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Before The Cell Phone
The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially. However at that time, the technology to do so was nonexistent. -
The Starting Of Something New
Anything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio or television message out over the airwaves comes under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation. A cell phone is a type of two-way radio. In 1947, AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible and AT&T would have a incentive to research the new technology. -
The Proposal
The FCC reconsidered its position in 1968, stating "if the technology to build a better mobile service works, we will increase the frequencies allocation, freeing the airwaves for more mobile phones." AT&T and Bell Labs proposed a cellular system to the FCC of many small, low-powered, broadcast towers, each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius and collectively covering a larger area. Each tower would use only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. -
The Call
On this day Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, made the first mobile telephone call to Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs. The prototype handheld phone used by Dr. Cooper weighed 1.1 kg and measured 23 cm long, 13 cm deep and 4.45 cm wide. The prototype offered a talk time of just 30 minutes and took 10 hours to re-charge. -
The Starting
AT&T adapts its own cellular plan for the city of Chicago, but the FCC is still uneasy about putting the plan into action. They have concerns about its success. -
They Are Allowed
Finally cell phone testing is permitted by the FCC in Chicago. The Bell Telephone Company gets the license; they are in a partnership with AT&T which is a gerneral effort to battle the stubborn FCC. -
First Touchscreen
The IBM Simon was the first phone with a touchscreen in 1992 — it's also referred as the first “smartphone,” though the term was not yet coined. A few competitors came out in the early '90s, but most mobile devices with touchscreens were more like PDAs. -
The First Flip-Phone
The first Motorola model to support the clamshell design was the StarTAC, created in 1996, although General Telephone & Electronics (GTE) held the trademark from the 1970s for its Flip-Phone (one of the first small hand-held electronic phones), until 1993.
