Cell Phones – Then and Now
Cellular telephone, mobile telephone, car phone they all mean the same thing: A mobile radiotelephone, often in an automobile, that uses a network of short-range transmitters located in overlapping cells throughout a region, with a central station making connections to regular telephone lines. Back in 1983, Motorola had unveiled to the world the truly first cellular phone, approved by the FCC; DynaTAC 8000x was the first generation of cellular phones. This light weight device for its time was only 28 ounces 13 inches x 1.75 inches x 3.5 inches and was known as “The Brick” for its shape. This device is better known by my generation as the “Zack Morris” phone from the hit TV Series Saved by the Bell. “The Brick” as it was referred to, sold retail for $3,995 per phone and only offered 30 minutes of talk time before the phone needed to be recharged. Cell phones weren’t made to be hand held. In fact the very first idea of a cellular phone (prior to 1980s) was a box phone that was installed into the car using the car’s battery for charging. This is where the term “car phone” was developed. With this type of phone you could only use it while you were in your automobile. Some of the earlier models were made to fix into briefcases and the size of a tote bag. These phones didn’t have the advancement of technology as today’s phone has, in fact all you could use the cell phone for was to just make and receive phone calls while in the automobile. The audio quality wasn’t the greatest however, they were still in high demand.
The next generation of cell phones came out in the 90s, known as the 2G. The advancements had grown and the demand of cellular phones was rising. More carriers were developing along with different model types. They were no longer the box shaped as they had been in the 80s, in fact the size was much smaller and weighed about 100 to 200 grams including the battery. The smaller phone made the demand for cell phones higher than before.
The third generation of cell phones (3G) is what we use in today’s society. Although it wasn’t long after the 2G that the 3G came about, this caused the continuing technological innovation, service and demand. The differences of the 3G standards that are used in 3G phones are different depending on the model of the phone as well as the network provider selected. Unlike the first generation of cell phones, the 3G phones have requirements that the cell phone providers and the networks must obey. These requirements include 2 megabytes of data for indoor use and 284 k-bytes allotted for outdoors use. The 3G phones not only make and receive telephone calls; SMS (standard messaging service) is also a feature that wasn’t available with the prior generations of cell phones. Although SMS is a great feature to have, depending on your service plan if you don’t have unlimited SMS you may use up your messages allotted for the month and then this easier way of communication will cost you a fortune in the long run. Reason for that is that most people prefer to send a SMS rather than speaking to the person. Smart phones were introduced in the 3G cell phones. These types of phones give users the ability to check their email, surf the Internet using WiFi, streaming TV and radio shows and so much more. It is as if you have your own personal computer at your fingertips.
The high demand of cellphone use has grown with the 3G phone. The number of cell phone users has increased rapidly. As of 2009, there were more than 285 million subscribers to cell phone service in the United States, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. This is an increase from 110 million users in 2000 and 208 million users in 2005. With these advancements of time, the price to have a cellphone on a monthly basis will vary from network providers. Some network providers require you to purchase monthly data plans while others don’t. You may also need to