Introduction
The invention of mobile phones aimed at developing gadgets that could connect wirelessly to the public network. Communication through radio calls started some decades ago and was popular even during the 2nd World War. However, the use of wireless, portable, devices that can connect to a standard telephony network is much recent. Ideally, the first handheld telephone was launched by Motorola in 1973 (O’Shea, 2009). The first wireless, handheld gadgets were hardly portable, had a short talk time and took long to charge fully. Evidently, the first devices were less efficient compared to modern mobile phones. Various engineers and companies such as AT & T utilized different technologies to actualize communication between individuals. The first conversations were only possible within the area of coverage. Also, the first wireless gadgets were installed in locomotives including cars and trains. This essay will explore the evolution of cell phones. Mobile phones are devices that enable communication between individuals who are in different geographical areas. These devices also allow a person to serve the internet, access media such as audio and video files and perform other functions like numerical calculations. Mobile phones were invented to ease communication between individuals. Importantly, they bridge geographical distance between people. Additionally, the invention was meant to develop a portable device that could operate across networks without experiencing a limitation in coverage.
History of telephones/cell phones
The vision of developing mobile phones started in the early 19th century. Various scholars and governments agencies were all striving to ease communication between people. In 1908, Albert Jahnke and his colleagues announced that they had created a cell phone. However, their concept of a wireless phone was not appreciated by the government and public. Jahnke and the colleagues were charged with fraud, but their case was later dropped (Wireless Phone, 2013). This aspect demoralized them, and they ceased the production. In early 1918, the Germany railway network tested cell phone on military locomotives operating in Zossen and Berlin (Stoop, and Steenbrink n. d.). Nevertheless, it was not until 1924 when cell phones were tested in public trains. The wireless telephones became widespread in Germany in 1925. This aspect led to the creation of Zugtelephonie A. G., a company mandated to distribute cell phones in trains. During this era, the telephones were regarded as high-end gadgets and were only available to first class travelers (Mouse, 2014). During the 2nd world war, radio calls played a vital role in military coordination. Importantly, portable radio transceivers were in existence even in the 1940s. These gadgets were large, heavy, power inefficient and only supported a few simultaneously calls. Thus, people would not rely on these devices in case of an emergency or when they were out of range. Apart from Germany, engineers, and scholars in the U.S. were also on the on the run to create dynamic wireless phones. While some of these prototypes were large, others could fit in the palm. These cell phone models formed the basis of the modern wireless telephones.
19th-century mobile telephone services (MTS)
Mobile Telephone Service (MTS)
MTS services were first made available in St. Louis in 1946 by AT & T. However, this phone system had spread to most cities by 1948 (The foundations, n. d.). The MTS was rare and only available to 5,000 users who made approximately 30,000 conversations per week. The conversations were manually operated, and the caller had to depress and press a knob on their gadget to talk and listen respectively. The devices weighed about 80 pounds but were handheld. The number of users was stagnant due to technological constraints (The foundations, n. d.). Also, the revenue generation from phone calls was small due to the limited number of users. However, the cost of making calls was very high (Gow and Smith, 2006, p.23). The subscribers were supposed to pay up to 15 U.S. dollars per month, approximately 176 U.S. dollars per month in 2012 dollar value. In the UK, the “Post Office’s Radiophone services” was introduced in Manchester. This system required the users to talk to an operator who would then create a connection to other subscribers. Later this telephony system spread to other parts in the UK including London.
Improved Mobile Telephony Services (IMTPS)
The IMTS was launched in 1965 with an aim of improving the existing services. This service was superior to the previous models by various aspects. It utilized extra radio channels, enabling many subscribers to call contemporaneously. The system launched customer dialing, was smaller and lightweight. It eliminated the need to call through an operator. The improvements saw an increase in the demand for the telephony services. In response, AT & T restricted the services to a few thousand subscribers system wide. For instance, in New York, two thousand customers shared only twelve radio channels. This aspect meant that a caller had to wait for about half an hour before making a call.
Radio Common Carrier (RCC)
As the demand for telephony services grew, other companies came in to compete with AT & T. RCC is an example service that was launched 1960 to compete mainly with AT &T (Office of the Federal, 1992). The services of RCC were relatively superior to those of IMTS. However, RCC services became obsolete in the 1980s. Although RCC service was designed to enable callers of adjacent carriers to utilize their resources, it did not allow roaming. Nevertheless, roaming was not possible since there was no uniform billing database.
Cellular conception
In 1974, several engineers led by Douglas H. Ring suggested a hexagonal cell system for mobile phones in locomotives (Madrigal, 2011). During this period, the skills and mechanism to actualize this idea were not available. Further, frequencies were not in existence. After about two decades, engineers from Bell Laboratory achieved the 1947 proposal by creating a more elaborate system. Porter suggested the use of directional antennas in cell tower to eliminate the problem of interference. He also devised the customer dial system to reduce the issue of time wasting. These improvements were meant to make phone calls efficient and increase the number of subscribers. Notably, some of these features are now available in modern cell phones. During this time, a subscriber had to be within coverage region when making a call. Ideally, the coverage was not continuous as a customer traveled to different cell areas. The ideas of handoff and frequency reuse which are evident in modern cell phones were outlined later in the 1960s. With continuous improvements, some elements such as switching systems became unnecessary in mobile phones.
Figure 1: Cell tower as proposed by Douglas H. Ring (Madrigal, 2011)
Advent of automatic services
Automatic cell phone systems for locomotives were introduced in 1956. This system made it possible for people to converse in vehicles through a rotary dial. The incoming calls passed through an operator who located the closest base station to the particular vehicle. This telephony system known as MTA was a combined effort of Ericsson, SRA, and other telephone companies. These companies provided different inputs towards the creation of MTA. MTA relied on relays and vacuum tubes to connect subscribers. In 1962, MTB, an improvement of MTA was launched. The MTD was successfully introduced in 1971 and gained enormous accepted (Shi, 20017 p. 55). It was open up to 1983 and had six hundred subscribers during its closure. Other private telephony companies were in operation in different areas including Brewster and Bulgaria. However, the services of these enterprises were not efficient while some failed to pick off.
Emergence of Handheld cell phone
Before 1973, portable cell phones were only possible in locomotives like trains and cars. In 1973, Motorola became the 1st firm to develop a handheld cell phone and Mr. Cooper was the first person to dial the it. The handset produced by Motorola was big and bulky. It weighed about 1.1 kg measuring 9-inch long; 5.1-inch deep and 1.75-inch wide (O’Shea, 2009). This phone delivered a thirty-minute conversation time and took ten hours to charge fully. This innovation by Motorola led to the development of the modern cell phones. Later Motorola went ahead to produce small and portable handsets some of which are still in use today.
Figure 2: Martin Cooper holding the first handheld cell phone (Dr. Martin Cooper n. d.)
Evolution of cell phones
1G – Analogue cellular
The first 1G system, NTT was launched in Japan in 1979. The system was popular and by 1981, it had spread to all parts of Japan. The first IG system in the U.S was the AMPS, and it was publically traded in 1983. Even though AMPS was widely used, it had many technological faults compared to the modern cell phone. The prototype was unencrypted and susceptible to spies. Ideally, the AMPS system was not entirely safe since hackers could get access to vital conversations. DynaTAC introduced the first 1G system in the United States in 1983. The development of the network was very costly and took close to a decade to be commercialized (Kling, 2010 p.24). The device supported 35-minute talk time and took close to 10 hours to re-charge. Despite these shortcomings, the demand was high. However, by 2008 most U.S. telephone companies discontinued the use of AMPS. Other companies around the world including Telecom Australia were also striving to launch their analogue cell phones.
2G – Digital cellular
The 2G mobile phones were launched in the 1990s. At this time, there was a stiff competition between the CDMA and GSM systems. These two networks utilized digital transmissions in their devices which were improvements of analog transmitters. The 2G gadgets become popular in Europe and even led to the introduction of prepaid plans. The GSM network utilized 2G systems, but there was an overlap. For instance, there was an overlap between 1G and 2G systems which led to the closure of 1G system. The launch of IBM Simon in 1992 was a significant step towards creating the current day smartphones (O’Shea, 2009). This device had much functionality that was not possible in previous models including email, touchscreen function and a longer battery life. The 2G phones also introduced SMS, media access and mobile payment systems.
3G – Mobile broadband
The increase in mobile usage led to a high demand for data access. Ideally, the 2G technology could not support the fast data feeds that people required. Hence, mobile engineers started developing a system that could support the growing demand. This aspect led to the launch of 3G networks. Several technologies were introduced such as short connection establishment time and capacity for two or more mobile to share a slot. These techniques were aimed at low-bit rate calls such as VoIP (Gopal, 2007). The launch of 3G systems made live streaming of radio and TV possible. Also, other features such as USB connections and Wi-Fi became possible with the launch of 3G technology. During this era, most telephone companies focus on producing smartphones.
4G – Networks
In 2009, the demand for data was high and 3G technology could not support the growing bandwidth (Agarwal and Agarwal, 2014). Cell phone industries began creating a technology that could optimize data as well as offer a high speed transmission. The 4G network is the current technology and it does not rely on circuit switching like the previous models.
Personal opinion about cell phones
Cell phones are necessary gadgets that make life simple. They allow prompt communication through, call, SMS, emails and online forums. Mobile phones are essential now than before as they enable individuals to share information and even research on various topics. Future cell phones will eliminate the use of computers. Bluetooth charging will also be possible for the next mobile phone generation.
How the history of science course has benefited me
The clear insight into key scientific innovations has expanded my knowledge. I have an understanding of how various scientific innovations happened and their rationale. Also, the course challenges me to act on issues that I feel need improvements.
Conclusion
The invention of cell phones has a long history. At first, engineers were concerned with creating a device that could allow many subscribers to call simultaneously. This concept led to the creation of system that relied on an operator to connect callers. Nevertheless, this system was expensive and callers had to wait up to 30 minutes before they could get connected. The telephone companies also realized that there was inefficiency in revenue generation due to technological constraints and few subscribers. Various changes happened before engineers could develop a wireless, portable device. The first cell phones were bulky and hardly portable compared to the current gadgets. After numerous modifications, the modern cell phone was born. The current mobile phones are power efficient, highly portable and easy to maintain. Apart from enabling communication, they allow individuals to access media and serve the internet.
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