Back to the future: A history of the mobile phone

If you grew up during the 1980’s, you might recall a parent returning home one day with a gadget of the greatest futuristic quality – the portable phone. Of course today mobile phones are as essential as your wallet or purse (and thankfully around the same size), but in the surprisingly not too distant past the mobile phone was a phenomenon of mindboggling proportions.

The mobile phone: Addiction or benediction?

That the mobile phone once drew astonishment could be quite an eye opener for those young enough to think a mobile-less existence akin to committing hi-tech hara-kiri. (By the way, did you know that there is actually an official title for fear of living without a mobile phone, called nomophobia, i.e. "no mobile phobia"? A term that is surely open to abuse from skeptics -“normal phobia" anyone?).

If, on the other hand, you recall mobile phones having the dimensions of a small breezeblock (or a small child, if you go back far enough), this trip down memory lane might bring a tear or two to the eye. Ok, we can’t guarantee such emotional impact, but at the very least a pang of nostalgia and the odd “how far we’ve come!" smug grin.

Early mobile phones: A long time ago in an era far, far away

Way back before the iPhone was even a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye, Motorola were making the first strides in mobile phone technology – but more on that later. The earliest “two way" portable phone devices actually weren’t connected to the telephone network, so essentially weren’t mobile phones as we know them today.

Despite numerous instances of portable phones on isolated networks, and those that could connect to the national telephone network at any point – but only using long wires, the first truly “mobile" phone, called Mobile Telephone system A (MTA), was developed by Ericsson in 1956. As impressive as this technology must have been at the time, presumably less impressive was the item’s weight – a whopping 40kg. Fortunately an update nine years later brought the weight down to a comparatively lithe 9kg (the weight of, say, a subwoofer or large speaker today – not necessarily “portable", then).

In 1959 a private Telco in Kansas, USA, the still active S&T Telephone Company, set up a local network using Motorola equipment that allowed locals to experience the mobile phone sensation - but only within vehicles. Motorola, then, proved to be an early pioneer in the mobile phone movement. S&T’s service was not available for long, but once Finnish company ARP launched a successful mobile network in the early 1970s (often referred to as a zero generation network), Motorola once again pushed mobile phone evolution forward.

We have mobility: A big call from the Big Apple

In 1973, surrounded by reporters, Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola walked New York’s streets while making a call to Joel Engel of AT&T. The prototype handset that Dr. Cooper used was called the Motorola DynaTAC, which wouldn’t be available to consumers for another ten years. This technology was to be the main basis of the brick-sized phones used in the 1980’s that we all revere so fondly (yes, the essential “yuppie" item – after the filofax and shoulder pads).

4G and the future of mobile phones

From here mobile technology hit 2G – digital replacing analogue - in the 1990’s, followed by the noughties standard 3G (soon to be replaced by 4G). 2G saw the introduction of handsets that, for once, could truly be labelled “hand held" (that is, unless your hands can comfortably contain a brick), with most coming in (thankfully) under 200g (an improvement on the near kilo weight of the DynaTAC).

With phones now just millimetres thick and weighing well under100 grams, it’s fair to say that the mobile phone has come a long way. The next time you debate a 1mm size difference between two Smartphones, be thankful that neither is Ericsson’s 40kg MTA – imagine the sizeable damage to your back, let alone your reputation.