Happy birthday, cell phones. The item that never leaves many of our hands daily and nightly turns 40 today.
The Verge reports:
On April 3, 1973, Motorola engineer Marty Cooper placed the first public call from a cell phone. In midtown Manhattan, Cooper called Joel Engel — head of rival research department Bell Labs — saying “Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cell phone, a real handheld portable cell phone.” The call was placed on a Motorola DynaTAC 8000x, which weighed 2.5 pounds, a far cry from today’s 4-ounce handsets.
Since then, cell phones have undergone a visibly startling evolution.
Check out the photos below.
1972
A “portable radio phone”, the precursor to the first real “cell phone.”
1973
The first real cell phone being held by its creator, Martin Cooper.
1986
AKA known as the “Zach Morris phone” a la “Saved by the Bell.
1989
The first “flip phone.” It retailed for nearly $3,500.
1996
A thinner, sleeker looking flip phone.
1997
Considered the first smart phone, but retailed as a “digital phone.”
2000
The millennial phone, now with color.
2000
The iconic Nokia.
2006
Right before the dawn of the iPhone, the Palm was pushed into extinction by Apple.
Images via CNN. For a further, more detailed description of cell phone evolution, check out their article here.
