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The first phone
Bell's March 10, 1876 laboratory notebook entry describing his first successful experiment with the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell is commonly credited as the inventor of the first practical telephone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone -
Candlestick phone
Popular from the 1890s to the 1930s, the candlestick phone was separated into two pieces. The mouth piece formed the candlestick part, and the receiver was placed by your ear during the phone call. This style died out in the ’30s when phone manufacturers started combining the mouth piece and receiver into a single unit. Thankfully. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Answering Machines
The answering machine transformed phone behavior, allowing callers to leave a message if no one was on the other end. Not popular until the 1960s, these phone accessories originally used cassette tapes to record messages. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Rotary Phone
To dial, you would rotate the dial to the number you wanted, and then release. Based on my limited interaction with rotary dial phones, this must have been incredibly tedious. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Touch-Tone Phones
In 1963, AT&T introduced Touch-Tone, which allowed phones to use a keypad to dial numbers and make phone calls. Each key would transmit a certain frequency, signaling to the telephone operator which number you wanted to call. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Portable Phones
Portable, or cordless, phones were the phone equivalent of the TV remote. You were no longer physically attached to your phone’s base station. Beginning in the 1980s, portable phones were like a small-scale cell phone. You could talk on your phone anywhere in your house. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Motorola StarTAC
The Motorola StarTAC was the first successful flip phone, and in many ways, the first successful consumer cell phone. Introduced in 1996, Motorola eventually sold 60 million StarTACs. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
Blackberry
Canadian-based Research in Motion, now BlackBerry, was by far the leading smartphone manufacturer in the 2000s. With their advanced email capabilities, BlackBerry Messenger, and physical keyboards, BlackBerry smartphones were the ultimate business phone. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/ -
IPhones
When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, Apple brought the smartphone to the masses. With its intuitive touchscreen, intelligent sensors, and sleek design, the iPhone has been an incredible success. The iPhone quickly showed just how clunky previous smartphones and flip phones were. http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/
