I found it interesting to learn that a typical iPhone user only spends 32% of their time on the iPhone actually talking and that last year, for the first time, mobile data traffic exceeded voice traffic.
When I was a little boy, I remember going to my Grandparent's house in Philadelphia on weekends and watching the inspired nonsense of "Get Smart" with my Grandfather. You might recall the "do-deee-di-doooo" theme music with the slamming doors which I think was my favorite part of the show, next to Agent 99, of course.
I remember my grandfather saying, "Iggy, some day soon, everyone is going to have one of those shoe phones." I can only guess I looked skeptical...because he insisted it would happen. Maybe the fact that "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." was on afterwards left me wondering about that!
Operator: “What number are you calling?”
Smart: “I’m calling Control, Operator...”
Operator: “You have dialed incorrectly. Give me your name and address and your dime will be refunded.”
Smart: “Operator, I’m calling from my shoe!”
Operator: “What is the number of your shoe?”
Smart: “It’s an unlisted shoe, Operator!”
Smart: “I’m calling Control, Operator...”
Operator: “You have dialed incorrectly. Give me your name and address and your dime will be refunded.”
Smart: “Operator, I’m calling from my shoe!”
Operator: “What is the number of your shoe?”
Smart: “It’s an unlisted shoe, Operator!”
The modern handheld cell phone era began in 1973 when Motorola invented the first cellular portable telephone to be commercialised, known as Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. DynaTAC was an abbreviation of Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage which was a long cry from today's 4G network.
Martin Cooper, a general manager for the systems division at Motorola led a team that produced the DynaTAC 8000X, the first cellular phone small enough to be easily carried, and made the first phone call from it. The DynaTAC's retail price, $3,995 ($8724 in present-day terms), ensured that it would not become a mass market item.
It took ten years to get the FDA to approve the building of the first celluar phone networks and on Oct. 13, 1983, Bob Barnett placed the first commercial wireless call on a DynaTAC from inside a Chrysler convertible to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. The call, made from Soldier Field in Chicago, is considered by many as a major turning point in communications.
The product accepted by the FCC weighed 1 and 3/4 pounds (793g) and was 10 inches (25 cm) high, not including its flexible "rubber duck" whip antenna. In addition to the typical 12-key telephone keypad, it had nine additional special keys:
| Rcl (Recall) | Clr (Clear) | Snd (Send) |
| Sto (Store) | Fcn (Function) | End (End) |
| Pwr (Power) | Lock (Lock) | Vol (Volume) |
The DynaTAC 8000 utilized a display with red LEDs. The display was severely limited in what information it could show. The battery allowed for a call up to 60 minutes, after which it was necessary to charge the phone up to 10 hours in a trickle charger or 1 hour in a fast charger which was a separate (and very expensive) accessory.
The DynaTAC phones have been given the nickname "Zack Morris Phones" because of their heavy use by the central character in the early 1990s sitcom Saved by the Bell.
Does anyone recall Zack using this phone? I sure don't.
Source - American Heritage's Invention & Technology Magazine, Summer 2010 edition.
21 comments:
Cool post, Iggy!! My first cell phone was purchased in 1997-ish when I became an insurance agent and spent most of my time in my car (chasing my tail most days, lol!). I thought I was realllly hot stuff for having a "cool" phone. I don't understand all this texting and stuff. Phones are for calling people and if they don't answer, you leave a message. All this texting is annoying and can be very dangerous!!
Just call me old school!
What a fun post! First of all, I remember that show. It was a riot!
Secondly, I must inform you I had a BAG PHONE. It came in a bag that carried the phone connected to it's battery. BULKY! I would have rather had a shoe phone!
I had to laugh at the dialogue with the operator about the shoe phone being unlisted! :)
The first "cell" phone I can remember are when our house phones became wireless. I thought that was mighty nifty!!
I am not ashamed to say that I totally resisted the cell phone age until a friend threatened to buy me one. She didn't like me unavailable to her. I haven't regretted the purchase, but I'm no hard core user, and I don't answer just because people call.
we've come a long way baby.when will they make one that I can actually understand what people are saying on the phone?
Very interesting, as usual, Iggy! I can remember be amazed by the portable phones--phones without cords! And a friend's husband showing off his car phone (which we would now think are big and clunky and dangerous).
I didn't ever think I'd have a cell phone. Finally Dagan and Leah talked me into being on their family plan in case I missed a bus and got stranded in town (which happened once) and they knew I sometimes didn't even have an extra quarter on me for a phone call--hehe! Now I never even go get my mail without it since I almost got stuck in our elevator one time--hehe! But what actually convinced me was the free long distance after 7pm and weekends and being far away from family and friends! ;)
Great post! Loved seeing the old phones. :)
I remember having a car in '91 that had a hard wired phone in it. It was a used car. I didn't have cellular service. But I remember people seeing that phone in my car and thinking, "Wow. You must be uber cool" My friends would ride around in the passenger seat pretending to talk on the phone.
Too darn funny.
We'll have them implanted in our heads as toddlers soon, I'm sure.
:-)
I recall back in the day my Dad talking about cell phones, and fiber optic cable... all that good communication stuff he was on the cutting edge of.... he never really got to witness the public roll out of cell phones though.
I got my first "car phone" in 1993.. it was a bag phone. Remember how expensive minutes were back then? I remember my ex racking up a $300 bill one month...I really loved that phone, but was so excited when I was able to get my first small "flip phone".... I've gone through more models of phones.... now ready for a IPhone 4 I think!!!!
BTW - I loved watching Get Smart... (still do!)
As a kid, Get Smart was one of my favorite shows, and I sure remember that shoe phone. You're grandfather was right on the mark. It reminds of when the first self-serve gas station appeared and my dad said that some day all gas stations will be that way. Of course, I didn't believe him.
Amazing how technology has changed. And as far fetched as it seems, some day we won't even have cell phones anymore. We'll be able to make and receive calls through implants inside us.
Cool post reading about the technology and change of the cell phone. Maybe someday the "sticks of PA" that I live in will come up in the world and actually have cell phone service available. You just never know when someone might want to call me in the middle of a rainstorm asking for directions to my place. :)
I hope you had a good day today. *hugs*
I don't remember Zack using a phone like that and we watched Saved by the Bell ad naseum in reruns, LOL. But I do remember the shoe phone from Get Smart! So very wise of your grandfather to make that observation about phones and to be accurate about it. Technology has come so far so quickly. Heck, I remember when there weren't VHS, DVDs, microwaves and I wasn't a young child either. I am also not surprised that talking is not the big thing people do on their phones any more. Son always has more texts that he uses in a month than talking minutes. I wonder what the next 20 years have in store for us.....
very interesting article Iggy :)
betty
I love this post and wow how the cell phones have evolved, I guess if you could go back to the first cell phone I had it would look ancient compared to what I have now LOL
This is a great post, I really like it.
I don't really use my cell phone for anything but talking, a bit of texting, and recently a lot of picture taking of Anna.
For my cell phone, I need a full push button keypad, I can't stand those touch screen ones. I always fat finger. My husband has one of those "fancy" ones and I don't know how to use it. And I don't care to learn how.
Interesting post!
I remember my Grandma having a really bulky pink mobile/cell phone. I think this would have been about 1990 ish? She had it for her job as a carer to a certain person at the time. I remember thinking it was absolutely fantastic that she could use her phone so far away from a house (things like that are extremely exciting to a 6 year old). I got my first phone about 9 or so years later. It was a Motorola... I think a Motorola c900, if I remember rightly. I didn't have it long, because apparently they don't survive being dropped down concrete steps (I had a baby in my arms... It was the phone or the baby, and I chose to let go of the phone and keep hold of the baby). My replacement phone was a motorola Montreal. After that I've mostly had Nokia phones though.
What a timely post. Just the other day I was trying to explain to one of the grandkids that we didn't have cell phones when I was a child - and not even when their mom was a child. They could not imagine it! My first cell phone was a "bag phone". I'll bet if I search real hard I'd find it in a storage box here somewhere!
We've come a long way, haven't we.... or have we?
We had one of those "bag phones" too..out here in the boonies you needed it to get any reception..we have since given up on this technology..I would just like to move my home phone to a phone booth at the end of in the driveway..but my husband insists that it stay in the house. Nothing irritates me like the ringing of the phone. Good post..I loved the shoe phone..he was way cool ahead of his time:)
I had a very good friend who worked at Motorola during the early 1980s when they were developing what are today's cell phones. Frankly, I'm still not used to them. In an antique store recently, I found myself gazing fondly at old rotary dial phones that are now being sold as antiques.
Gordon Gekko used one of those big phones in Wall Street. I was watching the movie on t.v. recently and laughing over how silly the big one looked in relation to today's models.
I totally remember Zach (k?) using this phone!!!!! :)
Cool port!I like this one but I H A T E my touch phone! My kids upgraded our phone sat the new year and gave me this Aris! I hate it. I call people int he middle of the night and all sorts of silly things! But I do remember owning one of those foot long phones early on! Hee Hee! My hubby and I recently saw the remake movie of Get Smart! It was quite funny and I like anything light hearted and silly Gosh, I just had to listen to our president yammer on about the war! I am grateful for fun fare! Thanks for the cool memories. Anne
I'll ask my youngest daughter. I think she watched that ???
I remember my brother having one of those big fat phones with the big antenna.
He kept it a LONG time, too.
I remember when people started getting mobile phones and thinking I would never be able to afford one lol...
my little red flip phone which Ive had for 3 years gave up the ghost a few months ago, it was a little pay as you go and I only use to top up a tenner about once every 3 months, it was more for people to hold of me then for me to ring people...
but it died so my Jacob dragged me kicking and screaming into the phoneshop and helped me choose a new phone.....get in the real world mum she said, so not I have this new fangled singing and dancing contract phone...... no its not one of them IPhones but it is a sorta computer one, except its in the shop being repaired cos the touch screen when strange lol.... Im not good with new technology..
x
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