.edu/~jclark/mas490apps/History%20of%20Mobile
%20Telephony.pdf

Submitted by:
Apple Grace G. Lenon
MAT-LITE Student