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Cell Phones Overview
Home » Handheld Electronics » Cell Phones » Cell Phones OverviewA cell phone is a hand-held wireless telephone equipped with a built-in antenna that can be carried with you wherever you go. The first cell phones were introduced in the 1980s. At that time the cell phone weighed two pounds. Most cell phones were so large that they were installed in vehicles as car phones.
The first call from a cellular phone that was not a cellular car phone was made by Martin Cooper on April 3, 1973. At that time Cooper was the general manager of Motorola's Communications Systems Division. The call was made to Martin Cooper's main rival at AT&T's Bell Labs in New York City. After that call, it was a ten year process to bring hand-held cellular phones to market. The DynaTAC phone was introduced by Motorola in 1983. The phone weighed a pound and cost the consumer $3,500.00. It took an additional seven years before the United States had a million cell phone subscribers. Today there are more people who own cell phones than own in-home wired phones. In 2005, there were approximately 195 million people in the United States alone with cell phone service.
In less than twenty years, mobile phones have gone from being large and expensive pieces of equipment used only by businesses to being a low-cost personal item used by people all over the world. Cell phones are not only widely used by adults, but today most teenagers and even young children own a cell phone.
Cell phones now weigh as little as 3 ounces. In addition to being able to place and receive calls on a cell phone, there also features available such as text messaging, web surfing, sending e-mails, and the ability to not only take photos on your phone but to send and receive photos and video.
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