Cell Phone History

First cell phone 1973 large commercial mobile phone, first flip type mobile phone, 1G system, Nordic Mobile Telephone was introduced in 1981, first 2g second generation cell phone 1991, digital vs. analog first phone to phone text 1993, 1994 Simon smartphone could fax had stylus, touchscreen color screen (never became a success).

In 1999, the Japanese firm NTT Docomo released the first smartphones to achieve mass adoption within a country, 2001 first 3g phone, 2007 first touch screen smartphone, 2009 first 4g phones. 5G phone development has yet to begin, but should arrive by 2020.

2g, 3g, etc., is for generation, and LTE is for Long Term Evolution (a specific type of 4g).

Mobile Phones

1983, Motorola's DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) 8000X was the world's first commercially-released mobile phone, with a price tag of $3,995 equivalent to $8,772.59 in today's dollars. DynaTAC and Droid below, not according to scale.

Motorola spent 15 years and over $100 million developing the technology. The DynaTAC 8000X allowed 30 minutes of talk time, took 10 hours to charge, weighed 1.75 lb., and stood 13 in. high. It is fun to watch old movies and see characters use the large bulky phones and wonder how old is that. It is younger than you think.