The first mobile phone ever invented was unveiled to the world in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper when he made a phone call with it from a street in Manhattan. It was bulky and heavy in its design and costs thousands to make.
Initially it was bulky and out of the price range of most people, however as the technology became more refined and the devices got smaller, they began to take off. In the mid nineties they became increasingly popular and by the turn of the century they were beginning to infiltrate everyday lives.
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| My first ever mobile phone, Nokia 3210 |
As the mobile phone became more popular the features of the phone began to move further away from the phone, what was initially invented to make a call, became your instant messenger, your radio, your camera and in more recent times this has blown out of proportion with the invention of smart phones. In just 40 years the mobile phone barely resembles its former self. No longer content with the capabilities of our phones the big mobile technology giants such as Blackberry, Apple and Samsung have created such amazing technologies to the point where actually calling someone is such a minor feature of what the mobile phone is capable of. Between constant internet access, emails, gaming, cameras, social networking, satellite navigation and an endless supply of applications covering anything from the weather to acting as a pedometer, they have thought of everything. The mobile phone has moved on from being a phone, to being so much more.
The world is literally at our fingertips. For a lot of people (not to name any names) the basic mobile which allows you to call and text people is more than enough. They have laptops and desktops for anything else they could ever need in life, but not me. While I do have access to computers, I couldn't imagine being without my smartphone. I have the taste for it now and I can never go back. It allows me to instantly look up the name of that actress in that film or to locate the cafe I am supposed to meeting a friend at. It has revolutionised my everyday life and I have no intention of going back.
For me however its main function remains as a means of communication. I know there is a concern out there that mobiles are creating barriers in real life social situations, but I think that all depends on the person. My contact is on multiple levels from calls to texts to emails to social networks to instant messaging. While I am an avid user of my mobile for many things, predominantly it allows me to just easily send my friend up the road a text and instant message a friend half way around the world. How could you not be in love with such a technology? I know it gets a bad rep sometimes, but it is one of the great advances of our time and it can only get better and wackier from here...
Can you remember what your first mobile phone was?
