OT: History of Cell Phones

[Man-Goblin]

http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=4864891

I thought this was pretty interesting. I didn't get my first cell phone until 2002 (yeah, I was a little slow), but I have to admit it would be much tougher to function in my job and personal communication without one.

Did anyone have any of the phones pictured in this story? My first phone was a version of the phone below on the right.

http://stb.msn.com/i/B4/B03CD960E516565331DFB21E98F656.jpg

That was a sweet phone and it lasted me like 4 years (surviving among other things, being dropped in a cup of water twice and being thrown out of a car) and I could get a signal from anywhere it seemed. Only problem was it was heavy and I felt like it was pulling my pants down when I put it in my cargo pockets.

[Jens1893]

The one on the left was my first cell.

[Spider]

I had one like the one on the left Kyrocera brand .......

[Crushaholic]

Yep. My first cell phone was very similar to the one with the antenna sticking up on the left...

[bronco militia]

after about 7-8 years of using cell phones, it's very apparent to me that they were invented by a woman

[Los Broncos]

I had my first cell back in like 96 when i lived in Vegas. Now everyone drives around here talking and driving, cutting people off in traffic, not paying attention. Heres the one i had.

[bronco militia]

I had my first cell back in like 96 when i lived in Vegas. Now everyone drives around here talking and driving, cutting people off in traffic, not paying attention. Heres the one i had.


lol

We purchased one of those new in 1999......

[Los Broncos]

lol

We purchased one of those new in 1999......

How much did you pay? i think i payed something like 150 for it.

[bronco militia]

How much did you pay? i think i payed something like 150 for it.


Lol...probably $50 after a mail in rebate....I'm a cheap bastard:~ohyah!:

[Los Broncos]

Lol...probably $50 after a mail in rebate....I'm a cheap bastard:~ohyah!:

Lol, i might have payed more for it, its been a while. Did you buy the carrying case for it too?

[bronco militia]

Lol, i might have payed more for it, its been a while. Did you buy the carrying case for it too?


no way....I think we used it 10 times total. then we got a startrak from qwest. WE might have used that one 100 times.


http://ccrow.net/uploaded_images/startac.jpg

[Los Broncos]

no way....I think we used it 10 times total. then we got a startrak from qwest. WE might have used that one 100 times.


http://ccrow.net/uploaded_images/startac.jpg

Thats right, i had that same phone when it came out. Looks like a piece of crap compared to todays phones.

[TexanBob]

SHUT UP AND DRIVE!!!! (j/k)

[Bronco_Beerslug]

The "first" cell phone.


http://www.davelgil.com/korea/don.jpg

[Los Broncos]

The "first" cell phone.


http://www.davelgil.com/korea/don.jpg

No text messages?

[PatsWin2002]

Ditto for me on this baby...mid 90's. I had the leather protective case too. :)
http://orangemane.com/BB/attachment.php?attachmentid=19480&stc=1&d=1181247198

[BlaK-Argentina]

I HATE cell phones.

[Kaylore]

My father had a car phone in the late seventies. It didn't work off of celular technology (obviously). It was the size of a briefcase and you dialed a radio center that called the number for you. You spoke to the radio center that would broadcast your voice into a speaker-receiver that spoke to the speaker-receiver of a regular ground line that had dialed the number. It was very crappy but it worked, though it's range was limited.

When cell phone technology came out in the early eighties he was one of the first to get one. He's had the same number since 1984. When he changed services five years ago the person on the line said "woah, you've been with us a long time!"

Cell phones now are effectively little computers the size of a money pouch with better reception and clarity than some ground phones and certainly than my Dad's old radio/car phone of the seventies. That was the size of a briefcase. Crazy.

[Man-Goblin]

Cell phones now are effectively little computers the size of a money pouch with better reception and clarity than some ground phones and certainly than my Dad's old radio/car phone of the seventies. That was the size of a briefcase. Crazy.

Was it like this one? I caught "Lethal Weapon" (I think filmed in '83?) on cable a couple weeks ago and Sgt. Mertaw is was using this very same model on the side of the road...

http://stb.msn.com/i/EA/ACE2EEBEC634A0AEB465E6826F7135.jpg

[bronco militia]

Was it like this one? I caught "Lethal Weapon" (I think filmed in '83?) on cable a couple weeks ago and Sgt. Mertaw is was using this very same model on the side of the road...

http://stb.msn.com/i/EA/ACE2EEBEC634A0AEB465E6826F7135.jpg


lol....lethal weapon came out in 1987

[Flex Gunmetal]

Man, I want to check out an Iphone, but I don't want to try the first run. I suppose my t809 will have to suffice for another year.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

The one on the left was my second.

My first was one of those things about the size of a brick.

[Cito Pelon]

The one on the left was my second.

My first was one of those things about the size of a brick.

Ah, the "brickphone". I liked that phone. Qualcomm is the outfit that really made cellular technology what it is today, they were the outfit that developed CDMA digital technology. Not the big players like Motorola, Lucent, Nortel. People said no freaking way this will work, now it's the dominant cellular technology. Oddly, CDMA was first conceived during WWII, but nobody thought to develop it until Qualcomm grabbed it in 1986 I believe it was. It took them until about 1993 to get it sold to the big names that actually built switches and cell sites.

The big digital cellular technology competitor in the early to late-90's was TDMA and then ETDMA, and companies like Nortel, Motorola, Lucent tried like crazy to make it work as well as CDMA, mostly because they didn't have to pay license fees to Qualcomm to use CDMA and buy their chips and test systems also. But TDMA is pretty much long gone now. Capacity and security is CDMA's strong point.

Cellular has taken off like crazy since the mid-90's. There's been huge bands of the microwave spectrum pulled from use by traditional microwave point-to-point carriers and given to CDMA. Used to be the 800mhz to 10ghz bands in the commercial spectrum the FCC allocated for point-to-point carriers. Since the mid-90's those have been reallocated to cellular carriers and auctioned off for billions and billions of dollars. This is why your cell minutes cost so dang much back in the early days of digital cellular. These cell carriers had to pony up billions to the Feds to "buy" part of the spectrum. The point-to-point microwave systems were dinosaurs anyway with so much fiberoptics getting lit at the same time.

The cellular technology today is going to get better, also. The third generation digital cell technology is commercial right now, but I hear there's a fourth and fifth generation already developed and it's a matter of getting it standardized. Naturally, the Europeans and the Americans want to standardize different systems. The Chinese are also developing their own system so they don't have to buy US or European systems.

So, there's a little bit of cellular phone history.

[Kaylore]

Was it like this one? I caught "Lethal Weapon" (I think filmed in '83?) on cable a couple weeks ago and Sgt. Mertaw is was using this very same model on the side of the road...

http://stb.msn.com/i/EA/ACE2EEBEC634A0AEB465E6826F7135.jpg

No it was in a brief case and it was big and very heavy. I'll try and find a picture...

It looked like this except that it was in a briefcase.

http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/carphone.gif

[bronco610]

No it was in a brief case and it was big and very heavy. I'll try and find a picture...

It looked like this except that it was in a briefcase.

http://www.rewindmuseum.com/images3/carphone.gif

Sounds like the one I had. I believe it was a motorola.