Early mobile phone technology
RECENTLY I HAVE BEEN SHOPPING AROUND FOR A NEW MOBILE PHONE ON LINE AND AT MY LOCAL SPECIALIST
It got me thinking about my first mobile purchase many years ago it was a PHILIPS pay as you go which i bought from Argos!
prior to this i had been using a radio pager (i still have it it was a Vodafone) must dig it out and see if it still works!
Now interestingly my brother was a partner in a car audio business in Nottingham in the early 80s and one of the sidelines of his trade was selling early Motorola house brick phones they had a huge carry handle and separate battery these were at least a couple of pounds in weight and in this form they surely wouldn't catch on! too bulky and expensive the idea was that they were meant to be a car accessory or luxury toy.
I HAVE FOUND SOME WONDER FULL VIDEOS OF EARLY MOBILE OR CELL PHONES.
This video features one of these phones and song.
As I sat travelling into London last week I heard a guy complaining about his mobile. “I like it” he said but it’s just too big and bulky to fit in my pocket. The device couldn’t have been more than the size of a normal smart phone but it did make me chuckle. Comedian Dom Jolly spent years making jokes out of a huge mobile phone, shouting into it in crowded places. Yet go back a few decades and this was the reality of a mobile - the guys complain about size would have looked pretty silly in the 1980’s.
The world of mobile telephones began during the Second World War as some field radio’s included phone receivers. Even some cars had radio/phone capabilities. But these devices were big, they drained incredible amounts of power and often didn't work.
The official mobile phone network began in Bell Labs in St.Louis USA on June 17 1946 with the first call from a mobile telephone in a car. It was the result of hard work from scientists Dickenson, Mitchell and Romnes. Their service which was grasped hold of by AT & T was about putting phones in cars. Soon several services were available but they weren't compatible to each other and very limited in coverage.
But alongside this the development of ideas of cellular technology was also taking place and this would help. Telecommunications history notes that in the 1930’s telephone customers in the US could be connected by radio a passenger on an ocean liner. Pretty impressive for the time but at US$7 a minute it puts today's roaming and data charge complaints into perspective !
For thirty years these tow developments slowly improved and slowly connected together. In 1973 the race to have the first handheld mobile phone was won by Dr Martin Cooper and Motorola. To my friend in the train to London, it is worth noting this was two and half pounds in weight and measures 9 inches by 5 inches by 1.75 inches. Battery complainants of today should also note it offered a talk time of 30 mins and then needed 10 hours of re-charge.
Inventor Martin Cooper has since suggested that this first phone cost Motorola about $1million to produce. By the 1980's this cost had gone down to about $4,000 but all the same is a massive outlay for a device still in it's infancy.
Those mobiles of the 70's and 80's included a large handset (maybe twice the size of a normal telephone handset) and a large battery pack which would come in a accompanying bag. Battery life remained a problem with maybe 20 minutes use available before a charge.
But from that moment of innovation, mobile technology took on a swift path of development. It's doubtful those early inventors could conceive that just thirty years on over half the world's population would own a mobile phone.
Primary in this forging of new technology was Nokia. The company's Nokia 101 at one stage represented 35% of global sales of mobile phones. Other manufacturers also got on the bandwagon, reducing the size of handsets, introducing greater functionality and most importantly increasing that problem of battery life.
Picture today is striking. It's hard to imagine massive handsets, low battery life and a unit cost of about $4,000.
Today it's estimated there are about 4-6 billion phone handsets in use. About 1 billion of these are smart phones. 6 billion phone handsets in use. Some of the largest markets are in the developing world, Nigeria for example has about 100 million handsets in operation. It's estimated there will be 400 million people owning mobile handsets in China by 2015. There are now more mobile handsets worldwide than there are landlines.
Despite the low cost of handsets in today's market, the BBC recently estimated the average person in the UK spent £439 a year on their phone (BBC News 20 April 2011).
Mobile technology has also created new social phenomena. The rise of social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has been greatly aided by mobile technology. On average a US citizen spends 2.7 hours per day socialising on their mobile. It's estimated by 2015 than internet use on phones will exceed that on personal computers.
Language has also been affected by mobiles with the advent of text messages. We've been LOL and ROFL since Neil Papworth sent a Merry Christmas message to a colleague at Vodafone in 1992. Now texts are used in social and business environments and are affecting changes in the way we communicate. In the UK 1 billion text messages are sent every week.
Amazingly, this idea of Dickenson, Mitchell and Romnes is now also a fashion accessory. Many major brands now have 'fashion models' and encourage the phone as just another way to look and be cool.
The phone you have in your pocket or beside you on your desk has been on quite a journey. As we shop around for the right price and contract, the coolest look and the best functionality for all our needs - and yes even my friend on the train looking for one more able to fit in his pocket - it's worth remembering where we've come from
Imagine rushing home and dragging out your massive phone and large battery pack to have a quick chat with your friend or loved one. Imagine the thought this phone cost you several thousands of dollars or that you only had twenty minutes to talk. And imagine than rather than the site of many many users, imagine you were the only one in your street or even your town who owned one. Mobile technology has changed in a very short time.
Entrepreneur Ted Turner said "to be happy in this world, first you need a cell phone and then you need an air plane Then you're truly wireless." Now the phone is the easy part, lets hope we don't all own a plane in 30 more years
Got my keys got my phone
People of a certain age will remember this show called "Tomorrows world"
