First Generation Cell Phone: The "Huge Phone" in 1980s
In 1983, Motorola revealed
the truly first portable mobile phone to the world. The product was named as
Motorola DynaTAC 800X, approved by FCC in the United States. The cellular technology
was developed by Motorola for decades and they took 10 years since 1973, the
successful attempt of mobile phone call, to commercialize this particular
phone. This operation costed them over 100 million dollars(dollar at that
time). The DynaTAC 800X was considered extremely lightweight for its time and
only weighed 785g (equivalent to 28 ounces). It was 300 x 44 x 89 mm and famous for its brick-like shape. The invention came under large development with the help of Dr. Martin Cooper
of Motorola. This cell phone only provided a talk time of just half an hour and
needed to take 10 hours to charge. Despite the low productivity of the phone,
consumer demand was strong and waiting lists was in thousands.
Features of cell phone in 1980s:
1. Function: Phone
talk with another long distant cell phone user.
2. Screen: LED
display.
3. Phone memory:
Only able to store 30 numbers in the cell phone.
4. Battery
lifespan: 30 minutes (non-stop talking on phone)
5. Battery standby
time: 8 hours
6. Recharge time:
10 hours.
7. Weight: 785 g.
8. Size: 300 x 44 x
89 mm
Cell Phone in car and briefcase
From 1983 till the
end of 1980s, mobile phone grew in popularity through the innovations in
cellular networks that were able to handle phone calls in either one area or hand
them off to other areas. While not all cell phones are made to be carried on
hand, most of them were actually installed permanently in the car. The term of “car
phone” was more popular than the mobile phone from 1970s till late of 1980s. Besides car phones, there were also few models
built into briefcase to hold large batteries to make many phone calls.
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